FSA could ban UCIS investment adverts August 22, 2012 A CRACKDOWN on the promotion of investments in unusual assets like crops and fine wines could be widened, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) warned yesterday, arguing ordinary retail investors do not have sufficient protection against mis-selling. Unregulated collective investment schemes (UCIS) can currently be promoted if an adviser assesses its suitability – but the FSA [...]
Claims groups face crackdown August 22, 2012 CLAIMS management firms face tougher rules on how they deal with customers, the Ministry of Justice said yesterday. Firms that help people claim payment protection insurance refunds or personal injury compensation will be required to give clients written contracts, the ministry said, and are facing limits on cold calling and text messages. Regulators punished more [...]
Primary Health in good shape August 22, 2012 Primary Health Properties, the healthcare property investment trust, yesterday reported a 1.2 per cent fall in net asset value to 314.9p a share in the first half of the year after raising £19m of equity at a four per cent discount to net asset value (NAV) in May. The group said rental income in the [...]
Ex-JPM head for Hochschild August 22, 2012 Hochschild Mining has hired former JP Morgan investment banking chief Enrico Bombieri as non-executive director. Bombieri, who had responsibility for investment banking over Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will join Hochschild in November. He has also worked for Guinness Mahon and Lehman Brothers. Hochschild recorded a 43 per cent drop in profits for the [...]
City Moves | Who’s switching Jobs August 22, 2012 EDM Group Iain Ferguson has been appointed non-executive chairman of the information management services provider. He is a previous executive vice-president of Havas, the French advertising company. Ferguson was also formerly chief executive of Mission Marketing Group, where he led its independent price offering. In his new role, he will identify and execute acquisition opportunities [...]
BEST of the BROKERS August 22, 2012 RIGHTMOVE Peel Hunt has a “sell” rating on the property search firm with a target price of £11.80. The broker believes that Rightmove’s better-than-expected revenues in the first half were a one-off, and that its shares remain fundamentally overvalued. ARM HOLDINGS S&P Equity Research rates the tech group “buy” and has raised its target price [...]
Miners and Eurozone politicians take the shine off the FTSE 100 August 22, 2012 MINERS left Britain’s top share index nursing sharp losses yesterday after BHP Billiton’s results offered a bleak outlook for the sector, while other cyclical stocks were weaker as Greek and European officials met on the Eurozone debt crisis. London’s blue chip index was down 83.32 points, or 1.4 per cent, at 5,774.20. Cyclical stocks such [...]
Lacklustre data and fears over Greece hurt US August 22, 2012 THE S&P 500 erased earlier losses to close flat yesterday after minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting indicated the central bank might be ready for another round of stimulus. Minutes from the 31 July to 1 August meeting suggested the Fed is likely to deliver another round of monetary stimulus “fairly soon” unless the [...]
Rigour in GCSEs is essential but we also need students fit for business August 22, 2012 WHILE youngsters celebrating exam successes today should be applauded for their hard work, many will be in for a rude awakening when they go into the world of work. Unfortunately, they will find that the traditional link between academic results and achievement in the workplace no longer holds as true as it once did. Our [...]
Romney risks being thrown off course by his blundering fellow Republican August 22, 2012 BEFORE primaries became the more common mechanism of selecting party nominees, the Republican National Convention served as the venue for delegates to wage their famous intra-party battles. Teddy Roosevelt stormed out in 1912 to form the Progressive Party, the moderate Dwight Eisenhower trumped the conservative Robert Taft in 1952, an ideological battle that Barry Goldwater [...]
