Aviva boss waives pay rise April 30, 2012 The chief executive of insurer Aviva, Andrew Moss, has waived his 2012 salary increase as part of a review of its executive pay policy launched in response to pressure from shareholders. The review will look at whether senior executives’ pay is justified by shareholder returns, and will also examine how much Aviva compensates executives who [...]
RBS M&A team to be spun off into boutique advisory unit April 30, 2012 Royal Bank of Scotland’s mergers and acquisitions (M&A) business will be spun off into a boutique advisory firm run by some of its current staff, the bank’s chief executive for the Middle East and Africa said. “The M&A bankers plan to form a boutique business,” Simon Penney said in Dubai. “It’s not clear as to [...]
Aberdeen profit rises April 30, 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management saw its underlying pre-tax profit rise 14 percent in its first half year after a recovery in client risk appetite boosted assets under management and the funds house improved its fee margins. The UK fund manager said in a statement on Monday its pre-tax profit rose to £162.2m in the six months [...]
BORIS POISED TO TAKE CONTROL OF COMMUTER TRAINS April 29, 2012 BORIS Johnson is set to gain control of suburban rail services after the transport secretary Justine Greening gave City A.M. the strongest indication yet that she is willing to hand him control of key commuter routes if he is re-elected on Thursday. Under the proposals Transport for London (TfL) would have direct control over certain [...]
Murdoch must be stripped of BSkyB stake, says Labour April 29, 2012 HARRIET Harman, the shadow culture secretary, yesterday called for News Corp to be stripped of its 39 per cent stake in BSkyB. Speaking on the Sunday Politics Show, Harman said that Rupert Murdoch was “not a fit and proper person” to own a broadcast licence because of the “widespread criminality” that went on at his [...]
Cameron pledges to do more to boost economy April 29, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron has said his government will “redouble all our efforts” to turn around the UK economy in the face of a fresh recession and “a very long and painful process” to fix the Eurozone. Cameron said last week’s confirmation of a double dip recession in Britain was “very disappointing”. He said: “What’s [...]
Secret collapse in corporate profits is hurting UK’s recovery April 29, 2012 IF you repeat a myth often enough, it eventually becomes the received wisdom. That is as true in the City as it is politics. Take the supposedly well-established “fact” that profits are booming despite the recession. That is certainly the story in America and in emerging markets. But while most large UK-based quoted firms are [...]
Double dip set to push house prices lower April 29, 2012 House prices slowed to a crawl this month and will slump again through the second half of 2012, a new report warns today. The double dip recession is dragging down demand and consumer confidence is draining out of the market, according to Hometrack, just as supply is starting to pick up. Prices rose just 0.1 [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 29, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Nokia in talks to sell Vertu to Permira Nokia is in advanced talks to sell the world’s most expensive mobile phone brand to Permira, the private equity group, as the Finnish company looks to dispose of non-core assets to help turnround its devices division. Permira is in discussions to acquire Vertu in a [...]
UN report: austerity not working April 29, 2012 Fiscal austerity and tough labour reforms have failed to create jobs, leading to an “alarming” situation in the global employment market that shows no sign of recovering, the International Labour Organization said yesterday. It said advanced countries, especially Europe, would not see a return to the pre-crisis employment levels of 2008 until the end of [...]
