Old Mutual ups stake in African insurer UAP July 6, 2015 FTSE 100-listed finance firm Old Mutual has taken control of Kenya-based insurer UAP Holdings after buying a further 13.6 per cent stake from investment firm Abraaj for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition, which completed yesterday, means Old Mutual now owns a majority stake of 60.7 per cent in the pan-African financial services group. It also [...]
Landscape supplier Marshalls in first half sales jump as building booms July 6, 2015 Hard landscaping manufacturer Marshalls had an 11 per cent rise in revenue for the sixth months to 30 June, up to £199m, the firm said yesterday. Sales to the public sector and commercial market were up 15 per cent compared with 2014, and represented 64 per cent of Marshalls’ total sales. Sales in the domestic [...]
Eurozone spending stays on the level in June July 6, 2015 June’s Eurozone retail Purchasing Managers’ Index data, published yesterday, showed a slender increase in total retail sales at 50.4, down from May’s 49-month high of 51.4, resulting from strong growth in Germany and an easing downturn in France, while Italy was the principal drag.
City Moves for 7 July 2015 | Who’s switching jobs July 6, 2015 EY The professional services firm has appointed Maggie Stilwell as managing partner for talent. She has been a partner in its fraud and dispute services practice since 1996, and has over 19 years’ experience, particularly focusing on contract disputes. BlueBay Asset Management Soumyanshu Bhattacharya has been appointed institutional portfolio manager in the fixed income [...]
Best of the Brokers for 7 July 2015 July 6, 2015 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com RM Numis analysts maintained a “buy” rating, and a target price of 215p. They say the firm has delivered a good set of interims, with continued good growth in RM Resources and RM Results, a better than expected profit out-turn in RM Education, [...]
Profit warning from engines firm drags FTSE – London Report July 6, 2015 Worries over Greece and a profit warning from one of the country’s best-known brands had a negative impact on the UK market yesterday. A slump in Rolls-Royce led Britain’s top equity index lower, although it outperformed continental European indexes, hit harder by uncertainty over the economic fallout from Greeks’ rejection of bailout conditions. Engineering company [...]
Fears on China and Greece hit US share prices – New York Report July 6, 2015 AVOLATILE session saw stocks falling after China implemented emergency measures to stop a selloff in Shanghai’s market and Greeks resoundingly backed their government in rejecting the austerity terms of a bailout. Equity futures tumbled at the open late on Sunday after Greeks voted “No” to the terms imposed by its creditors. The Dow Jones industrial [...]
Greece could now get its deal – but only if you believe the unbelievable July 6, 2015 “Freedom’s just a word for nothing left to lose.” – Janis Joplin, “Me and Bobby McGee” Greece's Syriza government likes to gin up its overheated rhetoric through the use of war metaphors, so let’s play along, as for once they are entirely appropriate. In political risk analysis, when there is an explosion from out [...]
Two more bad arguments for why Britain needs a mandatory living wage July 6, 2015 With £12bn of working age welfare cuts expected in this Budget, Conservative voices are clamouring for the “living wage” to be used as a means of reducing in-work poverty. In the past week, two celebrity former advisers to the Prime Minister, Steve Hilton and Rohan Silva, have argued the government should boost the national minimum [...]
George Osborne needs a long-term plan for taxation July 6, 2015 “Don’t tinker with taxes” is a consistent cry from business. True, few will bemoan a change that benefits them, but it’s hard to overestimate how much firms value certainty in their tax affairs. It’s difficult to plan ahead if you don’t know what your costs are likely to be. Yet we now effectively have two [...]
