Green Flag boosts Direct Line Insurance Group to gross written premium growth May 4, 2016 Direct Line Insurance Group reported a boost to its gross written premiums in its first set of quarterly results for 2016, thanks in part to continued growth in its Green Flag partnership. The insurer revealed that gross written premiums from ongoing operations had grown by 4.2 per cent to £777.8m in the three months to March [...]
Standard Life snaps up Axa’s Elevate May 4, 2016 Standard Life has today agreed to buy Elevate, Axa's wrap platform aimed at investors. The move will see Standard Life gain over 150,000 customers and £9.8bn worth of assets under administration. Standard Life will be purchasing the platform through subsidiary Standard Life Savings, using cash to acquire the entire share capital of Elevate, which is the trading name for Axa Portfolio [...]
Megabrew: AB InBev’s takeover of SABMiller bubbling along nicely, says company May 4, 2016 Anheuser-Busch InBev revealed today that everything is going swimmingly in its proposed takeover of SABMiller. As well as announcing its quarterly results, AB InBev reported that it was making "good progress" in getting the regulatory clearances it needs for the £71bn takeover deal and that it expected the transaction to close in the second half of 2016. [...]
Societe Generale announces more cost-cutting measures, focusing on its global banking and investor solutions offering May 4, 2016 Societe Generale has revealed further plans to cut costs in its quarterly results today, focusing this time on its global banking and investor solutions unit. The new plans seek to slash €220m (£173.8m) from costs by the end of 2017, in an effort to offset rising taxes and generate more funds for investments. The bank has been [...]
Ted Cruz bows out of Republican race as Donald Trump wins Indiana primary May 4, 2016 Republican hopeful Ted Cruz has bowed out of the Presidential candidate race, after rival Donald Trump claimed victory in the Indiana primary late last night. Businessman and reality TV personality Trump became the party's presumptive nominee after Cruz announced he was suspending his campaign. In the primary, Trump took home 53 per cent of the vote, according to [...]
Extended right to buy scheme could cost London councils just shy of £50m each May 4, 2016 Councils in London will need to fork out £49m a year on average to fund government’s planned extensions to the right to buy scheme, a report out today by Shelter has warned. Under the right to buy extension, local authorities will be forced to sell off a proportion of their vacant council house stock on the open [...]
Shining a light on pay disparity can be the harbinger of change May 3, 2016 With his recent £70m pay check, Sir Martin Sorrell has cast himself once again as either pantomime villain or Hero of New Capitalism. Whichever side you take, WPP’s employees and the wider world now know his salary, which colours the extent to which we agree with his L’Oréal worthy proclamation: “I’m worth it”. Changes for the good in pay [...]
Aegon to buy BlackRock’s UK Defined Contribution (DC) platform and administration arm May 3, 2016 Aegon has today announced it is buying BlackRock's UK Defined Contribution (DC) platform and administration arm. The Dutch insurer will be acquiring assets worth roughly £12bn along with 350,000 customers, to create a workplace savings business worth £30bn. Meanwhile, asset manager BlackRock, which will be retaining £65bn of its DC business, will turn its focus [...]
Rimmel owner Coty not as slick as profits slip to losses May 3, 2016 Coty today reported that it had swung to a loss-making position for its three months ended March 2016. The cosmetics giant, which owns Rimmel and Sally Hansen as well as a number of designer fragrance brands, reported a net loss for its third quarter of $26.8m (£18.3m), down from a net profit of $75.5m the year before. The [...]
