3i deal activity on the rise January 27, 2011 Private equity firm 3i Group said deal activity picked up in the three months to end-December, as M&A markets continued to warm up. 3i invested £183m during the quarter, taking total investments to £510m in the first nine months, more than double year-on-year. New deals across Europe picked up late last year as the economic [...]
BSkyB profit soars January 27, 2011 Strong demand for broadband lifted first-half profits at bid target BSkyB by 26 per cent, increasing the pressure on Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp to secure its takeover deal without delay. News Corp has offered to buy the 61 per cent of BSkyB it does not already own but it faces a six month competition probe [...]
Barclays to cut 1,000 jobs January 26, 2011 Barclays is to cut about 1,000 jobs as it stops offering financial planning advice in its branches. The bank said it was consulting with the Unite trade union about ending the service, which is due to occur on 18 February and affect about 1,000 staff across Britain. The bank plans to focus its investment service [...]
Bank mortgage approvals fall in 2010 January 26, 2011 The number of mortgages approved for house buyers by the UK’s main banks fell by ten per cent in 2010. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) says its members approved just 400,000 mortgages in total. THe BBA said: “Mortgage demand was weak throughout the year. “Unsecured credit demand was also weak during last year, with net [...]
MPC moves closer to interest rate hike January 26, 2011 Bank of England policymaker Martin Weale unexpectedly joined Andrew Sentance in voting for a quarter-point rate rise this month, minutes to the Bank’s January Monetary Policy Committee meeting showed. The minutes said the MPC explicitly considered the case for a rate rise in January, and that for some members this was a finely balanced decision. [...]
Lloyds of London to spend £300m on new solvency rules January 26, 2011 Lloyd’s of London expects to spend £300m preparing for the European Union’s new Solvency II capital rules for insurers, the chairman of the insurance market said. “It’s a huge task,” said Peter Levene, Lloyd’s of London chairman told Reuters Insider. “It’s costing Lloyds markets just to get ready for Solvency II £300m. It’s a lot [...]
Brewin Dolphin sees revenue surge January 26, 2011 Financial services group Brewin Dolphin reported a 16 per cent rise in revenues from a year earlier as its investment management arm attracted new client money. A 17 per cent increase in income from investment management offset a 13 per cent decline from its corporate advisory and broking business, the company said on Wednesday. “Favourable [...]
Sage boosted by small businesses January 26, 2011 Accountancy software firm Sage Group said that a gradual recovery in spending by small businesses had continued in its first quarter, keeping the north east England-based group on track. Sage, which sells software to 6.3M small and medium-sized businesses, said results for each of its regions were in line with expectations, with a resumption in [...]
WH Smith sales drop – but margins improve January 26, 2011 WH Smith said higher profit margins offset a bigger-than-expected fall in sales over Christmas, due to disruptions caused by severe winter weather. The newspaper, books and stationery group said sales at town centre stores open over a year fell seven per cent in the eight weeks to 22 January, excluding entertainment products, which it plans [...]
Hiscox hit with £131m natural disasters bill January 26, 2011 Insurer Hiscox is facing £131m of claims as a result of a series of natural catastrophes last year which have hit insurers across the world. Hiscox said in a trading statement that it was still assessing the possible impact to it from severe flooding in Australia, although it believed the company had an “underweight” exposure [...]
