Military will get smaller February 3, 2010 THE Army could be merged with the Royal Air Force, under radical new plans put forward by the government yesterday. Defence secretary Bob Ainsworth also said that a cull in the number of top officers and a coalition with the French army were on the cards ahead of a post-election spending review that will put [...]
City veteran Delmar-Morgan makes a comeback at Allenby February 3, 2010 JEREMY Delmar-Morgan, the former chairman of Teather and Greenwood and Hichens Harrison, is making an official comeback at stockbroker Allenby Capital, City A.M. can reveal. Delmar-Morgan has accepted a non-executive chairmanship at Allenby, which was founded by chief executive Imran Amhad a year ago when he led a management buy-out of HB Corporate, then part [...]
Moulton’s Better Capital makes first investment February 3, 2010 BETTER Capital, the new vehicle set up by private equity veteran Jon Moulton, yesterday kicked off its investment mandate with the acquisition of aerospace parts supplier Gardner Group. The firm’s BECAP fund said it had invested £15m in the business, and expects the figure to increase to £20m over time. Under the terms of the [...]
Over 250,000 civil servants may strike in run up to the election February 3, 2010 MORE than a quarter of a million civil servants could go on strike ahead of this year’s general election in a dispute over changes to redundancy pay, a trade union said yesterday. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), which represents civil and public servants in central government, is to hold a strike ballot of [...]
Ex-BlueBay hedge fund manager fined £140,000 February 3, 2010 A FORMER BlueBay hedge fund manager has been banned and fined £140,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for manipulating the values of his trading positions. Simon Treacher was slapped with the largest penalty ever handed to an individual for deceiving investors after marking his portfolios up by $27m (£16.9m) over three months. He misled [...]
Standard Life sees positive start to year February 3, 2010 INSURER Standard Life kicked off the sector’s reporting season with forecast-beating annual sales yesterday following a pick-up in market conditions in the second half of last year. The UK’s fifth biggest insurer by market value reported total life and pensions sales of £14.7bn on a present value of new business premiums basis – down by [...]
RUGBY DEAL KICKS OFF February 3, 2010 England Rugby stars Lewis Moody, Steve Borthwick and Johnny Wilkinson were yesterday projected 50m tall onto the Lloyd’s Building, marking an agreement with business insurer QBE to become official insurance partner of England Rugby. The image greeted City workers on both their morning and evening commutes with a message of support for the England team [...]
BACK TO THE GREEN HOUSE FOR DE BLONAY February 3, 2010 THE City’s resident “Swiss funds fox”, Guy de Blonay, has barely warmed up his seat after his high-profile return to fund management group Jupiter, but already things are settling comfortably back into their old ways. De Blonay officially took up his new position at the group a week ago, after leaving his first job at [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: IS THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY BOUNCING BACK? February 3, 2010 DUNCAN HALL | FINNCAP Standard Life obviously strengthened in the last quarter. The industry will have a spring in its step with the improving news. There is now a trend towards third party funding and looking overseas. The UK is a low grade economy and insurers are having to be more imaginative. MARCUS BARNARD ORIEL [...]
Autonomy is upbeat after surge in sales February 3, 2010 BRITAIN’S biggest software firm took on the doubters yesterday, as it reported a 53 per cent jump in fourth quarter sales. Founder and chief executive Dr Mike Lynch – often dubbed Britain’s Bill Gates – said improvements in the macroeconomic environment would push sales higher in 2010. The firm said that a fall in margins [...]
