Pension plans shift strategies October 12, 2011 PENSION funds are shifting away from gold and private equity as they look for alternative investment strategies, according to a new report from UBS. Trustees have also cooled on investments in hedge funds and exchange traded funds, according to the European Equity Strategy research. The switch has been driven by the need to find alternatives [...]
Standard Life eyes 400,000 new clients October 12, 2011 STANDARD Life yesterday said it was preparing for an “explosion” in its UK business as 400,000 new customers could start saving into its pension schemes for the first time next year. The life and pensions group said it had ramped up investment in pension management software as it prepares for an expected £150bn of pension [...]
Moulton set to raise funds October 12, 2011 VENTURE capitalist Jon Moulton will raise new funds for his Better Capital vehicle, with analysts speculating it could be as much as £100m. Better Capital has already bought a string of companies, including the Reader’s Digest and engineer Gardner, since floating two years ago. The company, through its Enigmatic Investments business, recently had a £9.7m bid [...]
Pimco beefs up exposure to mortgages October 12, 2011 THE PIMCO Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund, increased its exposure to mortgages in September and showed a dramatic drop in cash equivalents and money market securities for the same period, according to its website yesterday. Pacific Investment Management Co, which has $1.3 trillion in assets under management, increased exposure to mortgages in [...]
How badly has RIM’s reputation been hurt by three days of BlackBerry server failures? October 12, 2011 THIS week we are asking members of our readers’ panel whether RIM’s reputation can recover from three days of server outages, which have prevented millions of customers from accessing emails on their BlackBerrys. We want to know how badly the brand has been damaged, and whether it will eventually lose business to rivals such as Apple. [...]
CITY VIEWS: HOW BADLY HAS THE BLACKOUT HIT BLACKBERRY? October 12, 2011 FARAZ KHALID | ANTARES “I don’t think it has done any good – it may make people want to change phone completely. It is hard because so many people depend on their mobile phone for business or personal reasons. No company can afford to mess up like that.” THOMAS HUS | GROUPAMA TRANSPORT “It will [...]
LUNCH PRICES HIKED TO HIGHLIGHT PROBLEMS FACED BY THIRD WORLD October 12, 2011 LONDONERS may be accustomed to signing away the vast majority of their pay packet on the capital’s rising rents, but what if everyday food was as much of an outlay, accounting for 50 to 80 per cent of income every month? That’s what the Red Cross is hoping to highlight as it takes over popular [...]
BAE warns of uncertainty in US budgets October 12, 2011 BAE SYSTEMS has warned that flooding in the US and “significant uncertainty” over future levels of military spending may disrupt short-term trading, but it remained confident of winning further contracts despite a squeeze in government budgets. The world’s second biggest defence contractor said trading for the three months from 1 July had been in line [...]
Ryanair keeps pressure on Aer Lingus for payout October 12, 2011 RYANAIR ramped up pressure on Aer Lingus yesterday, calling in an open letter for the airline to take “urgent action” to improve its share price. Undeterred by Aer Lingus’ plan for a shareholder meeting announced yesterday, Ryanair penned its third open letter in the space of a month to ask for a €0.20 per share [...]
Most of FTSE are ignoring Davies report October 12, 2011 JUST 33 companies in the UK’s FTSE 100 have set targets for the percentage of women they plan to appoint to their boards, ignoring calls for boardroom equality to be addressed. Six months after the publication of Lord Mervyn Davies’ government-commissioned report into women on boards, a progress review by the Cranfield School of Management has shown [...]
