Fidessa signs new customers April 20, 2011 TRADING platform technology provider Fidessa said it had signed “significant new orders” since the start of the year and expected to maintain its margins and revenues in 2011. Fidessa recorded good growth despite the disruption of the Japanese crisis, although it expects financial markets to remain difficult throughout this year, it said in its interim [...]
IT’S A GAS FOR CLARE AT BANKER BRIEFING April 20, 2011 HOW can money be the same as gas? It’s a good question, and one that bankers were giving serious thought yesterday at a lunchtime talk at Clifford Chance by Clare Spottiswoode, member of the Independent Commission on Banking. The former gas regulator had been briefed to update 34 high-powered bankers, including Antony Jenkins, group chief [...]
Lawyers eye IPO market to raise funds April 20, 2011 A SWATHE of City law firms are said to be considering plans to list on the stock market, ahead of sweeping changes to the way they are funded due later this year. Personal injury specialist Irwin Mitchell fired the starting gun yesterday, after it revealed it had hired investment bank Espirito Santo to advise it [...]
The City must prove itself to the banker bashers April 20, 2011 WELL, that’s it then. The government and industry have declared a covert ceasefire. The war on bankers is now over. Or is it? The Independent Commission on Banking’s interim report was more benign for the competitiveness of the industry, and London as a financial capital, than we had been led to believe. The rhetoric from [...]
Murdoch looks to F1 takeover April 20, 2011 News Corp could have the financial clout to force through a deal for Formula One, despite its boss Bernie Ecclestone saying the owners will not sell, sources sais yesterday.. Rupert Murdoch is understood to be in talks with Mexican telecoms billionaire Carlos Slim to launch an audacious bid for one of the most prized assets [...]
AIG’s Chartis sells $3.5bn asbestos risk April 20, 2011 WARREN Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway struck a deal with US insurer American International Group (AIG) yesterday to take a package of high-risk asbestos insurance policies held by AIG subsidiary Chartis off its books. AIG has paid Berkshire-owned National Indemnity, the US’s largest reinsurer, $1.65bn (£1bn) for a retroactive insurance policy that will cover up to $3.5bn [...]
US insurer Hanover buys Chaucer for £131m cash April 20, 2011 CHAUCER Insurance yesterday agreed its sale to US group Hanover Insurance for £131m in what Chaucer’s chief executive Bob Stuchbery described as “a great deal for shareholders”. Lloyd’s insurer Chaucer accepted Hanover’s 56p per share cash offer, which comprises a 53.3p per share offer and a 2.7p per share full-year 2010 dividend. The offer values [...]
Yorkshire and N&P agree to merger deal April 20, 2011 EMBATTLED building society Norwich & Peterborough has agreed merger terms with the Yorkshire Building Society, just days after it was forced to pay £1.4m by the Financial Services authority The East Anglian mutual will merge with its larger rival to create a group with assets of around £34bn, three million members and 224 branches. Yorkshire [...]
Argos dents Home Retail April 20, 2011 HOME Retail Group boss Terry Duddy yesterday unveiled a massive shake-up at its Argos chain with dozens of new ranges and the launch of a home shopping TV channel. The chief executive admitted that a profit slump at the discount retailer had been triggered by a downturn in high street spending but that more could [...]
Virgin Media’s revenues grow but new customer rate slows April 20, 2011 VIRGIN MEDIA yesterday reported a 5.7 per cent jump in revenues despite a drop of almost 50 per cent in new customer additions. The company added just 20,200 new users this quarter, down from 38,300 last year. Its TV customer additions were even more anaemic, with just 10,100 new ones – a 70 per cent [...]
