April ISA sales hit record high June 6, 2011 FUND platforms have reported their highest gross ISA sales on record, according to the Investment Management Association (IMA). Gross ISA sales hit £1.3bn in April for platforms, ran by financial services firms such as Hargreaves Lansdown and Standard Life. The tax-efficient products accounted for 39.1 per cent of all sales made through the platforms, the [...]
Home insurance costs to rocket June 6, 2011 UK insurers are expected to hike home, motor and catastrophe premium rates this year as they struggle to improve earnings and capital returns, rating agency Fitch said yesterday. Firms need to boost earnings as years of falling rates and ultra-low interest rates have eaten into profitability, made worse by a string of natural disasters around [...]
Ipsos presses ahead with Synovate offer June 6, 2011 IPSOS has decided to go ahead with its offer for Synovate, the market research arm of Aegis, in a deal that could fetch the communications agency £500m. Top executives, including co-president Didier Truchot, decided at a crunch meting in Paris yesterday to proceed with a bid for the firm. Aegis yesterday confirmed to the market [...]
Dotcom tycoon to float Jellybook June 6, 2011 JONATHAN Rowland, son of property tycoon David Rowland, has announced plans to list his Jellybook investment company on the AIM market. With a rapidly inflating tech bubble seemingly upon us, and investors scrambling to get their hands on technology stocks, the timing of the float seems like a no brainer, given Jellybook’s focus on acquiring [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT WOULD A SALE OF SYNOVATE MEAN FOR AEGIS? June 6, 2011 STEVE LIECHTI | INVESTEC We see Synovate as a decent add-on to existing players rather than a strategically exciting asset, therefore while an auction might develop, we would not encourage this view. Bigger questions are what Aegis does with any possible proceeds or whether this stimulates interest in the whole group by third parties, bearing [...]
Terra Firma hires ex-Citi banker June 6, 2011 Private equity firm Terra Firma yesterday announced the appointment of ex-Citigroup banker Kamal Tabet as managing director and head of investor relations, just four months after the US lender took control of Terra Firma’s music group EMI. Terra Firma, led by Guy Hands, made the largest known private investment write-off in a loss of £1.7bn [...]
Expansys falls on profit warning June 6, 2011 Wireless and mobile technology group Expansys shares tumbled more than 12 per cent yesterday after it issued a profit warning for the year to the end of April. The AIM-listed firm closed at 1.38p yesterday – its lowest level since floating in 2007 – after it said a recovery will take longer than expected.
Statoil to sell £2bn stake in gas pipeline June 6, 2011 NORWEGIAN energy giant Statoil has agreed to sell a 24.1 per cent stake in a key European natural gas transport venture to a group including German insurer Allianz and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority for 17.35bn crowns (£2bn). Statoil will retain a five per cent stake in Gassled, the owner of gas pipelines on the [...]
Tullow finds oil at wells in Ghana and Uganda June 6, 2011 GLOBAL oil and gas exploration company Tullow Oil said yesterday it had made an “encouraging” first step in drilling after it found oil at the Banda-1 exploration well in the West Cape Three Points (WCTP) licence offshore Ghana. The company said the WCTP well has encountered Ceonmanian turbidites over a gross vertical interval of 300m [...]
Drugmakers agree to lower prices on vaccine supply for developing countries June 6, 2011 SEVERAL leading drugmakers are cutting their prices on potentially life-saving vaccines for people in developing countries in an effort to sustain supplies via the GAVI international vaccine alliance. The price cuts, offered by both generic and branded drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Johnson & Johnson’s Crucell and Sanofi-Aventis’ Sanofi Pasteur, should help the alliance narrow a [...]
