Swiss Re buys life assets June 1, 2011 SWISS RE, the global reinsurance giant, agreed to take over £1.6bn UK life insurance assets from American Life Insurance Company for an undisclosed amount yesterday. Swiss Re will reinsure and administer 300,000 UK policies from Alico, a 50-country, US-based insurer. They include pension and investment bonds written before 2008 and will be managed by Swiss [...]
Better late than never for Henri de Castries June 1, 2011 AXA has changed beyond recognition over the last 30 years. A string of global acquisitions have turned it from a small mutual insurer in France’s Normandy to a global player. Despite its big ambitions, the firm still trades at a discount to the rest of the large-cap insurance conglomerates. Its price to book value before [...]
Bunzl beefs up with acquisitions June 1, 2011 Outsourcing firm Bunzl yesterday announced three bolt-on acquisitions with Spanish distributor of catering supplies King Espana, UK based safety and workwear distributor SIG and equipment supplier Hospitality Depot. Revenues last year for the first two companies were €29m (£25.5m) and £22m respectively with the forecast for Hospitality Depot for the year ending 30 June 2011 [...]
Intermediate Capital profits rise June 1, 2011 Finance specialists Intermediate Capital yesterday announced a pre-tax profit increase of 76 per cent to £186m in the first three months of the year with a strong performance across 74 per cent of its portfolio companies. The annual dividend of 18p per share is up by six per cent from last year.
Xchanging sells troubled US ops June 1, 2011 Outsourcing firm Xchanging yesterday said it has sold its troubled US Cambridge workers’ compensation operations for $22.7m (£13.8m) to Sedgwick Claims Management, sending its shares up nine per cent. In the year to December, the US business made an underlying operations loss of $1.4m and a further $8.2m of operating losses after amortisation.
London is top global city for visitors June 1, 2011 LONDON has fought off both New York and Paris to be crowned the world’s number one destination city, with an expected 20.1m inbound passengers visiting the capital this year, according to a survey out yesterday. Foreign visitors to London are expected to pull in a record $25.6bn (£15.58bn) this financial year alone. “London has yet [...]
Investing in infrastructure is key for UK growth June 1, 2011 IT’S the lament of every politician, and a brake on the economy: Britain doesn’t have the world-leading infrastructure we need to thrive. Our trains are too slow, our roads too clogged, our broadband highway isn’t very super, our airports bursting, our renewable invisible. We have rested on our Victorian laurels, while other nations have built [...]
Deficits prompt governments to hike VAT rates June 1, 2011 DEFICIT problems in the West have prompted governments to boost indirect taxes such as VAT, a study from PricewaterhouseCoopers revealed yesterday. The move from direct taxes, such as income tax, to indirect taxes has been accelerated by the effects of global recession, according to the report’s findings. VAT systems, including general sales taxes, have now [...]
Companies cut pension deficits June 1, 2011 RISING equity markets and a renewed focus on deficit funding have slashed the UK private sector’s pension deficits from £148bn last year to £79bn this year, research published yesterday revealed. “Despite the recent turmoil in markets, the last 12 months have been quite good for companies weighed down by pension liabilities and deficits,” commented Charles [...]
A SNAPSHOT OF THE NEW BRITISH BUSINESS LANDSCAPE June 1, 2011 BRISTOL and Glasgow are set to be the newest ‘super-cities’ to emerge in the UK in the next decade and will be catalysts for growth in their regions, a HSBC report said today. The financial crisis may have been bad for business but it has set the stage for a new economic dynamism and the [...]
