Standard Life Aberdeen sells insurance arm for £3.2bn February 23, 2018 Standard Life Aberdeen has sold its insurance arm to specialist insurer Phoenix in a deal worth £3.24bn. Phoenix will pay £2bn in cash and issue Standard Life Aberdeen with a 19.99 per cent shareholding. A dividend of £300m will also be paid to the FTSE 100 giant upon deal completion. The deal sees most of [...]
UK house prices: First-time buyers £27,000 better off than renters – and more than £50,000 more privileged in London February 17, 2018 Britons are pouring thousands of pounds in the pockets of landlords each year by renting their home rather than buying it. UK first-time buyers are an average of £27,000 better off than renters over a mortgage term, Halifax said today. And in London, the savings are even greater. Homeowners in the capital save an average [...]
Standard Life Aberdeen shares slump after £109bn Scottish Widows mandate is axed February 15, 2018 Standard Life Aberdeen was today dealt a blow after being stripped of £109bn of assets it manages on behalf of life insurer Scottish Widows. The newly merged fund management behemoth said it would lose up to five per cent of annual revenues and take a £40m impairment charge after Scottish Widows’ owner Lloyds Bank pulled [...]
UK petrol prices: Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Asda kick off war at the pumps February 9, 2018 A UK petrol price war has kicked off with three of the big four supermarkets slashing prices at the pumps. In the last few minutes, Sainsbury's mirrored an earlier move by Asda and Morrisons this morning to knock 2p off a litre of petrol and diesel. Sources at Tesco said a decision had yet to [...]
Capita shares jump as fund management giant alleges board “flouted one of the basic rules” February 5, 2018 Capita investors were delivered a dose of good news this morning, with shares rising around six per cent after last week's mammoth sell-off. The change in fortunes came as one of Britain's largest fund managers blasted Capita for "flouting basic corporate governance rules" and urged it to "not repeat the mistakes of the past". Shares [...]
Sparking change: Formula E reveals plans to overtake motor sport rivals January 31, 2018 Nothing beats having an original Darth Vader helmet in your office to show you mean business. Alejandro Agag has a sickeningly impressive CV. Revered in his native Spain for political and business prowess, he was an MEP in his twenties before becoming a key ally of Silvio Berlusconi. Meanwhile, Agag continues to dine out on [...]
Hastings shakes up head honchos as chairman is replaced by chief executive January 9, 2018 The chairman of motor insurer Hastings is to step down and be replaced by the firm's chief executive, it was announced this morning. The shake-up of the firm's top two jobs comes just a day after an unsavoury spat at the AA –which reportedly centred on a tie-up with Hastings – took a turn for [...]
Credit Suisse is shuttering one of its Canary Wharf offices January 5, 2018 Credit Suisse is to pull out of one of its Canary Wharf offices as it ramps up a cost-cutting exercise and culls thousands of jobs. The Swiss banking giant is consolidating its London footprint and plans to reduce headcount in the UK capital to 5,000 by the end of the year. The rationalisation measures are [...]
Saga shakes up travel operations and axes insurance broking chief January 4, 2018 Saga today announced a boardroom shake-up, restructuring travel operations hit by Britain's biggest airline failure. Tour operations and cruises are to be combined and run by new Saga travel chief executive Robin Shaw. Jeanette Linfoot, previously the managing director of tour operations, left at the end of December. Shaw was previously the head of Saga's [...]
Revealed: Behind the scenes of Carillion’s annus horribilis December 21, 2017 Troubled construction giant Carillion hit the headlines again yesterday after it announced its interim chief executive Keith Cochrane will be replaced almost three months earlier than planned. When Andrew Davies, who was set to take over on 2 April 2018, starts on 22 January, he will become the company’s third chief executive in six months. [...]
