Southern rail driver-operated doors: Rail regulator satisfied they are “a safe method of working” January 5, 2017 The chief inspector of railways has concluded Southern rail's plans for driver-operated doors are safe. Nevertheless, unions highlighted a series of recommendations in the report by Ian Prosser on behalf of regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). Driver-operated doors are at the heart of the Southern rail dispute that has blighted the network for almost a year, [...]
Pensions Insurance Corporation picks up GKN scheme in £190m deal as engineer offloads liabilities January 5, 2017 Engineering giant GKN has shaken up its pension scheme and offloaded pension liabilities to a specialist insurer in a deal worth £190m. Pension aggregator Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) will take on 20 per cent of the liabilities of the scheme in a pension buyout of specific members. Read more: UK firms to ditch £30bn of pension liabilities in [...]
Treasury committee chair calls into question the government’s HS2 figures January 4, 2017 The reliability of the HS2 passenger demand figures have been called into question by the chairman of the treasury select committee. Andrew Tyrie, who has previously questioned the economic justification for HS2, has taken aim at government numbers in letter to transport secretary Chris Grayling. Read more: New franchise will combine HS2 with Inter City [...]
£30bn in the pipeline: This is the year UK firms will cut pension schemes loose January 4, 2017 Britain's companies will shift sky-rocketing pension liabilities from their balance sheets this year, experts have predicted. With defined benefit pension schemes at record year-end levels, 2017 will be year to de-risk and UK plc is keen to take advantage of the improved affordability of shifting scheme risk to the insurance, according to Willis Towers Watson (WTW). Read more: As pension [...]
BGC Partners buys Lloyd’s broker Besso in deal worth £71m January 4, 2017 Lloyd's of London broker Besso has been swallowed up by US broking giant BGC Partners in a deal that values the firm at £71m. The purchase provides an exit for the Besso's owners – its senior management team and private equity house BP Marsh. Read more: Lloyd's insurer Endurance bought by Japanese owner of Canopius The fund's share [...]
You’ve copper-be joking? Small business report reveals two-thirds of firms are on old-style connections January 4, 2017 The majority of Britain's small businesses are not using fibre broadband, a report by the telecoms regulator has revealed. Although speed and reliability of internet services were the two key issues facing the UK's smaller firms, 67 per cent of businesses are using a non-fibre fixed line ADSL connection, a study of over 1,500 firms commissioned by watchdog Ofcom found. [...]
Natural disaster insurance payouts double after highest losses for four years January 4, 2017 Devastating earthquakes and powerful storms meant insurance firms forked out $50bn (£41bn) to settle disaster claims in 2016. The settlements were almost double the $27bn paid by insurers in 2015, according to an annual review by reinsurance behemoth Munich Re. Globally, an average of just 30 per cent of losses were covered by insurers meaning total losses for [...]
Aggreko wins $40m deal to power the 2018 Winter Olympics January 4, 2017 Scottish power firm Aggreko has been given the important job of ensuring the lights stay on at next year's Winter Olympics in South Korea. The news will come as welcome relief to the firm having endured a challenging 2016 that included missing out on a similar contract with organisers of the the summer games in [...]
Mind the gap: London lawyer salaries dwarf the regional earnings of their counterparts January 3, 2017 Newly qualified London lawyers earn nearly double what their non-London counterparts can expect to receive, according to figures released by a specialist legal recruiter. Outside of London the best paid commercial lawyers can be found in the north west of England, with a newly qualified legal eagle receiving an average of £39,000. But their equivalents inside the M25 [...]
They’ve only Donald done it: Ford bins $1.6bn Mexican factory in favour of smaller US investment January 3, 2017 Ford has binned plans to build a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) car plant in Mexico, choosing a $700m investment in Michigan instead. Chief exec Mark Fields defended the u-turn, saying far from pandering to President-elect Donald Trump's protectionist desires the decision was a "vote of confidence" in the pro-business environment the entrepreneur is creating. "We didn't cut a deal with [...]
