Sir Mike Rake in overdrive to chair roadside recovery firm RAC August 4, 2014 CBI president Sir Mike Rake is the frontrunner to become chairman of the RAC breakdown recovery service. The deputy chairman of Barclays is in talks for the role, ahead of the RAC’s potential £2bn stock market listing, according to Sky News. The breakdown service, owned by private equity group Carlyle, is expected to announce its [...]
London Report: All eyes on Standard Life ahead of next month’s Scot vote August 3, 2014 WITH the Scottish independence referendum about six weeks away, Standard Life’s half-year results tomorrow will make for interesting reading. In February, it was first major Scottish firm to warn it was drawing up contingency plans in the event of a “Yes” vote. Today HSBC Holdings, Fidessa, Telecity, Alent, Morgan Sindall, Ultra Electronics Holdings, esure and [...]
City Moves for 01 August 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 31, 2014 Deutsche Bank Tiina Lee has been appointed UK chief operating officer at Deutsche Bank. She will become vice-chair of the UK executive committee, and will continue to chair the UK regional governance board. Lee was most recently head of UK regional governance at the bank. Bovill Fiona Richardson has been appointed head of technical at [...]
Applus share price hammered as the year of IPO upsets goes on July 29, 2014 The troubled performance of private equity-backed flotations continued yesterday after the Barcelona-based Applus saw its share price fall to its lowest level since its float only two months ago. Applus shares took a hammering, falling around 13 per cent on the day to finish on €12.20, below its Initial Public Offering (IPO) price of €14.50, [...]
Aviva, RSA and Partnership face watershed moment, say analysts July 28, 2014 Analysts Panmure Gordon have warned that three big insurers face a “watershed moment” following a turbulent six months for the sector. In a release ahead of the insurance industry’s results season, the group warned that the strengthening of sterling and the chancellor’s overhaul of the annuities industry in the Budget this year would have an [...]
Wonga appoints former boss of RSA as chair to lead turnaround July 14, 2014 Payday lender Wonga yesterday named former RSA Insurance group chief executive Andy Haste as chairman, who vowed to keep the company in line with tougher rules being imposed the loans industry. Haste replaces former chair and co-founder Errol Damelin, who announced his departure last month. Wonga and other short-term lenders have come under [...]
City Moves for 14 July 2014 | Who’s switching jobs July 14, 2014 FM Global The insurer has promoted current executive vice president Thomas A Lawson to president. He will succeed Shivan S Subramaniam, effective 1 January 2015. Lawson joined the firm in 1979, and was appointed to his current position in 2009. Axa Investment Managers Deborah Shire has been appointed head of structured finance at the asset [...]
Best of the Brokers for 11 July 2014 July 10, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com AVIVA Morgan Stanley has reiterated its “overweight” rating on the insurer, with a target price of 568p. The broker thinks there is scope for further upside as Aviva is in the early stages of a multi-year turnaround, with shares not reflecting its medium [...]
London Report: FTSE at two-month low as Admiral and Aviva shares dive July 9, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index fell for a third straight session to a two-month low yesterday, with Admiral sinking after its trading update and Aviva down after outlining its turnaround targets. Next dipped two per cent to 6,365p after reaching its ex-dividend date. Car insurer Admiral slumped 3.3 percent after saying revenues fell in the first [...]
Tungsten hails its maiden results July 8, 2014 TUNGSTEN Corporation, the fast- growing electronic invoicing group, celebrated maiden full-year results yesterday by announcing it had won a new contract with the German government. The group, founded by private equity pioneer Edi Truell, beat rivals such as SAP to land the government as a client, adding to a blue chip list which includes firms [...]