Insurers fail to lift the FTSE as investors await US results October 7, 2009 BRITAIN’S leading shares closed lower yesterday as falls in oil majors and food retailers offset gains in insurers as investors waited for the start of the earnings seasons in the US to give a fresh direction. The FTSE 100 closed down 29.08 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,108.90, after ending 2.3 per cent higher [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED THAT HOUSE PRICES COULD SOAR OUT OF CONTROL AGAIN? October 6, 2009 TONY DOONA CARILLION“I don’t believe they will get out of control, in fact I think they’re more likely to go down again. There’s a shortage of cash in general and it’ll be no better next year. There’s no construction going on, simply because no one has any money. I can’t see the government doing anything [...]
Finsbury spins another healthy profits increase October 6, 2009 CADBURY’S financial public relations adviser Finsbury has increased profits despite the downturn in the economy, according to documents filed at Companies House. Profits have reached £8.8m against £8.75m last year and founder Roland Rudd has seen his pay package reach £2.9m against £2.25m the year before. Rudd, a former financial journalist with the Financial Times, [...]
Hodges to head Aviva UK as insurer announces management reshuffle October 6, 2009 Aviva yesterday announced that its head of UK life insurance Mark Hodges is to become chief executive of its entire domestic business, bringing all its UK life and non-life operations under one leader. The move is part of a management shake-up which has been prompted by the retirement of Aviva’s chief executive of North America, [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 6, 2009 ThreadneedleThe asset management firm has appointed Kris Haber as global head of hedge funds and head of the North American business. Haber, who will report directly to the firm’s chief executive Crispin Henderson, joins after a 13-year spell working for Lazard Asset Management, where he was most recently a managing director for global alternative investments. [...]
Aviva in Delta Lloyd listing next month October 5, 2009 INSURER Aviva yesterday said it was on track to sell off a chunk of its Dutch unit next month, raising hopes the firm will go on the hunt for buyout targets. Aviva said it will sell off part of the Delta Lloyd unit in November by listing the company on the Euronext stock exchange in [...]
Aviva to raise 1bn by listing its Dutch unit October 4, 2009 INSURANCE group Aviva will today announce plans to raise £1bn through a partial flotation of Dutch unit Delta Lloyd. The insurer is expected to float between 30 and 40 per cent of the Dutch business on the Euronext Stock Exchange in Amsterdam. The listing will be the biggest initial public offering in Europe in the [...]
RBSset to appoint new non-executive directors as it looks to beef up board October 1, 2009 ROYALBANKOF SCOTLAND (RBS) is set to announce that two new independent directors are joining its board today, as it seeks to improve its capital position. The appointment of Philip Scott, ex-finance director at insurer Aviva, and Penny Hughes, who was head of UK and Ireland for Coca-Cola, into non-executive positions is expected today. The move [...]
Aviva puts saga of inherited estates to bed in 470m deal October 1, 2009 AVIVA said it will hand out a £470m windfall to around 805,000 policyholders that invested in two of its with-profits funds by Christmas. The special payout comes from inherited estates built up by the funds – pots of money that were hoarded in boom markets to protect against market downturns. The reattribution of the inherited [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 30, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMESTHOUSANDS TRAPPED IN EARTHQUAKEThousands of people lay trapped beneath rubble and at least 75 were killed after an earthquake devastated large swathes of Indonesia’s West Sumatra province, according to government officials. Officials warned that the death toll from the 7.6-magnitude tremor – along the same faultline that yielded the earthquake that set off the [...]