Don’t worry, be happy: FTSE 100 shakes off its ECB woes to open higher, pushed up by Aviva March 11, 2016 The FTSE 100 stormed back into positive territory this morning, after a miserable finish to yesterday's trading. The market was up 1.5 per cent at 6,131.6 points, after it edged perilously close to the 6,000 mark yesterday, when comments by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi hinted rates are unlikely to be cut any further. [...]
City Moves for 11 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 11, 2016 BLM Risk and insurance law business BLM has announced the appointment of abuse claims expert Sharon Moohan. Sharon joins BLM’s abuse claims team having overseen €953m (£743m) of redress payments in her role as sole solicitor for the Irish Residential Institutions Redress Board. The board was set up in 2002 to make fair and reasonable [...]
Aviva share price rises as it unveils 20 per cent profit boost and hikes dividend after Friends Life buyout March 10, 2016 What floods? Insurer Aviva said it was hiking its dividend after it completed its acquisition of Friends Life ahead of schedule. The figures Operating profits rose 20 per cent to £2.7bn in 2015, Aviva said this morning – seven per cent ahead of analyst expectations of £2.5bn. That allowed it to hike dividend by 15 per cent to 20.8p. Nice. The company said the [...]
FTSE 100 closes lower after ECB president Mario Draghi takes stocks on a rollercoaster ride of emotions March 10, 2016 Oh, Mr Draghi. What have you done to us? The FTSE finished almost 1.8 per cent lower at 6,036.7 points today – perilously close to the 6,000 mark – after European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi sent equities (and the euro. And gold) on an emotional rollercoaster ride. The index started the day off undulating gently, before rising [...]
FTSE 100 has a muted start as investors await European Central Bank big reveal March 10, 2016 The FTSE 100 made a muted start to trading today, as investors nervously awaited a big reveal from the European Central Bank's Mario Draghi, who is expected to take rates further into negative territory later today. The FTSE 100 edged down 0.1 per cent in early trading, as economists expected Draghi to cut the central bank's deposit rate [...]
Aviva set to report £100m impact from UK floods while Prudential will post another year of earnings growth March 6, 2016 Aviva is set to reveal the UK floods in December put a £100m dent in earnings for 2015 when it reports its annual results on Thursday. The impact of the floods, as well as the recently announced acquisition of RBC Insurance in Canada, is likely to drag operating earnings per share from 49.2p to 47p, [...]
The rate of change: Oliver’s Simon Martin on speed, Starbucks and the in-house model February 29, 2016 Whether it’s time to market or a reactive social campaign, speed is of the essence in business today. But while a catalyst remains unchanged after accelerating a chemical reaction, marketing agencies must transform to meet the evolving needs of their clients. “We created all the content around educating Starbucks customers about pre-ordering their drinks,” says Simon [...]
More and more people are planning ahead for their death by looking for ways to cover funeral costs February 25, 2016 More and more people are planning ahead for the financial costs of their final days, according to analysis from a funeral plan provider. According to Golden Charter, the number of sales for pre-paid funeral plans shot up by nearly 25 per cent in 2015. Collectively across the UK people now hold more than a million pre-paid [...]
London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse deal: Robey Warshaw, Linklaters and Perella Weinberg among the big players working on the merger February 23, 2016 As the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Boerse hammer out the details of their potential merger, City A.M. takes a look at the bankers and other advisers trying to make the deal happen. Boutique banks are booming, and none more so than London-based Robey Warshaw. Co-founder Simon Robey may be a huge Arsenal fan, but was [...]
EU referendum: Asda, HSBC, Vodafone and nearly 200 sign letter saying Brexit would threaten jobs – but Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s are not on the list February 23, 2016 The bosses of HSBC, BT, Vodafone and Asda are among those to have put their name to an open letter backing the remain camp and Prime Minister David Cameron's reforms in Europe. More than a third of the UK's biggest companies were represented in the letter, which was published in The Times this morning, saying they represented [...]