Sports Direct bags Oxford Street address for high end retailer Flannels April 12, 2016 Times might be tough for Sports Direct at the moment, but that isn't stopping the business splashing the cash – specifically on a shiny new property on Oxford Street. The premises, at 161-167 Oxford Street and 36 Poland Street, has been acquired freehold from CIP Property, a nominee of Aviva Investors for £108m. Sports Direct said [...]
McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon and Domino’s urged to crackdown on use of antibiotics in global meat and poultry supply chains April 11, 2016 A coalition of 54 institutional investors, which manages funds totalling $1 trillion, has called on 10 UK and US restaurant chains including McDonald’s, JD Wetherspoon, Wendy’s and Domino’s Pizza Group to curb antibiotic use in their global meat and poultry supply chains. The investors, which include Aviva Investors and Coller Capital, have written to ten [...]
Proptech: Aviva backs property tech start-up Opun with £3m funding April 11, 2016 An online property startup that helps homeowners find local contractors to repair their homes has secured £3m of funding from Aviva's new capital venture arm. Opun, which was founded two years ago by entrepreneurs Rod Brown and John Cushing, acts effectively like a broker by putting renters or landlords in touch with craftsmen in their area and [...]
Could you be unwittingly involved in the Panama tax-avoidance scandal? April 8, 2016 What do you, David Cameron and Vladimir Putin have in common? Panama. Don’t wait for another punchline, it’s not a joke. Although the world’s great and not-so-good have been caught up in the sensational "Panama Papers" revelations, the latest twists and turns have revealed an even more intriguing side to the life of offshore finance – [...]
Flood Re: What you need to know about the reinsurance scheme that launched today April 4, 2016 It's something of a catch 22 – those who are most in need of a good home insurance policy are often those least able to afford it, thanks to insurers needing to raise premiums to adequately reflect the risk they expose themselves to, or simply refusing to cover some areas at all. That's precisely why government-backed [...]
Here’s the UK’s “crash for cash” insurance fraud capital March 31, 2016 It may be a central part of the Midlands engine, but Birmingham also tops a different kind of motor-centric list. Birmingham has today been named the UK's crash for cash capital, with one out of every four fraudulent claims occurring in this city. The research by insurance company Aviva discovered that crash for cash incidences, in which fraudsters [...]
Aviva doubles chief executive Mark Wilson’s pay packet to £5.6m in 2015 after Friends Life acquisition March 29, 2016 Insurance giant Aviva has doubled the pay of its chief executive Mark Wilson to £5.6m in 2015, up from £2.6m in 2014 following the acquisition on rival Friends Life. The company posted a 20 per cent rise in operating profit for 2015, along with a 15 per cent dividend hike to 20.8p. Ballooning executive pay packets have been [...]
“How would you get an elephant in a fridge?”: These are the 10 toughest questions asked at job interviews – including questions from Topshop, Network Rail and EY March 29, 2016 Job interviews are galling at the best of times – but imagine being asked how to squeeze an elephant into a fridge, or how many people named Gary were born in 2013. That's what candidates at, respectively, Gemalto and BT were faced with, according to jobs marketplace Glassdoor, which has put together the 10 toughest [...]
City Moves for 22 March 2016 | Who’s switching jobs March 22, 2016 RPC Consulting RPC Consulting – the insurance consultancy arm of RPC – has appointed four senior insurance actuarial professionals to its team in London and Cambridge. Pete Lee, James Norman and Tony Lovick all worked at EMB (now Willis Towers Watson). Natasha Regan joins from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC). Pete has over 25 years’ [...]
Tungsten’s share price climbs as board rejects Edi Truell’s proposal as “universally without merit for shareholders” March 21, 2016 The board of Tungsten has rejected the latest proposal made by Edi Truell for the company he floated three years ago, saying his plans were "universally without merit for shareholders". However, Truell told City A.M. he had already been approached by shareholders keen to learn more. “Several [shareholders] have said they want the option to at least [...]