The truth over board room pay February 20, 2012 REAL pay to non-executive directors of FTSE 100 companies has fallen, according to figures released this morning. Pay in the year to June 2011 rose by a median of four per cent, Incomes Data Services has found – lower than both the main measures of inflation over the period. In the 12 months to June [...]
Balls Brothers owner seeks new investor for expansion February 20, 2012 BALLS BROTHERS part-owner Novus Leisure is on the lookout for a new investor as the bar and club operator seeks to double the size of its London business in a ambitious expansion plan. Current owners Barclays and RBS – who seized control in a debt-for-equity swap that all but wiped out private equity house Cognetas [...]
Hedge funds set to seize Travelodge February 20, 2012 BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge is set to fall into the hands of two US hedge funds as it struggles under the burden of interest payments on its £530m debt pile. Avenue Capital and Golden Tree Asset Management, who are among the major creditors that have bought up its loans, have joined forces with an unnamed [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 20, 2012 Rowanmoor Pensions Rowanmoor Pensions, the independent small self-administered scheme provider and self-invested personal pensions operator, has appointed Martin Stead as a regulated consultant in its consultancy team. Stead joins from AXA Wealth, where he was a financial planning manager in the company’s Bancassurance division. Prior to AXA Wealth, Stead was a corporate relationship manager at [...]
Changes to the lifetime pension allowance February 19, 2012 IN LESS than two months the lifetime pension allowance, i.e. the maximum value that can be accumulated within all pensions before incurring an exceptional tax charge, will fall from £1.8m to £1.5m. If the total value of all an individual’s pension schemes exceeds this amount, the surplus will incur an exceptional tax charge of 55 [...]
FTSE buoyed by Greek endgame February 17, 2012 The FTSE 100 opened on the front foot as the end game at last appeared to be approaching in the Greek bailout debacle. Optimism is growing that Greece has finally done enough to secure a second bailout, which could be approved as early as Monday. Averting a disorderly Greek insolvency is seen as a crucial [...]
Banks face new threat of break up February 16, 2012 BRITISH retail banks must act fast to encourage competition or face the threat of being broken up, a leading regulator has warned. John Fingleton, head of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), yesterday said he would contemplate asking for a Competition Commission investigation into the sector unless there was a “step change” in the way [...]
Banks hit by latest ratings blow February 16, 2012 The FTSE 100 fell this morning with the banking sector pegging back the index as Moody’s threatened to downgrade 17 banks and securities firms and the Greece bailout hit yet more hurdles. The ratings agency said it might cut the long-term credit rating of UBS, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley by as much as three [...]
Moody’s in downgrade threat to 17 financial companies February 16, 2012 Moody’s warned on Thursday it may cut the credit ratings of 17 global and 114 European financial institutions in another sign the impact of the euro zone government debt crisis is spreading throughout the global financial system. It was reviewing the long-term ratings and standalone credit assessments of a range of banks, Moody’s added. Markets [...]
Moody’s places almost all EU banks on alert February 15, 2012 RATINGS agency Moody’s put more than 100 European financial firms on review for possible downgrades last night, in the wake of its mass downgrade of sovereign debt on Monday. UK-based banks such as Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland are included in the review. Lloyds, which has been on review since November, is also [...]