Impressive results that should give the share price a much-needed lift March 3, 2011 AVIVA’s results and strategy update should cheer investors for several reasons. The winter weather that has hindered other insurers’ results didn’t even dent its £2.4bn pre-tax profit. Its strength in life insurance and commitment to cost-cutting are welcome, particularly against a backdrop of new regulation such as the ban on using gender in insurance calculations [...]
Time to tackle our terrible tax code March 3, 2011 AMAZINGLY, the world’s fastest talker can speak 637 words aloud a minute. Yes, seriously. The record-holder is a Londoner called Steve Woodmore, who has featured repeatedly in the Guinness Book of Records. Tolstoy’s War and Peace comes in at a hefty 1,204 pages; it would therefore take 12 and a half hours for our record-holder [...]
Time to tackle our terrible tax code March 2, 2011 AMAZINGLY, the world’s fastest talker can speak 637 words aloud a minute. Yes, seriously. The record-holder is a Londoner called Steve Woodmore, who has featured repeatedly in the Guinness Book of Records. Tolstoy’s War and Peace comes in at a hefty 1,204 pages; it would therefore take 12 and a half hours for our record-holder [...]
Silver boom boosts Fresnillo March 1, 2011 MEXICAN silver miner Fresnillo was yesterday the latest firm to post bumper gains from the commodities boom, more than doubling its pre-tax profit to $1bn (£615m). The firm said the price charged for its gold and silver rose 27 and 40 per cent respectively during the year, on production up 33.4 and 1.7 per cent [...]
Stuart Gulliver is not a man in a hurry February 28, 2011 STUART Gulliver has made no secret of his long-held desire to win the top job. Having coveted the prize for so many years, he might have imagined taking over in more propitious circumstances; no-one dreams about their first set of results knocking £4bn off the market cap. But during his three decades of service, Gulliver [...]
Chicago boom looks good for US factories February 28, 2011 CHICAGO’S purchasing managers’ index (PMI) reached a 22-year high in February, surprising economists and boding well for today’s US-wide manufacturing results. The PMI hit 71.2 this month, driven upwards by growth in production and new orders, which reached their highest level – 75.9 – since 1983. All index scores above 50 indicate economic expansion. “This [...]
A twenty-first century wine firm, bringing Burgundy’s reds to China February 27, 2011 What is it like to work for a firm with two and a half centuries of tradition at your back? Hew Blair says it “drives you forward,” and his young broking manager Tom Jenkins agrees. The wine merchant Justerini and Brooks, the first wine firm to receive the royal warrant, has provided wines for every [...]
THE TIPSTER February 20, 2011 RECENTLY downgraded to “hold”, investors have not been deterred from Dragon Oil which will be publishing interim results tomorrow. As the crisis in the Middle East unfolds, and stop-gap governments evolve, oil prices, which have seen a correction since last week, should carry on rising and the sector continue to perform. Cantor Index offers a [...]
Agius: 50p tax makes it harder to keep talent in London February 15, 2011 THE 50p top tax rate makes it harder to retain talent in London, Barclays chairman Marcus Agius told City A.M. yesterday. He also said the bank’s “regretted losses” – staff that it has lost despite efforts to prevent them leaving – have risen, adding: “Competition for talent is fierce.” UK banks face a particularly difficult struggle to [...]
Credit Suisse cuts bonuses and dividend February 10, 2011 CREDIT Suisse has cut back on bonuses dramatically, announcing at its full-year results yesterday that 2010 bonus payouts were down 25 per cent per employee compared to last year. The bank also downgraded its all-important return on equity forecast – a key prediction of mid-term profitability – from 18 per cent to 15 per cent, [...]