Bay Trading salvaged by sale to Rinku Group May 19, 2009 FASHION chain Bay Trading has been rescued by a last-ditch sale to clothing wholesaler and retailer Rinku Group, administrator Deloitte said yesterday. Rinku, which owns the Tigi-Wear, Viz-a-Viz and iZ clothing brands, has bought 45 of Bay Trading’s stores and 85 concessions. The chain’s remaining 125 outlets will be wound up and returned to landlords [...]
Pearl’s bankers in the driving seat May 18, 2009 BANK lenders to Pearl, Hugh Osmond’s struggling insurance group, have won a significant concession in their fight not to accept a major write-off on their £3bn loans. Pearl’s bankers were recently asked to take a 40 per cent write-off on their loans as part of a £500m injection of equity from a shareholder group, Liberty. This group [...]
Russian plots Lloyd’s entry via Chaucer May 14, 2009 RUSSIAN billionaire Alex Knaster unveiled plans to buy his way into the Lloyd’s of London insurance market yesterday, saying he is interested in taking a 29.9 per cent stake in Chaucer Holdings. Chaucer chief executive Ewen Gilmour confirmed the interest and ongoing takeover discussions, from Knaster’s private equity firm Pamplona Capital, in an official statement [...]
GET QUALIFIED FINANCIAL RISK MANAGER (FRM) May 13, 2009 For those wanting to get ahead in the risk management sector, acquiring a professional qualification can be a key factor. Bodies including the Association of Insurance and Risk Managers (AIRMIC), the Institute of Risk Managers (IRM) and the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) run training qualifications for risk managers. GARP’s Financial Risk Manager (FRM) [...]
London’s gloomy firms September 1, 2008 London businesses are among the most pessimistic nationwide when considering their prospects for the coming year, reveals a survey published today by the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales (ICAEW). According to the latest UK business confidence monitor, London is the third most negative region with confidence standing at a “record low” of [...]
Allianz sells Dresdner in £8bn deal September 1, 2008 German insurance giant Allianz last night agreed to sell its beleaguered banking arm Dresdner to rival Commerzbank in a deal worth €9.8bn (£7.9bn) – a tie up that will lead to at least 1,000 job losses in the City. In what will be the biggest German banking merger in nearly a decade, Commerzbank will buy [...]
Price website offers half of future profits August 28, 2008 Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, will increase its dividend payout ratio to 50 per cent of all future profits. The bold move was revealed yesterday alongside interim results, and was welcomed by shareholders in the firm, who saw their investment dramatically decrease because of last year’s flotation. The interim dividend is held at 1.3p per [...]
FDIC predicts more trouble for US banks August 27, 2008 The US banking sector saw its profits nosedive by 86 per cent in the second quarter as the number of banks in crisis reached new heights, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation said yesterday. Ongoing deterioration in the housing and credit markets saw federally-insured banks earn just $5bn (£2.5bn) in the second quarter, compared with $36.8bn [...]
Axa avoids worst of the fallout August 8, 2008 Axa, Europe’s second-biggest insurer, reported lower first-half net profit yesterday although its earnings still managed to beat analyst expectations. Net profit fell 32 per cent to €2.16bn (£1.7bn) partly due to write downs on fixed income assets. The French insurer revealed a €237m impact on asset backed securities and a €502m hit on fixed income [...]
BNP Paribas tops market and outperforms rivals August 7, 2008 BNP Paribas the French banking giant, reported a 34 per cent fall in second-quarter net profits as it beat expectations to outperform some of its closest rivals, sending shares up by as much as 6.3 per cent. France’s largest listed bank reported a net profit of €1.51bn (£1.18bn) for the quarter, down from €2.28bn, as [...]