City Moves for 16 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 15, 2014 Vail Williams Nina Epstein has been appointed senior management surveyor at the commercial property adviser. She joins from DTZ, where she worked in its property asset management/business development division. Epstein has also held roles at Cushman & Wakefield, LaSalle Investment Management, and CB Hillier Parker. Aviva Investors Mark Connolly has been appointed chief investment officer, [...]
KPMG’s record breaking sales fuel more hiring December 9, 2014 Big four accountant KPMG International today announced record-breaking revenues for its worldwide network of $24.82bn (£15.8bn) for the fiscal year ended 30 September – a six per cent increase year-on-year. The Americas delivered the strongest growth over the year, with revenues rising eight per cent to $8.51bn. The Europe, the Middle East and Africa region [...]
Black Friday UK 2014: Retailers return to black after a frenzied day of spending December 8, 2014 The shopping frenzy created by Black Friday last week helped push retail sales back into growth in November as shoppers flocked online and into stores to snap up a bargain. Like-for-like retail sales rose by 0.9 per cent compared with November last year, when they increased by 0.6 per cent. This was also an improvement [...]
Best of the Brokers for 08 December 2014 December 7, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com CAMBIAN GROUP Numis reiterated its “buy” rating, following the firm’s acquisition of Woodleigh Community Care for £63m. The broker noted that Cambian’s management believes that it will be able to roll out Woodleigh’s hub-and-spoke model to other parts of its learning disability services. [...]
New car sales set to overtake pre-recession levels next year December 4, 2014 NEW CAR sales are showing no signs of hitting the brakes after increasing for the 33rd consecutive month in November. November new car sales reached 172,327, up by eight per cent on November 2013, according to figures released yesterday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. In the year-to-date new car sales have raced ahead [...]
Wages start to climb as talent pool is used up and employers chase jobseekers December 4, 2014 The long squeeze on workers’ wages is coming to an end, as recruiters today report that employers are competing harder for talent. As unemployment dives and the economy recovers, more employers are chasing fewer jobseekers, pushing up salaries. However, the intensity of the pressure will ease – the pace at which hiring is growing slowed to [...]
Autumn Statement 2014: Chancellor bids to get banks to pay tax quickly December 3, 2014 Britain's biggest banks will have to pay their taxes more quickly under new accounting rules brought in by the chancellor yesterday, bringing in an extra £3.5bn over the next four years. Lenders which made huge losses in the financial crisis are still offsetting current profits against those costs. The chancellor said he does not [...]
Investment assets back at pre-crisis levels December 1, 2014 THE AMOUNT of assets under management at the UK’s largest investment managers is now greater than it was before the financial crisis started, big four accountant KPMG said yesterday. The accountancy firm released its annual financial reporting by investment managers 2014 report, which analyses the most recent annual reports of the UK’s heaviest-hitting investment firms [...]
City Moves for 02 December 2014 | Who’s switching jobs December 1, 2014 Baker Tilly Jim Muir has been appointed head of financial services at the accountancy and business advisory firm. He previously worked at KPMG, and has held board level positions at a range of financial services businesses. Standard Chartered Gwynne Master has been appointed head of financial institutions for Europe in the bank’s corporate and institutional [...]
Triple lock plan to end fiscal drag November 30, 2014 THE INSTITUTE of Directors has offered up a bold new policy for George Osborne to consider in Autumn Statement week. The business group wants to see a triple lock system for income tax to ensure that the threshold for the higher rate increases each year by either the retail prices index, average wage inflation or [...]