London Report: Osborne’s speech sinks insurers and gambling groups March 19, 2014 BRITAIN’S top shares fell yesterday as major insurance stocks suffered a sell-off after changes announced in the Budget threatened their profits. George Osborne also dealt a blow to gambling companies such after he announced a new tax on certain betting machines. The drop in insurers’ shares took the most points off the blue-chip FTSE 100 [...]
Pension providers’ shares plunge on non-compulsory annuities March 19, 2014 Shares in UK-listed pension providers are feeling the heat after chancellor George Osborne’s announcement that pensioners will no longer have to buy an annuity. Shares in Legal & General have plummeted seven per cent, to 214p. Source: Google Aviva has shed over four per cent to 495p, and Standard Life has seen shares fall almost [...]
City Moves for 18 March 2014 | Who’s switching jobs March 17, 2014 Management Consultancies Association Chris Cooper has been elected president of the Management Consultancies Association. He is currently head of Challenge Consulting. Cooper has previously held positions at BDO and OASiS. Nikko Asset Management The asset management firm has announced the appointment of Al Clark as global head of multi-asset. Clark has over 20 years’ experience [...]
Exeter Chiefs win first ever trophy March 16, 2014 RUGBY: Exeter Chiefs fought their way to an historic LV Cup victory over Northampton Saints yesterday, the first major trophy in the club’s 143-year history. Tries from Chris Whitehead and Dean Mumm helped the west country side to a 15-8 win at Sandy Park over the current Aviva Premiership leaders.
Best of the Brokers for 12 March 2014 March 11, 2014 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com AVIVA RBC Capital has moved its target price on the insurer from 400p to 550p and upgraded the stock from “underperform” to “neutral” following last week’s results, saying that a return to top-line growth in its life business and management drive to improve [...]
The Power of Three: How big business could join government to support small companies March 10, 2014 IF I received a pound for every time a chief executive of a large firm said to me “we’d like to be the champions of small business”, I’d be comfortably off. However, over the past year, I’ve seen an increasing number of businesses not only voicing this statement, but acting on it. This is a [...]
Aviva’s back in the black with profits of £2bn March 6, 2014 INSURER Aviva announced a strong set of annual results yesterday, following a £2.9bn loss in 2012. Profits rebounded to £2.1bn in 2013, allowing the company to issue a final dividend of 9.4p per share. The value of new business to the group rose by 13 per cent. Although the insurer estimates the cost of UK [...]
Bottom Line: A leap into record books by hedging death March 6, 2014 WHILE the salient facts surrounding insurer Aviva yesterday focused on its encouraging profits and ongoing turnaround, there was one nugget of information which might have failed to catch the eye – the biggest pension trade in history. In a brief statement in its 175-page report, later amplified by chief executive Mark Wilson, Aviva said that [...]
London Report: Corporates push up FTSE despite ECB and Russia March 6, 2014 BRITAIN’s top share index edged higher yesterday, buoyed by updates from Aviva and Aggreko, although lack of action by the European Central Bank (ECB) and uncertainty over Ukraine capped gains. Equities in London tracked Eurozone stocks lower, after ECB president Mario Draghi offered no new measures to boost lending in the region. Speculation that he [...]
Exclusive: Axed Ashton: I don’t worry I’ll miss out on World Cup March 6, 2014 ENGLAND wing Chris Ashton insists missing out on next year’s World Cup is not on his mind, despite being overlooked for a fourth Six Nations match in a row this weekend. The 26-year-old has scored 18 tries in 37 Tests for England, but has not featured in Stuart Lancaster’s team since November and could see [...]