Aviva pledges £500m towards infrastructure projects in the UK December 19, 2013 AVIVA has committed £500m to invest in UK infrastructure projects in sectors including transport, hospitals and utilities. The insurance group said yesterday that its commitment follows a deal on new European capital requirements for insurers – known as Solvency II – which had proved less burdensome than initially feared, freeing up more money to invest. [...]
Complaints fall at most of UK’s train operators December 19, 2013 COMPLAINTS about Britain’s trains fell sharply in the three months to the end of September, which the regulator hailed yesterday as part of a long-term decline in passenger grievances. Train operators got 26 complaints for every 100,000 customers in the quarter, down 19 per cent on a year ago, the Office of Rail Regulation said. [...]
Tomkins eyes extended Test run December 19, 2013 HE WAS described during the autumn internationals as simply keeping the England No13 shirt warm for the injured Manu Tuilagi, but Saracens centre Joel Tomkins has very different ideas. With Lions duo Brad Barritt and Tuilagi injured, head coach Stuart Lancaster turned to the inexperienced pair of Tomkins and Gloucester’s Billy Twelvetrees to fire England’s [...]
City Moves for 16 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 15, 2013 Fladgate The law firm has made two appointments. Ian Brent (right) joins as a corporate partner. He was previously head of corporate at Davies Arnold Cooper and head of London corporate at Halliwells. Melissa Needham joins as a corporate associate from DAC Beachcroft. BDO The accountancy firm has recruited Neil Williams as a director in [...]
Quins and Wasps triumph to boost Euro prospects December 15, 2013 HARLEQUINS continued their Heineken Cup resurgence with a 17-3 win over Racing Metro yesterday and director of rugby Conor O’Shea insists his side are right back in the hunt for a quarter-final berth. Fly-half Nick Evans kicked three penalties before suffering a shoulder injury, while wing Charlie Walker crossed just seconds before the break to [...]
Best of the Brokers for 09 December 2013 December 8, 2013 To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com PENNON GROUP Barclays has upgraded the group to “overweight” with a target price of 730p after deciding the business would deliver compound dividend growth of seven per cent a year up until 2020. Analyst said this was due to new visibility from its [...]
Quality of Quins’ European win stuns even triumphant players December 8, 2013 HARLEQUINS No8 Nick Easter admitted the quality of their performance in Saturday’s bonus-point 32-8 win at Racing Metro shocked even their own dressing room. With two defeats to open up their Heineken Cup campaign, Quins gave their qualification cause a huge boost as Nick Evans, Easter, Charlie Walker and then Karl Dickson all went over. [...]
Firstgroup set to appoint new chairman December 5, 2013 FIRSTGROUP is set to hire Aviva chairman John McFarlane to take the same role at the transport group, replacing Martin Gilbert. FirstGroup is expected to make an announcement today, according to Sky News. Gilbert said he would step down following First’s fundraising in May. He’s been at the firm since its 1995 foundation.
Uni pals set for European clash December 5, 2013 HARLEQUINS centre Matt Hopper is relishing the chance to finally go head to head with former Cardiff University mate turned British and Irish Lion Jamie Roberts in the Heineken Cup tomorrow. Roberts, who completed his medicine degree and joined French club Racing Metro this year, got his break with Cardiff when Hopper was captain of [...]
Insurers’ £25bn growth pledge December 3, 2013 SIX CITY insurers have today announced a major investment into UK infrastructure projects, committing £25bn over the next five years. The money, which does not include finance for existing schemes, signals a commitment to new large-scale projects, following the successful negotiation of changes to EU insurance regulation that had been holding back investment. Changes to [...]