LONDON REPORT May 13, 2012 THIS week will see a string of stormy annual meetings, which will be closely watched for signs that the “shareholder spring” is taking hold. The market is also due to digest some key earnings reports on Thursday and Facebook’s long-awaited US float on Friday. However, today looks set to be relatively quiet on the corporate [...]
O’Shea warns nervy Quins as final beckons May 13, 2012 HARLEQUINS director of rugby Conor O’Shea admits his troops will have to learn to cope better under pressure after they overcame a nervy start to book their place in the Aviva Premiership final. The table toppers needed a try from Joe Marler five minutes from time to edge past Northampton 25-23 in Saturday’s semi-final at [...]
Shareholder Spring claims new casualties May 10, 2012 THE SHAREHOLDER Spring continued to blossom yesterday as investors rejected another executive pay settlement. Pendragon, Britain’s leading car dealer, was forced to back down on plans to increase its directors’ pay packets after 67 per cent of shareholders voted against its remuneration report. Meanwhile almost half of Trinity Mirror investors voted against the proposed pay [...]
City bonuses to crash to lowest level since 1998 May 9, 2012 CITY bonuses for the current financial year are set to collapse to the lowest level in fourteen years according to new analysis. For 2012/2013 performance-based bonuses are expected to total £2.3bn – a near 50 per cent crash from this year’s £4.4bn total and less than a fifth of the £11.6bn peak in 2007/08, according [...]
Aviva ex-boss loses share bonus May 9, 2012 Aviva’s former chief executive Andrew Moss waved goodbye to a £2.4m bonus after quitting the insurance firm earlier this week. Moss was considered by the remuneration committee not to be a “good leaver” and will not be paid two bonus schemes’ worth of deferred shares. Nonetheless, Moss will still pocket a £1.75m golden goodbye. MORE [...]
Aviva exits Malaysia May 9, 2012 BRITISH insurance firm Aviva has put its Malaysian operations on the block and is close to hiring a bank to help with the sale process, according to reports. The deal, which is in its early stages, could raise around $200m (£124m). Aviva has a long held ambition to exit non-core markets as part of strategy [...]
Shareholder activism proves that regulating pay would be senseless May 9, 2012 ANDREW Moss, who had been in charge of Aviva since 2007, became the third chief executive to quit amid increasing shareholder discontent in recent weeks, following David Brennan at AstraZeneca and Trinity Mirror’s Sly Bailey. Just what is going on with the public limited company, one of the great inventions of capitalism? It has provided [...]
City revolt hits more top chiefs May 8, 2012 THE SHAREHOLDER Spring yesterday claimed its highest-profile victim yet as Aviva chief executive Andrew Moss quit the insurance giant following investor protests. His resignation came on the same day that William Hill boss Ralph Topping avoided losing a vote on his remuneration package by the narrowest of margins. Moss, who had led the firm since [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 8, 2012 Barclays Sharon Quinlan has been appointed head of structured property, London within Barclays’s debt finance team. She joins from Bank of Ireland, where she was head of business banking and responsible for running its UK commercial banking franchise. She takes over from Richard Payne, who will stay on as a consultant. PMB Holdings Ed Jones [...]
FTSE slumps to fresh 2012 low May 8, 2012 A slump in heavyweight mining stocks drove Britain’s benchmark share index down to its lowest level since the start of 2012 yesterday, after Greece’s commitment to bailout pledges was put into question – and dealers said further falls were likely. The FTSE 100 index ended down 100.51 points, or 1.8 per cent, at 5,554.55 points [...]