CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 7, 2011 RFC Group John Harrison, who retired as a managing director of Numis Securities last month, has been named as chairman of Ambrian Partners, subject to completion of RFC’s acquisition of 100 per cent of Ambrian’s share capital. Harrison joined Numis in 1994 following a career at Lloyd’s of London. Since 2003, he has led the [...]
Aviva meets targets but sees capital surplus fall November 3, 2011 EUROPE-focused insurer Aviva met forecasts for both its savings and personal insurance businesses yesterday and sought to dispel concerns about its Eurozone debt holdings. Life and pensions sales fell ten per cent to £20.9bn in the first nine months of the year compared to a year ago, as it cut back on capital-intensive products. Sales [...]
FTSE weak as investors eye G20 November 3, 2011 The FTSE 100 tracked falls in Asia as leaders of the world’s biggest economies gathered in France for a G20 summit set to be dominated by the threat of Greece falling out of the Eurozone. The leaders of France and Germany, angered at Greece’s shock move to call a referendum on its latest bail-out plan [...]
Aviva life sales dented by Europe crisis November 3, 2011 British insurer Aviva said its life insurance sales fell in the first nine months of the year, reflecting tough conditions in its key European markets and a decision to walk away from less profitable business. Aviva, Britain’s second-biggest insurer, had life insurance sales of £23.6bn in the nine months to 30 September, down eight per [...]
Life insurers to see sales fall on tough economy October 30, 2011 ECONOMIC gloom and a tough three months for financial markets are expected to take their toll on life insurers’ third-quarter sales figures due in the coming weeks, analysts said yesterday. Only a few insurers with a foothold in popular niche markets are expected to outperform, but these will see double-digit sales increases, they said. “Figures [...]
Italy at heart of fresh Eurozone crisis fears October 28, 2011 Euphoria from this week’s Eurozone debt deal has evaporated after Italy’s latest bond auction as a lack of appetite for its ten-year bonds forced it to pay record yields to get the sale off the ground. In a sign of market scepticism that the Eurozone is safe from further debt problems, Italy had to sell [...]
Euro exuberance pushes the FTSE near three-month high October 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index jumped to a near three-month high yesterday as bullish investors uncorked their champagne bottles and toasted Europe’s plan to tackle its debt crisis. The upbeat news from Europe boosted appetite for riskier assets such as banking and commodity stocks, which helped the UK’s benchmark index surge 160.58 points or 2.9 per [...]
FTSE 100 climbs on hopes EU summit will tackle crisis October 26, 2011 BRITAIN’S leading share index last night reached its highest closing level for two-and-half months. Defensive stocks performed well as investors awaited the outcome of a European Union summit, which opened last night, to resolve the two-year-old sovereign debt crisis. Investors also rewarded companies reporting strong figures in a patchy quarterly results season, with BG Group [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 23, 2011 Little Chef The roadside chain has appointed Graham Sims as its new chairman. Sims is currently chief executive of Qunatilis, a non-executive board member at the UK Border Agency, and chairman of Kensington Consultancy Group. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years at BP, rising from operations manager for Portugal to UK retail managing [...]
France better on day but all credit to New Zealand October 23, 2011 YOU can’t contemplate how big an achievement it is to win a World Cup with your fourth choice fly-half. Not only have New Zealand been the best team for the last four years and at this tournament, they have also had to overcome so many setbacks. They deserve all the credit that they get. It [...]