CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT STEP IN TO PROTECT BRITISH COMPANIES FROM OVERSEAS TAKEOVERS? October 21, 2010 ANINDYA ROY AVIVA “It’s not a fundamentally bad idea to allow overseas companies to buy British ones. We live in a globalised world. The inflows are good for the economy, but there is a balance to be made to protect the national interest.” CHARLES OPPENHEIM LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY “I have mixed feelings. When you think of [...]
Henderson sees its assets grow by 5pc October 21, 2010 FUND management group Henderson saw its assets under management rise five per cent over the third quarter of the year due to market and foreign exchange gains, despite cautious investors pulling a net £100m out of the firm’s funds. Assets under management grew £2.8bn to a total of £59.2bn over the quarter, pulling them up [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD UNIVERSITIES BE ALLOWED TO CHARGE WHAT THEY WANT? October 11, 2010 DHUGAL ROBERTSON | AXE “No. If you are going to pay for university, then you should be provided with job opportunities at the end of your degree and not with a load of debt.” GABI MASON | TESTPLANT LTD “University fees should be capped. If they aren’t, we’ll end up with a large division of [...]
CITY VIEWS: WAS THE BANK OF ENGLAND RIGHT TO KEEP INTEREST RATES ON HOLD? October 7, 2010 ALEX WINSTANLEY | AVIVA “I am happy the Bank is keeping interest rates at the current level. We’re in a challenging period at the moment. I am confident with what the government is doing but we need to take stock and possibly look at what Europe is doing.” LAWRENCE CHIR | BLACKROCK “At the moment [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE THE CUTS TO CHILD BENEFIT FAIR? October 5, 2010 SHAREENA RASHID | AVIVA INVESTORS “I don’t disagree with the changes, but I think the flaw in the plan is the limit on individuals rather than households. It’s sending out half a message to families who want to return to work, and works against single parents too.” KAMRAN MIRZA | INTERPRO EUROPE “I disagree with [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS October 5, 2010 NATIONAL GRID JP Morgan Cazenove considers the Ofgem decision on the framework for the next transmission and gas distribution to be a friendly move for National Grid’s shareholders. The broker gives the energy giant a “neutral” rating and says the new finance director may offer a fresh look at the financing challenges facing National Grid [...]
RSA buys Canada’s GCAN to create fourth-largest insurer October 4, 2010 insurer RSA said it had agreed to buy Canada’s GCAN for 420m Canadian dollars (£259m), underscoring its takeover ambitions with a deal that creates Canada’s fourth-biggest general insurer. RSA, best known in Britain for its More Than home and motor insurance business, said the deal would boost earnings immediately, and would generate a mid-teens investment [...]
THE TIPSTER October 4, 2010 NON-FARM payroll data this Friday should provide the usual fireworks. Marking the start of the final quarter of 2010, this is a crucial figure. Markets have been jumpy amid continuing uncertainty about the global economy and this monthly release has moved stocks around dramatically in the past year. Its trajectory in the coming months could [...]
Big banks top High Court appearances October 3, 2010 THE UK’S largest four banks were repeatedly in court last year as the number of High Court cases involving FTSE 100 companies jumped by 16 per cent. Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC collectively made up 43 per cent of all High Court appearances by the UK’s largest companies, [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHICH DEVICE DO YOU THINK WILL WIN THE TABLET WARS? September 28, 2010 ALEX GADEMANN | FOREX.COM I already own an iPad. It was the first time I bought an apple and I bought it because of the novelty. If you put me in the same place with the two products I would definitely look at what Blackberry has to offer. SARAH RICKWOOD | AVIVA I have a [...]