Aviva rebuffs £5bn bid from RSA August 13, 2010 INSURER RSA has approached rival Aviva about buying its general insurance operations in the UK and elsewhere for £5bn, Sky News has reported. Aviva declined to comment, while RSA was not immediately available. The approach was immediately rejected by the Aviva board, and there are no ongoing discussions between the companies, accoring to the report. [...]
Standard Life profit up on overseas expansion August 11, 2010 INSURER Standard Life reaped the benefits of growth at its overseas division to post higher interim profits. Operating profit before tax from continuing operations rose ten per cent from last year to £182m, helped by growth overseas in areas such as Canada and India. Net inflows rose 71 per cent to £5.3bn, while the company [...]
Investing with a conscience has the potential for long-term rewards August 10, 2010 THE need for responsible investment has never been more relevant in the wake of the BP Deepwater disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and multinational oil companies’ controversial activities in the Canadian tar sands. Responsible investment has traditionally been seen as a domain for militant activists and students whereby stocks that do not meet certain [...]
SPORT | IN BRIEF August 10, 2010 Simmonds leads British 1-2 SWIMMING: Lizzie Simmonds led Britain to a one-two finish in the 200m backstroke at the European Championships in Budapest yesterday. Gemma Spofforth took silver as Simmonds, the world No1 at 200m this year, sealed gold in a time of two minutes 7.04 seconds. Earlier in the day, Britain’s Liam Tancock battled [...]
Banks boost FTSE past the 5,400 mark after quiet day August 9, 2010 FINANCIAL stocks boosted the UK’s leading share index yesterday, rallying from falls in the previous session following weak US jobs data and supported by energy markers which gained in tandem with crude. The FTSE 100 was up 78.13 points, or 1.5 per cent, at 5,410.52, having closed 0.6 per cent lower on Friday, albeit in [...]
Aviva sees its profit leap as slashes costs August 5, 2010 AVIVA increased its market capitalisation by almost three quarters of a billion pounds yesterday, after its London-listed shares soared on better-than-expected half-year profits. Aviva shares, which have underperformed the sector over the course of the year so far, added 7.18 per cent over the day to close at 394.3p, valuing the group at £11.06bn. The [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF AVIVA’S RESULTS? August 5, 2010 BARRIE CORNES | PANMURE GORDON These were great figures pretty much across the board. The life operation was the star performer, driven in part by improving new business margins – specifically in the UK, where the 3.4 per cent margin was very impressive and benefited from a favourable product mix, with a shift to annuities [...]
FTSE ends lower as Barclays leads banking sector retreat August 5, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares closed down yesterday, with Barclays leading banking shares lower after it posted first-half numbers and downbeat US weekly jobless claims data later in the day only adding to the downward pressure. The FTSE 100 closed down 20.38 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 5,365.78, having fallen back from a session high of [...]
Double champ Farah targets African elite August 5, 2010 LONG distance king Mo Farah insists his European double gold is just the kick-start he needs for a crack at the Africans. The 27-year-old won the hearts of the nation last week by leading Great Britain to a best ever European Championships campaign with gold in both the 5,000m and 10,000m in Barcelona. Despite earning [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 1, 2010 THE SUNDAYS The Sunday Telegraph INVESTORS DEMAND ETHICS AUDIT New rules should be introduced that would increase the cost of capital for companies with controversial environmental and human rights records, according to one of Britain’s largest investors. Steve Waygood, chief of sustainability research at Aviva Investors, said: “If companies were forced to publish long-term data [...]