Large company insolvency rate cut by over half November 27, 2013 INSOLVENCIES among Britain’s largest companies more than halved in October when compared to a year earlier, according to data released by Experian yesterday. In a boost to the UK’s economic prospects, Experian said that the year-on-year insolvency rate for companies with 500 or more employees was 0.08 per cent last month – down from 0.2 per [...]
SEI Investments fined £900,000 for failing to protect client funds November 26, 2013 INVESTMENT manager SEI was fined £900,000 by the Financial Conduct Authority yesterday for failing to protect client money properly. The City watchdog found that from November 2007 to October 2012, SEI repeatedly failed to perform its internal reconciliations, failed on several occasions to ensure any shortfall or excess identified was covered by the end of [...]
Bosch sells solar panel plant as £2bn loss takes shine off unit November 26, 2013 SOLARWORLD, once Germany’s top solar group, agreed to buy one of Bosch’s solar panel plants, as the car parts supplier rids itself of a business that caused it to post billions of euros worth of losses. Under the deal, SolarWorld will take over cell and module production capacity of a combined 900 megawatts (MW) from [...]
Regulator slaps fine on SEI Investments Europe for client money breaches November 26, 2013 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has fined SEI Investments (Europe) £900,200 for failing to protect its client money properly. Between November 2007 and October 2012, SEI failed to make sure that its records and accounts were maintained in an accurate way, said the regulator. Under FCA rules, companies are required to keep client money separate [...]
English football going German and embracing fan ownership November 25, 2013 ENGLISH football is set for a steep rise in the number of clubs adopting fan-owned structures, according to a new study. Teams in financial difficulties are particularly likely to turn to the community interest company (CIC) model, report insolvency experts Begbies Traynor. Darlington, Eastbourne and Scottish side Stenhousemuir are among those to embrace increased supporter [...]
Bank of England analysts back sovereign cocos November 19, 2013 GOVERNMENTS should copy banks and issue contingent convertible bonds (cocos) – debt instruments which ease the burden on borrowers if the sovereigns get into financial difficulty – a Bank of England paper proposed yesterday. The maturity dates on the bonds would automatically be extended when the government takes a bailout, easing the immediate pressure on [...]
City Moves for 19 November 2013 | Who’s switching jobs November 18, 2013 Knight Frank The property company has hired Liz Crawford as an associate within its healthcare team. She was most recently at Humberts Leisure, where she was a director. Prior to that, Crawford was head of licenced and leisure at Lambert Smith Hampton. Axa Investment Management The investment management business has recruited Shajahan Alam as a solutions [...]
UK’s zombie firms taking a bite out of productivity November 18, 2013 THOUSANDS of heavily indebted firms are holding back the UK’s recovery, kept above water by historically low interest rates, according to a new report published today. According to research by the Adam Smith Institute, a Westminster think tank, 108,000 so-called zombie businesses across the country are only able to service the interest on their debt, [...]
Why we can still save the zombie firms hindering the UK economic revival November 17, 2013 AFTER the worst recession in living memory, the UK’s recovery feels decidedly sluggish. While the US and German economies are larger than ever, the UK is still well below its pre-recession peak. Yet insolvencies are at a historic low and many businesses seem to be (just about) surviving. Why is this? According to R3, the [...]
RSA shares dive after second profit warning November 12, 2013 SHARES in RSA Insurance plunged 11 per cent yesterday, making it the second biggest faller in the FTSE, after the group uncovered problems at its Irish business that led to its second profit warning within a week. Analysts downgraded their recommendations yesterday following the insurer’s warning after market closed on Friday that “issues” within Ireland’s [...]