Aston Martin owner Investindustrial grabs Chelsea-based luxury furniture retailer Oka January 7, 2018 Investindustrial, the Italian private equity owner of Aston Martin, has bought a UK luxury furniture retailer co-founded by Samantha Cameron’s mum. Oka, based in Chelsea, is said to have attracted a cheque for more than £40m from Investindustrial, the Sunday Times first reported. It sells furniture ranging from £32 cushion covers to £3,785 sofas, and [...]
We can’t save the NHS until we acknowledge its failing health January 5, 2018 The NHS has had to cancel 50,000 non-urgent operations to deal with the winter crisis. This is not normal. The Prime Minister may be pretending everything is fine, but this is not acceptable. The trouble is that, beyond the acknowledgement that there is a very serious problem with a health service that spasms in predictably [...]
Revealed: Peel Hunt’s top growth stocks for 2018, from Asos to Just Eat January 4, 2018 Brushing aside the warnings of a stock market bubble ready to burst, which have been flying around in recent weeks, broker Peel Hunt today released its list of top growth stocks for 2018. Based on earnings per share and sales, over the last two years and the next two years’ predictions, Peel Hunt’s selection ranges [...]
Saga shakes up travel operations and axes insurance broking chief January 4, 2018 Saga today announced a boardroom shake-up, restructuring travel operations hit by Britain's biggest airline failure. Tour operations and cruises are to be combined and run by new Saga travel chief executive Robin Shaw. Jeanette Linfoot, previously the managing director of tour operations, left at the end of December. Shaw was previously the head of Saga's [...]
Insurers warned catastrophes will be more frequent after being hit by record-breaking $135bn natural disaster bill January 4, 2018 Global insurers were hit by the biggest losses on record during 2017, as a trio of hurricanes and other natural catastrophes cost the sector $135bn (£100bn). Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, together with a devastating earthquake in Mexico took overall natural catastrophe losses to $330bn, meaning 41 per cent of the costs were covered by [...]
UK trade secretary Liam Fox: It’s too soon to seek membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) January 3, 2018 The UK’s trade secretary has argued it is too soon to seek membership of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after reports emerged that Britain held informal talks with members of the bloc. “We don’t know what the success of the TPP is going to yet look like, because it isn’t yet negotiated. So it would be [...]
Day of the Mifids: Controversial EU Mifid II regulations for the asset management industry finally kick in January 3, 2018 A long-awaited regulatory shake-up, touted as the biggest to hit financial markets since the 1986 “big bang”, has finally rippled through the City and across Europe today. The second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (known as Mifid II) has already cost top global banks and asset managers $2.1bn (£1.5bn), a study from the Boston Consulting [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown boots 296 investment trusts off its books as they fail to comply with new Priips regulation January 2, 2018 Investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown was forced to knock a number of investment companies off its books as trading began after the New Year, as they failed to comply with a new piece of regulation. The catchily named Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (Priips) regulation, which came into force on 1 January 2018, forces all [...]
Gold prices have hit a three-month high on a weaker US dollar January 2, 2018 Gold has started 2018 on a positive note as the yellow metal’s price rose to its highest in more than three months today. Gold futures rose 0.31 per cent to $1,313.30 per troy ounce this morning after breaking the psychologically important $1,300 mark on Friday. The precious metal, a safe haven asset, benefited from a [...]
Liverpool Echo Arena car park fire “to cost insurers more than £2m on car payouts alone” January 1, 2018 The New Year’s Eve fire that destroyed as many as 1,400 cars in a multi-storey car park next to Liverpool’s Echo Arena could end up costing insurers £2m at the very least, City A.M. understands. Firefighters were called to the car park at 4:42pm yesterday afternoon, but were still battling to contain the blaze, which [...]