Hiscox pre-tax profit falls amid low interest rate environment March 2, 2015 The figures Specialist insurer Hiscox has said pre-tax profit fell to £231.1m for the year ending 31 December 2014, down from £244.5m a year earlier. The London-listed group reported a 3.3 per cent increase in gross written premiums, jumping to £1,756.3m in the same period. Why it's interesting Insurers such as Hiscox have struggled amid a [...]
City Moves for 02 March 2015 | Who’s switching jobs March 1, 2015 Newcourt Residential The luxury property developer has appointed Graham Weiss to its board as a non-executive director. He was previously managing director of Octagon Developments, and has over 30 years’ experience in the UK luxury property industry. Hitachi Capital (UK) The financial services firm has appointed Robert Gordon as chief executive. He joined Hitachi Capital [...]
Dark side of the sharing economy: Don’t let short-lets ruin life for Londoners March 1, 2015 There has been much trumpeting of a change in legislation in the government’s Deregulation Bill that will allow Londoners to participate more fully in the “sharing economy” by renting their homes out on a short-let basis for up to 90 days a year. While many may be excited at the prospect of earning some extra [...]
Warren Buffett annual letter for golden anniversary: Spin offs, successor CEOs and selling Berkshire Hathaway’s Tesco stake March 1, 2015 Warren Buffett has ruled out spinning off Berkshire Hathaway into separate businesses, revealed a successor has been chosen to fill his shoes and addressed the firm’s stake in Tesco which he previously called a “huge mistake”, in his annual letter to investors. This year celebrating the firm’s golden anniversary, Buffett's highly anticipated 14-page letter reminisced [...]
Quindell share price plummets as it asks for patience as it conducts independent review February 27, 2015 Shares in embattled insurance claims processor Quindell opened 10 per cent lower after it asked for patience from its shareholders while it completes an independent review. The Aim-listed company, whose share price leapt last year before losing 90 per cent of its value, said the review was taking longer than expected because of "the high [...]
Insurer investors unimpressed with turnaround results in 2014 February 26, 2015 INVESTORS dumped shares at insurer RSA yesterday, with prices falling by 4.71 per cent, despite the company posting a return to profit in 2014. Pre-tax profits were jumped to £275m, from a loss of £244m in 2013, but were still a fraction of what the firm believes it can achieve in the coming years. Combined [...]
StanChart’s new man lifts FTSE to a record level – London Report February 26, 2015 Britain’s top equity index yesterday hit a record closing high – for the second time this week – helped by a surge in the share price of the Asian-focused bank Standard Chartered. Standard Chartered advanced by 5.4 per cent as traders welcomed its appointment of a new chief executive, former JP Morgan investment bank boss [...]
Businesses including PwC, KPMG and Axa back four-week limit on unpaid internships proposed by campaign group Intern Aware February 26, 2015 Some of the UK’s biggest businesses are backing a ban on internships which force young people to work for long periods of time without pay. Accountancy giants KPMG and PwC along with insurance firm Axa are putting their weight behind campaigner’s calls to place a four-week limit on internships which do not offer pay. Campaign [...]
Brit boss Cloutier applauds firm on good job for investors in 2014 February 25, 2015 INSURANCE group Brit reported a 9.8 per cent rise in written premiums for 2014, up to £1.3bn from £1.2bn. The company, which is being bought by Canadian magnate Prem Watsa’s Fairfax Financial Holdings for £1.22bn, also saw combined ratio worsen from 85.4 per cent to 89.5 per cent, which chief executive Mark Cloutier attributed largely [...]
…but lending dip may have bottomed out February 25, 2015 MORTGAGE lending may have picked up again, with approvals rising marginally in January. The number of mortgages approved for house purchase was 36,394, according to the British Bankers Association. It marks the first climb in approvals since June 2014, but approvals are down 26 per cent year-on-year. “Aspirational first-time buyers and home movers face multiple [...]