US firm Affinion drops out of takeover talks for CPP November 28, 2012 US firm Affinion Group last night pulled out of takeover talks with credit card insurer CPP. Affinion, which had revealed it was in preliminary takeover talks at the end of last month, said it had no intention of making an offer. CPP, said it would continue to actively pursue a range of financing options. “We [...]
Sir Stuart Rose takes the hot seat at Ocado January 22, 2013 SIR STUART Rose, the former boss of Marks & Spencer, is to become chairman of Ocado, in a major coup for the online retailer. The company said Sir Stuart is to replace Sir Michael Grade after its annual general meeting in May. Grade, best known for his roles at ITV and Channel Four, will be [...]
US data looms over stock markets January 28, 2013 But the end of recent rallies could be useful corrective for investors TOO good to be true? That’s the growing worry among US equity investors. Consider that the Dow Jones Industrial Average, up roughly 6 per cent since 1 January, is off to its best start in more than two decades and now sits within [...]
Credit default insurers will not pay out over Greece March 1, 2012 GREECE has not defaulted on its debts after all because the government has negotiated a “voluntary” haircut with investors, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) controversially ruled yesterday. As a result, €3bn (£2.5bn) in insurance contracts taken out against the risk of Greece defaulting will not be paid out, even though bondholders face heavy [...]
Taxpayers face £50m bill from Comet failure December 16, 2012 THE owners of Comet are set to recover £50m from the collapse of the electricals chain while taxpayers are expected to fork out around £50m in unpaid tax and redundancy costs. A report by administrator Deloitte due to be published today is expected to show that Hailey Acquisitions Limited (HAL), Comet’s parent company, is entitled [...]
Motor insurers hit by Moody’s October 4, 2012 RATINGS agency Moody’s yesterday said the Competition Commission’s (CC) probe into the UK car insurance industry will negatively impact the credit outlook of major insurers. Firms affected by the announcement include market leader Direct Line, which is due to float on the London Stock Exchange next week. “The CC’s investigation is credit negative because at [...]
Banking shares rise on FTSE 100 as UBS fined $1.5bn December 19, 2012 The blue chip index moved towards nine-month highs this morning, as optimism of a US budget deal boosted the FTSE 100. Financial shares were in the spotlight, as Swiss bank UBS agreed a $1.5bn (£940m) fine for manipulating the Libor benchmark. The redress was in line with expectations, and UBS shares were trading around 0.3 [...]
S&P revises Lloyds TSB rating outlook due to profit forecasts November 8, 2012 CREDIT rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) yesterday downgraded its outlook on Lloyds TSB to negative from stable, citing the additional £1bn provision for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims which the bank made at last week’s third quarter results. S&P said the additional provision makes it likely that Lloyds will see a pre-tax loss [...]
Firms call for tax breaks for infrastructure November 25, 2012 BUSINESSES want the chancellor to revive plans to inject cash into large road and rail upgrades with tax breaks, a survey out today suggests. Senior tax professionals at some of Britain’s biggest firms put tax incentives for those investing in infrastructure at the top of their wish list for next week’s Autumn Statement. Tax credits [...]
Bursting bond bubble will destroy wealth on a giant scale January 21, 2013 ONE of the greatest risks facing the world economy is a wholesale crash in government bonds markets. Yields on UK gilts, US Treasury bonds and others are still much too low – and that means that capital values are too high (the price of fixed income securities move inversely to their yield). Given the extraordinarily [...]