FTSE slips as metal price drop weighs on mining firm shares February 9, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index closed down yesterday, hurt by heavyweight stocks trading ex-dividend and miners following metals prices lower. The FTSE 100 closed down 39.04 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 6,052.29, having closed up 0.7 per cent on Tuesday at its best level since May 2008. “You have to consider (the FTSE 100) lost [...]
Vodafone drags on the FTSE despite strong insurer gains January 27, 2011 BRITAIN’S FTSE 100 share index closed slightly lower yesterday, after a dip in index heavyweight Vodafone, dented by weak results from AT&T, offset a surge in insurers following positive broker comment. The FTSE 100 closed down 4.13 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 5,965.08, having added 0.9 per cent the previous session. Vodafone, the company [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE OVERDRAFT CHARGES TOO HIGH? December 7, 2010 MARK GIRARDOT | HOWDEN Yes, the rates are too high; it’s daylight robbery. It’s just wrong. It’s unethical. I don’t see how they could be in such dire financial straits that they need to do this, since they have just paid some very large bonuses to their employees.” GRAHAM NISBET | LLOYDS BANKING GROUP I [...]
CITY MOVES| WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 1, 2010 HSBC HSBC?has announced the appointment of Hossam Alsaady as head of its Saudi Arabia team within the London-based Middle East and North Africa division of its private banking business. Alsaady is moving over from his role at NCB Capital in Jeddah, where he has held several senior positions, most recently head of strategy. At HSBC, [...]
Inflexion in £25.5m buyout of Asperity December 2, 2010 MID-MARKET private equity house Inflexion acquired Asperity Employee Benefits in a £25.5m buyout yesterday. Asperity, a market leader at providing employee benefits such as discount and reward schemes, has more than 500 clients including BSkyB, Aviva and Ladbrokes and attracts about £150m of retail spend through its platform each year. Inflexion co-founder John Hartz said [...]
Aviva triumphs in first quarter May 11, 2010 INSURER Aviva underlined its commitment to the UK and Europe as its first quarter life and pensions sales numbers beat City forecasts yesterday, slipping just five per cent. Investors’ returning appetite for risk, which in recent weeks has also buoyed rivals Standard Life and Legal & General, helped Aviva bring in £9.1bn in new life [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS November 15, 2010 Barclays Barclays has appointed Paul McNamara (pictured) as MD of insurance and investments to strengthen the bank’s ability to make protection insurance more accessible. McNamara comes from Standard Life, where he was MD for group strategy and corporate finance, before which he was a director of marketing and distribution at HBOS financial services. In another [...]
Insurers to post upbeat numbers October 31, 2010 TWO of the UK’s biggest insurers are set to announce an upturn in business when they update the market on trading this week. Aviva is expected to unveil a £1bn increase in life and pension sales to £25bn when it reports figures for the first nine months of the year tomorrow. And Standard Life, which [...]
Good news boosts FTSE to 2008 levels January 12, 2011 BANKS and miners dominated the FTSE today, leading the index to another 31-month high as good news from Portugal’s bond sale boosted financial stocks, and miners tracked metals prices higher. Four FTSE 250 companies also posted double-digit gains as news that Gartmore agreed a £335.3m takeover deal by rival Henderson sent their shares higher. The [...]
Good news boosts FTSE to 2008 levels January 12, 2011 BANKS and miners dominated the FTSE today, leading the index to another 31-month high as good news from Portugal’s bond sale boosted financial stocks, and miners tracked metals prices higher. Four FTSE 250 companies also posted double-digit gains as news that Gartmore agreed a £335.3m takeover deal by rival Henderson sent their shares higher. The [...]