Micro Focus surges after mystery bid April 26, 2011 Micro Focus International saw its shares surge more than 10 per cent yesterday after it confirmed it has received a preliminary approach for the company. The potential bidder was not named but Micro Focus has often been seen as a target for a private equity buyer, or for US firms IBM, Oracle or Microsoft. Another [...]
Lords call for probe into audit oligopoly March 30, 2011 The “oligopoly” of Big Four auditors contributed to the financial crisis, according to a damning report released yesterday by the influential House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee. The committee, chaired by Conservative Lord MacGregor, called for a full probe into concentration in the industry by the Office of Fair Trading, citing the fact that 99 [...]
Stretched insurers hit back at new EU stress test plans March 24, 2011 THE insurance industry voiced concern yesterday at European regulators’ plans to run a new series of “stress tests” on more than 200 companies across the region. The second round of tests to check how well-capitalised insurers are against different risks was launched by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority on Tuesday. The new tests [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 16, 2011 Legal & General Property Charlie Walker has been promoted to director of the property fund manager and appointed to the LGP Board. Most recently, Walker was senior fund manager to the UK Property Income Fund. In his new role, he will continue to oversee the fund, which this month secured a further £100m of equity. [...]
European insurers to face capital squeeze March 14, 2011 EUROPE’s insurers would see their free capital cut by more than a third by new higher solvency requirements imposed from 2013, regulators said yesterday. Incoming Solvency II regulation would cut firms’ surplus capital by 44 per cent or a total €86bn (£74bn) if implemented without any relaxation of the rules, the European Insurance and Occupational [...]
Osborne targets £4bn from tax avoidance clampdown March 23, 2011 TAX avoiders skipping stamp duty on property purchases and tax on trusts funded by employers were targeted yesterday as the chancellor aims to recover £4bn in lost tax revenue. The chancellor is clamping down on house buyers’ use of sub-sale relief, alternative financing schemes and exchange of land rules to avoid paying stamp duty of [...]
Oil explorers rage at 32pc North Sea tax March 23, 2011 NORTH SEA oil firms were left aghast by the chancellor’s surprise tax hike on offshore fuel explorations yesterday, which has been imposed immediately to fund the fuel duty cut. North Sea-focused oil explorers saw their shares hammered by the news yesterday that an existing levy on profits from UK production will rise from 20 to [...]
City slams Budget’s bank levy rise March 23, 2011 The City has hit back at chancellor George Osborne’s Budget pledge to raise the bank levy to offset any gains by banks at lowering the corporation tax rate. In the Budget today he said he would reduce corporation tax by two per cent this year and one per cent in each of the following three [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS May 24, 2011 May Gurney Margaret Ford, Baroness Ford of Cunninghame, will become non-executive chairman at the company’s AGM on 7 July 2011. In the interim she will be appointed to the board as a non-executive director, with immediate effect. Gurney, 53, recently retired from Serco as senior independent director and has extensive public company experience, including Grainger [...]
Carbon floor hits power firms March 23, 2011 GEORGE Osborne slapped a minimum price on carbon emissions permits in yesterday’s Budget, which is set to hammer energy producers which rely on fossil fuels and add up to £17 a year to home energy bills by 2016. The carbon price floor will force power generators to pay at least £16 per tonne of carbon [...]