Aviva to pay half of earnings back to shareholders from 2017 July 6, 2016 Insurance giant Aviva plans to increase its dividend payout to shareholders, it told investors this morning. Ahead of its capital markets day, the UK’s second-largest insurer by market capitalisation said it planned to increase its payout ratio to 50 per cent in 2017 from its current level of 42 per cent. The announcement comes as positive [...]
Aviva hikes dividend by 10 per cent as operating profit rises 13 per cent – but combined operating ratio deteriorates August 4, 2016 Insurance giant Aviva has hiked its dividend after posting "encouraging" results for the first half of 2016. The figures Operating profit was up 13 per cent to £1.33bn, from £1.17bn last year, with operating earnings per share up one per cent to 22.4p, from 22.1p in the first half of 2015. General insurance net written premiums [...]
These are the 100 most disruptive startups in the world (and a third are from the UK): Roman Abramovich-backed Storedot, AI chip maker Graphcore and cancer detection scientists at Grail top list June 1, 2017 A Bristol-based startup developing computer chips for artificial intelligence, an app for helping kids manage money, and a fintech just backed by Aviva, are among the UK startups to be named the most disruptive in the world. AI chip firm Graphcore was ranked second in the annual list identifying companies with the potential to “influence, [...]
Skype billionaire Niklas Zennstrom and LocalGlobe back UK fintech startup Cleo and its Facebook AI chatbot for finance July 26, 2017 The billionaire co-founder of Skype and one of the UK’s top startup venture capital investors are backing a UK fintech behind a chatbot helping people with their finances that could kill off banking apps. Niklas Zennström along with Robin and Saul Klein’s LocalGlobe have invested £2m in a seed stage funding round of Cleo. Cleo’s [...]
Aviva and M&G become the latest property funds to suspend trading as investors flee the Brexit-battered industry July 5, 2016 Two more property funds have suspended trading today as investors pull their money out of UK commercial property. M&G announced this afternoon that it was temporarily suspending trading in the shares of the M&G Property Portfolio. And earlier today Aviva suspended trading in its property fund, just after the Bank of England said this morning that it was [...]
Lowest earning families have just £95 in savings pot as inequality grows February 20, 2017 Low income families have just £95 in their savings and investments compared to £62,885 among high income families, according to research by Aviva. The news highlights growing inequality in the UK as the savings gap grows by 25 per cent annually, up from £50,072 last year to £62,790 in winter 2016/17. Around one in four [...]
Canadian pension fund PSP boss Andre Bourbonnais: We’ve picked London as our base as it’ll be Europe’s financial heartland after Brexit May 10, 2017 One of Canada’s largest pension fund managers has picked London as its new European headquarters, insisting the UK capital “is and will remain the financial centre of Europe”. The Public Sector Pension Investment Board (PSP), which serves the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alongside other civil servants and boasts C$125.8bn (£70.7bn) of assets under management, will [...]
A Spring is in the air this May – Shareholder revolt set to build with Aviva and Reckitt Benckiser meetings May 3, 2016 Company bosses are braced for further uprisings this week. Consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, insurance giant Aviva, and FTSE 250 hedge fund Man Group all host shareholders for their annual general meetings. Last week the shareholder spring picked up pace as investors voted against boardroom pay rewards for engineering firm Weir Group and Shire, the FTSE [...]
Chancellor is “personally committed” to finding a solution after insurers call for discount rate law change this year March 1, 2017 Insurance leaders called on the government to set a new discount rate this year in an attempt to mitigate the catastrophic effects of its decision to cut the rate on Monday. Justice secretary Liz Truss surprised insurers by cutting the personal injury discount rate, which takes into account the long-term cost of care and loss of [...]
Where to put your money? These are the most popular fund platforms for investors in the UK March 10, 2017 Investor confidence bounced up towards the end of 2016, new figures out today show, but failed to make up for a year “overshadowed by political uncertainty”. Annual platform net sales were down 16 per cent over the year as a whole, from £45bn in 2015 to £38bn in 2016. This included £10.5bn in the last [...]