Petrofac slump weighs on FTSE amid M&A flurry – London Report November 24, 2014 BRITAIN’S top share index edged lower yesterday, weighed down by a slump in Petrofac after it predicted low net profits, but M&A talk kept it near a two-month high. Smith & Nephew and Friends Life were said to be likely subjects for bids, and BT confirmed it might expand into mobile communications. The benchmark FTSE [...]
Ireland hit United States for four as Ronaldo and Messi fail to fire November 18, 2014 REPUBLIC of Ireland bounced back from their Euro 2016 qualification setback against Scotland to brush aside the United States 4-1 in a friendly clash at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin last night. Hull City’s Robbie Brady netted twice as Anthony Pilkington and James McClean also registered for Martin O’Neill’s side, with Max Diskerud on target for [...]
Aviva’s back in the black with profits of £2bn March 6, 2014 INSURER Aviva announced a strong set of annual results yesterday, following a £2.9bn loss in 2012. Profits rebounded to £2.1bn in 2013, allowing the company to issue a final dividend of 9.4p per share. The value of new business to the group rose by 13 per cent. Although the insurer estimates the cost of UK [...]
Apple’s $700bn smash, Black Friday misery: 10 things we learned this week November 28, 2014 1. In the future, cats will change colour when they go near radiation (maybe). Someone’s already written a nursery rhyme about it 2. Londoners take “painting the town red” rather more literally than you might think: by a vast majority, they prefer red wine to any other type, reckons Naked Wines 3. Aviva [...]
Kingston’s Bentall Centre up for grabs with £200m-plus price tag October 16, 2014 Bentall shopping centre in Kingston upon Thames has been put up for sale after one of its owners appointed advisers to sell its 50 per cent stake, with a price-tag of around £200m. It is one of the busiest malls in Greater London, with 700,000 square feet of space and 14m visitors a year from [...]
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales to debut The People’s Operator on market December 3, 2014 Commercial mobile network The People’s Operator (TPO) has raised £20m ahead of its listing on Aim tomorrow, which has attracted strong interest from institutional investors such as Aviva, JP Morgan and Allianz. The company, led by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, plans to use the funds raised to expand internationally. TPO recently signed a contract [...]
Star-studded friendlies make for taxing Euro 2016 build-up November 19, 2014 ENGLAND football bosses have taken steps to ensure the Three Lions face top quality opposition ahead of the 2016 European Championships by announcing high-profile friendlies against world champions Germany and France. The Football Association (FA) is also in talks with Holland and European title-holders Spain in a bid to design a programme which tests England [...]
Carillion fallout pushes UK M&A deals to all-time lows – but values have risen December 2, 2014 A dry summer for UK mergers and acquisitions, in which Carillion gave up its £2.1bn attempt to to buy Balfour Beatty, has helped to ensure volumes remained at historic lows. The number of deals involving UK companies fell to 67 in the third quarter of 2014, according to figures from the Office of National Statistics released [...]
“Aviva still has issues” says boss as profits rise March 6, 2014 Aviva has reported a six per cent rise in operating profit for 2013, to £2bn. Chief executive Mark Wilson said the businesses’ turnaround is “intensifying”, adding, however, that he wants to “guard against complacency”. Shares have, however, leapt over eight per cent in trading this morning. Source: Google The London-based insurer saw cash flows up [...]
City Moves for 24 October 2014 | Who’s switching jobs October 23, 2014 Johnson & Johnson The health and beauty products maker has appointed Yana Ignatova as head of marketing for northern Europe. Prior to joining the firm, Ignatova spent 17 years at Proctor & Gamble, where she held a senior marketing position. Aviva Investors Charlie Diebel has been appointed head of rates strategy by the asset management [...]