Premiums at Ageas UK pass £2bn for the first time in 2012 February 21, 2013 INSURER Ageas UK, best known for its partnership with Tesco, yesterday revealed that total written premiums passed £2bn for the first time in 2012. This allowed the company to post an 11 per cent rise in full-year net profits to £82.9m. Ageas managed to increase returns at its Tesco tie-up, which sees motor and household [...]
Payout cut sees £680m wiped off RSA’s stock February 21, 2013 MORE THAN £680m was wiped off RSA’s market capitalisation yesterday as investors took flight following the company’s decision to slash its dividend by a third. Chief executive Simon Lee told City A.M. that the unexpected decision to cut investor payouts – which forced its share price down 14 per cent – was never going to [...]
Analyst Views | Did investors overreact to rsa’s dividend cut? February 21, 2013 MARC KIMSEY | ACCENDO MARKETS Had the dividend cut been accompanied by a weak trading statement, the fall of 14 per cent might be justified. However, the trading floor believes the sell-off is harsh and applaud the board’s swift reaction to low-yielding bond incomes. EAMONN FLANAGAN | SHORE CAPITAL Once the dust settles we urge [...]
Bearish Titan says non to French bon vivants February 21, 2013 TITAN International chairman Maurice Taylor has taken a bold stand on behalf of the Anglo-Saxon model, not-so-politely declining an offer to buy a French factory that is being closed by American tyre-maker Goodyear. After being invited to visit the factory in northern France, Taylor sent a letter to French industry minister Arnaud Montebourg, and did [...]
Wanted: Female, likes Antigua February 21, 2013 READERS of this page will remember that lucky Clifford Chance associate Lukas Hirst recently won a City A.M. prize draw, and was rewarded with a luxury holiday for two at the beautiful Sandals hotel in Antigua. There is just one problem: our lovely lawyer is single – and the resort, recently voted the “world’s most [...]
Mortgage rates fall to new low with state aid February 21, 2013 MORTGAGE interest rates dropped to their lowest level ever in February, new figures showed yesterday, six months after the Bank of England started offering banks cheap funding in an effort to boost lending to the private sector. The average five-year fixed mortgage costs just 4.14 per cent, according to finance research site MoneyFacts. That is [...]
Japan posts record trade deficit as weak yen pushes up imports February 21, 2013 JAPAN recorded its deepest ever trade deficit in January, despite a sharp weakening in the yen due to a raft of monetary stimulus. Exports climbed for the first time in eight months, helped by a 16 per cent slide in the yen, versus the dollar, since November last year. But this 6.4 per cent annual [...]
IFS pushes for new tax policy February 21, 2013 THE CHANCELLOR should set out specific tax objectives against which to test tax policy, a prominent think tank said yesterday. This move should come as part of a new way of doing tax policy, the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) argued, with the Treasury facing greater scrutiny in its policy-making. Reform is needed because [...]
Housing starts dip in January February 21, 2013 US NEW housing starts crashed in January, but kept well above their level during January last year. Privately-owned housing starts sunk 8.5 per cent between December and the first month of 2013, bringing them from 973,000 in December to 890,000 – but they were still 23.6 per cent above January 2012’s 720,000 starts, according to [...]
Brussels steps up control over borrowing rules February 21, 2013 THE EUROPEAN Commission will get new powers to monitor Eurozone governments’ budgets and can demand changes if they do not fit in with European borrowing rules under a deal struck with the European Parliament yesterday. But a plan to pool debts was abandoned after countries led by Germany rejected the idea that they should back [...]
