RSA sells off Chinese arm Sun Alliance Insurance as part of overhaul July 3, 2014 Insurer RSA yesterday announced it was selling off its Chinese arm as part of boss Stephen Hester’s overhaul of the company. RSA sold Sun Alliance Insurance, its main business in China, to reinsurance giant Swiss Re Corporate Solutions for £71m. The unit generated £14m in net written premiums last year, the FTSE 100 firm said. [...]
Cineworld gets a box office kicking during 2014 World Cup July 3, 2014 The biggest player in the UK cinema market, Cineworld, has seen its UK box office revenues fall by 0.6 per cent in the first six months of the year. The cinema group said yesterday the slight fall in sales was largely due to the popularity of the World Cup, which began in early [...]
Ed Miliband tries to thaw Labour’s relations with business July 2, 2014 Labour leader Ed Miliband will today attempt to convince UK financial leaders and entrepreneurs that he backs big business. Miliband will seek to reassure the business leaders at a speech in London that Labour wants to work with, not against them, in a bid to reverse perceptions that the party is anti-corporation. “The only way [...]
Scottish independence: You can be patriotic and vote no – David Cameron July 2, 2014 Prime Minister David Cameron will travel to Scotland today, where he is set to deliver a speech calling on even the most patriotic Scots to vote no in the looming referendum. Cameron will make the case for the “silent majority” who want to remain part of the UK. The speech comes as polls charting which [...]
UK house prices up to 2007 peak as pressure builds July 2, 2014 House prices across the UK are back up to their 2007 peak, according to a new report by Nationwide. The figures show that prices increased by one per cent in June, an 11.8 per cent increase on the same period a year previously. Prices in London continue to trump those across the rest of the [...]
NN Group IPO: Shares in ING insurance arm get off to a strong start July 2, 2014 Shares in ING Group’s insurance spin-off NN floated on the Amsterdam stock exchange yesterday, rising 6.3 per cent above the offer price during the day’s trading. ING announced ahead of the float that it would increase the number of shares available to buy by 10 per cent to 77m due to “significant” investor demand. The initial [...]
Cheers! United Spirits share price jumps as Diageo becomes new owner July 2, 2014 UK drinks giant Diageo has completed a deal to make it the majority shareholder in Indian group United Spirits (USL) following two attempts to secure a controlling interest. The acquisition gives Diageo a 55 per cent stake in the company at a cost of £1.1bn. “Our announcement is significant for Diageo,” Ivan Menezes, the chief [...]
Exclusive: Shelf Drilling pulls $500m float plan after investors get cold feet July 1, 2014 Oil-rig contractor Shelf Drilling is to pull its plan to float on the London Stock Exchange today, citing insufficient interest to justify proceeding with the sale. Sources close to the deal yesterday told City A.M. the decision was made late last night to cancel the initial public offering, which was set to raise at least [...]
Labour’s cities plan marred by statistics row July 1, 2014 LABOUR leader Ed Miliband’s plan to devolve financial power to cities and regions around the UK was marred yesterday by a row over statistics. Miliband launched the policy in Leeds with Lord Adonis, following a year-long review into how to boost the UK’s regional economies and bring them into line with London. The pledge could [...]
British Gas to pay out £500,000 for mis-selling gas and electricity July 1, 2014 British Gas is set to pay out around £500,000 in compensation to customers for mis-selling gas and electricity in face to face sales. The UK’s biggest energy provider is understood to have referred itself to the regulator Ofgem after discovering it had overestimated potential savings customers could make, according to a Sky News report last [...]
