FTSE 100 movers: Miners slump on China data but Randgold shines
4th Jan 2016 14:00
(ShareCast News) - London's FTSE 100 was down 2.2% to 6,106.37 at 1418 GMT, kicking off the new year with broad-based losses following the release of uninspiring Chinese data. Heavily-weighted miners, which are heavily reliant on demand from China, were hit hard following the release of disappointin
Read moreBroker tips: Royal Mail, M&S, UK insurers
4th Jan 2016 13:17
(ShareCast News) - Credit Suisse has cast doubt on rumours of a bid by Royal Mail for Dutch rival PostNL. In the run up to Christmas, there were newspaper reports that Royal Mail was preparing a €5 per share bid for PostNL, although this was denied by the Dutch company. Credit Suisse said it doubte
Read morePwC raises estimate on economic impact of UK floods
4th Jan 2016 12:55
(ShareCast News) - Consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on Monday raised its estimates on the cost of the damage from last month's UK floods for the third time in a week. PwC predicted the economic impact of storms Desmond, Eva and Frank that swept through Britain in December was between £2 to £
Read moreFloods to hit RSA and Aviva harder than Direct Line, says UBS
4th Jan 2016 09:59
(ShareCast News) - UBS has estimated net losses of £150m to £308m from storms Desmond, Eva and Frank at RSA Insurance, Direct Line and Aviva, equivalent to 3%, 2% and 1% of market caps respectively. The bank noted that KPMG has put the economic cost at £5bn and insured losses at £1.5bn from the firs
Read moreBroker tips: UK life insurers, Entertainment One, Micro Focus International
10th Dec 2015 15:38
(ShareCast News) - Shares in UK life insurers will catch-up with their European peers next year after underperforming in 2014, as Solvency II proved to be a more acute headwind for them, Nomura told clients on Thursday. Yet developments for them had generally been better than expected for them, so c
Read moreUK life insurers set to catch up next year, Nomura says
10th Dec 2015 15:06
(ShareCast News) - Shares in UK life insurers will catch-up with their European peers next year after underperforming in 2014, as Solvency II proved to be a more acute headwind for them, Nomura told clients on Thursday. Yet developments for them had generally been better than expected for them, so c
Read moreEquity investors going into 2016 with very little faith, says Barclays
10th Dec 2015 11:52
(ShareCast News) - European investors are going into next year with very little faith in the future, Barclays said in strategy note. The bank expects earnings per share growth of 12% in Continental Europe and 8% in the UK. Barclays said that while European equities feel like a consensus 'long', ove
Read moreBank of England gives insurance firms go-ahead on Solvency II plans
6th Dec 2015 09:13
(ShareCast News) - The Bank of England has approved the internal capital calculation models of 19 insurance firms, including Lloyd's of London, Aviva, RSA and Prudential. The endorsement means that the firms can use an internal model to determine the amount of capital they need to set aside to prote
Read moreAviva studying possible sale of Irish health insurance unit, report says
12th Nov 2015 16:17
(ShareCast News) - Aviva has hired bankers to explore the possible sale of its Irish health insurance operations, Sky News reported. The broadcaster said it understood that Macquarie had been appointed to undertake the strategic review. An agreement to sell the unit, which had 300,000 customers and
Read moreLondon close: Fed hawks and Chinese data send Footsie lower
12th Nov 2015 15:39
(ShareCast News) - More hawkish remarks than usual from two US rate-setters, alongside hard-to-read Chinese credit statistics took markets lower on Thursday. The president of the US Federal reserve bank of St.Louis, James Bullard, and the Richmond Fed's Jeffrey Lacker said that the US central bank c
Read moreGoldman reiterates buy on Aviva but trims target price
3rd Nov 2015 15:47
(ShareCast News) - Aviva´s share price underpeformance versus rivals since it bought Friends Life Group is "unwarranted", Goldman Sachs said. Since November 2014, the stock was down by 24% despite its restructuring potential. That included a material increase in the amount of cash on hand and availa
Read moreCredit Suisse ups European insurance to overweight, downgrades banks
3rd Nov 2015 09:05
(ShareCast News) - Analysts at Credit Suisse increased their weighting in the European insurance space to 'overweight' and said they now preferred the sector to banks. Their performance had become less sensitive to bond yields over the past 18 months, unlike European banks or US life insurance, it s
Read moreBroker tips: Centrica, Aviva, BP
29th Oct 2015 12:58
(ShareCast News) - Citigroup upgraded Centrica to 'buy' from 'neutral', saying it offers one of the best value propositions among the UK utilities. "Despite the potential for short-term headwinds from the CMA energy investigation, with potentially negative headlines on tariffs, an end to evergreen t
Read morePanmure Gordon reiterates buy on Aviva
29th Oct 2015 08:56
(ShareCast News) - All key metrics at Aviva are moving the right direction Panmure Gordon said on Thursday. Life value of new business did particularly well, rising by 20% over the past nine months to hit £823m, well above the £764m expected by analysts. General insurance also had a "good" quarter,
Read moreAviva new business jumps 25%
29th Oct 2015 07:49
(ShareCast News) - The value of insurer Aviva's new business rose 25% in the first nine months of the year to £823m, marking the eleventh consecutive quarter of growth. The combined operating ratio, which is a key performance gauge in the insurance business, improved to 94% from 95.9% in the same pe
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