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GRE earmarks pounds 1.25bn to spend on acquisitions
Guardian Royal Exchange may spend up to pounds 1.25bn on acquisitions, John Robins, the chief executive, said yesterday. Mr Robins said that in the US, GRE had investigated four propositions in the last 12 months, but none had met its requirements for return on capital. Two possible purchases are under examination, in the pounds 250m to pounds 500m range. Another area was life and health insurance in the UK, where a range of investments from pounds 500m to pounds 1bn was being studied. \"We aren't prepared to overpay,\" Mr Robins said. Scottish Amicable, which is now being auctioned off, is outside GRE's price range.
Newspaper Article
Alliance suffers in price war
Alliance & Leicester spent nearly pounds 50m on mortgage cash-backs and discounts to attract new business last year, but competition was so intense that its market share in 1996 still plunged 40 per cent. The society, which announced that its stock market flotation was provisionally set for 21 April, spent a total of pounds 143m on all forms of mortgage incentives during the year. But roughly two-thirds of this was the continuing cost of mortgage deals agreed in previous years where the discounts were still in force. The balance was the cost of cash-backs and discounts required to win new business during the 1996 price war.
Newspaper Article
Yorkshire Electricity stalked by US giant
An American power company is believed to be considering a surprise pounds 1.4bn bid for Yorkshire Electricity, the last but one of the regional electricity companies (RECs) in England and Wales to maintain its independence. The potential predator is American Electric Power (AEP), one of the largest electricity companies in the US. A successful takeover would leave Southern Electric as the only independent REC among the 12 which were privatised in 1990. The report claimed an offer of 860p a share in cash was expected, though this is a premium of only 42.5p to Friday's closing price. The shares were up 3.5p at the close on Friday at 818.5p, well below the 1996 high of 898p. Analysts have not expected a bid so close to a general election as it would be touch and go whether the present Government could approve it before polling day.
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Home credit boosts Provident
Provident Financial yesterday proved for the fifth year running that the door-to-door lending business is a money spinner with high margins by making a profit before tax of pounds 118.5m, a 17 per cent increase on the year before. Provident provided pounds 670m of credit for customers last year but their repayments totalled pounds 909m, 35 per cent more. The annual percentage rate works out at well over 50 per cent. With 9 per cent more customers last year, the agent network was expanded by more than 700 to nearly 9,900. Loan growth last year was 14.6 per cent. Bad debts increased less than 5 per cent to pounds 34.3m.
Newspaper Article
Britannic declares 'orphan assets' bonuses
Britannic Assurance policyholders will be hundreds of pounds better off after sharing a pounds 209m special bonus declared yesterday. But shareholders are to be awarded more than four times as much as the 1.2 million policyholders. The company said yesterday it had agreed with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that pounds 902m of the assets in Britannic's life funds belonged to shareholders. They will not receive a direct payout of the windfall but will get an 82 per cent lift in the dividend. Analysts said the 8.5p fall to 564.5p in Pru's shares was because Britannic had been unable to persuade the DTI that the orphan assets in its ordinary, rather than industrial, life insurance business should be released to shareholders.
Newspaper Article
Associated Nursing told to revise accounts
Associated Nursing Services is to revise its accounts for the two years to 1996 following rulings by the Financial Reporting Review Panel on the treatment of sale and leaseback deals and joint venture companies. The immediate impact on ANS will be to reduce earnings per share, which sent the price to a new low for 1997 of 136p, down 5.5p. Daniel Francis, finance director of Nursing Homes Properties, which carried out sale and leaseback deals with ANS, said: \"If this ruling is made to stick it will have severe implications across all companies and all sales and leasebacks.\"
Newspaper Article
Tesco cuts NatWest tie to link with Royal Bank
A five-year financial services partnership between Tesco and NatWest agreed last summer broke up yesterday when the supermarket giant announced plans to team up instead with the Royal Bank of Scotland. NatWest said it had refused to help Tesco expand further into retail banking and insurance, a decision which is the clearest indication so far of the extent of the threat from the supermarket chains to the big English high street banks. Tesco's large store network could soon be competing head-on with NatWest's branches, but Royal Bank has a far smaller overlap with Tesco.
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Safeway raises card war stakes
Supermarket competition in financial services was stepped up yesterday when Safeway launched a new interest-paying plastic card account in partnership with Abbey National. Safeway has stuck closer to the concept used by Tesco with its Club card, by putting its brand name on a card operated by an existing bank, rather than setting up its own bank.
Newspaper Article
Tax bonanza for ex-C&G savers
Members of former building society Cheltenham & Gloucester have been saved millions of pounds by a ruling against the Inland Revenue over the tax treatment of cash bonuses. The money was a payment to the members by Lloyds Bank when it took over C&G. But the Inland Revenue decided last spring the bonuses were chargeable to capital gains tax, bringing an unexpected bill to thousands of people who now stand to receive tax rebates. Neil Denniss, senior tax manager in the Cheltenham office of the accountants Clark Whitehill, organised a challenge to the Inland Revenue by 150 C&G investors.
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