Phoenix Group Holdings (PHNX)

In a companion piece to last week’s FTSE 100 special, this week Shares investigates the FTSE 250 index, the authoritative measure of UK-quoted mid cap companies. It could be described as Anteros to the FTSE 100’s Eros; the FTSE 250 is more obscure than its larger and more celebrated sibling index yet it has attracted investment right from its October 1992 launch. Perceived as the better ...

As a nation, we stopped living longer in 2010. The upward trend in life expectancy ended and now a host of pension providers are reaping the benefits. Insurance companies sell annuities, which are guaranteed incomes for life to people at retirement based on assumptions about longer lives. These companies have to hold cash in reserve to cover these guarantees. If someone dies before they are ...

The FTSE 100 starts the week on the front foot, up 37.5 points to 7,701. This follows positive trading in Asia. Mining giant Glencore (GLEN) also aided the index with a 1.7% rise. The prospect of a no deal exit from the EU looming has plunged the pound to an 11 month low against the dollar, aiding those FTSE 100 companies earning their revenue overseas. Asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen ...

Phoenix (PHNX) is the UK’s largestconsolidator of closed life assurancefunds or insurance policies that are no longer open to new business. It may seem a pure income play, offering a prospective dividend yield of 6.8% for 2018. That makes it the 35th largest dividend yield in the UK after Phoenix’s £3.2bn acquisition of Standard Life Aberdeen’s (SLA) Assurance business in ...

Europe’s second largest asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) is selling its life insurance business to Phoenix (PHNX) so it can focus on managing money. The £11bn merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management went live on 14 August last year, creating a behemoth with £679bn of assets under management (AUM). However, the recent announcement of the termination of Aberdeen’s ...

The UK’s leading index continues its losing trend on Friday, despite a better performance on Wall Street overnight as interest rate hike fears subside. A positive overnight session in Asia also fails to lift the FTSE 100 out of its slump, weakness compounded by some heavyweight constituents struggling today. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) loses 4.4% to 269.6p despite posting its first ‘bottom ...

Generating an income from investments is one of the key reasons why people put money into the markets. The average yield on FTSE 100 stocks at present is 3.8% which is significantly higher than both the current rate of inflation (3.1%) and the top rate of interest on cash savings accounts (1.3%). As Alex Crooke, head of global equity income at asset manager Janus Henderson, observes: ‘The ...

The FTSE 100 opens 12.45 points higher at 7,395 despite many global equity markets being in the red. The main US exchanges all finished down while the only Asian exchange to move up was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng. Heading UK corporate news is a profit warning from high street favourite Dixons Carphone (DC.). Its shares slide by 27.3% to 171.1p on releasing a worrying trading update for the 13 ...

UK investors may feel there are more questions than answers as we hurtle towards Brexit and detailed negotiations on a deal with Europe. That won’t change in the short-term regardless of the outcome of today’s General Election and the identity of the next government. That suggests, in our opinion, that buying market experience into your portfolio could be a sensible move, and few fund managers ...

A lot of people moan about how difficult it is to get a decent income from the market, but is it really that hard? The FTSE 100 index currently yields 3.86%, so you can buy a low-cost tracker fund and get that level of income with relative ease. Getting a higher level of income is also fairly easy if you do some research. This article discusses the stocks, ETFs and funds with the potential ...

Rebounding miners helped lift the FTSE 100 on Tuesday, the index rising 0.5% to 7023.32 after a positive session on Wall Street last night. Wealth manager St James’s Place (SJP) gains 5.2% to 998p as it reports third quarter assets up 8.9% thanks to market gains and robust demand for its advice in the wake of the Brexit vote. Costa Coffee and Premier Inn operator Whitbread (WTB) slumps ...

Life insurance investor Phoenix (PHNX) has agreed to buy Deutsche Bank’s UK life business in a deal worth almost half its market cap. Phoenix, which specialises in buying life insurance books closed to new business, will spend £935 million on Abbey Life Assurance. This could prove a shrewd move by the group at a time when investment returns are typically depressed by low interest ...

Investors are relieved that Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed a settlement over claims it mis-sold toxic mortgage-backed securities in the run up to the financial crisis in 2008. It will pay $1.1 billion which it says is ‘substantially covered by existing provisions’. The shares rise 1.2% to 176.62p. Parcel delivery group UK Mail (UKM) has received a 440p takeover bid from Deutsche ...

Online gambling group GVC (GVC) says it is reaping the benefits of previous brand investment by Bwin.Party, the rival operator it acquired at the start of 2016. GVC implies Bwin’s brands are now strong enough to cut back on big sponsorship and brand spend, in line with its leaner approach to marketing. ‘Having their name on Real Madrid shirts in the past has certainly help build up the ...

Firmer metal prices help miners to early gains in London as the FTSE 100 treads water ahead of a speech by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen this evening. A second reading of US first quarter GDP at 12.30 BST could provide some clues on Yellen's outlook for interest rates in an address which is scheduled after markets close in the US. Overnight, stocks gained in Tokyo and Hong Kong but fell ...

London stocks make modest gains in early trade on Friday as the market mulls over a busy week that included central bank policy decisions, a raft of economic data and the UK Budget 2016. The FTSE 100 nudges 30-odd points higher to 6,229, with midcaps and smaller companies running higher by similar margins. Foods-to-fashion conglomerate Associated British Foods (ABF) firms 15.5p to ...

It’s that time of the year when many people’s thoughts have turned to self-improvement. Let’s join the gym, avoid the pub and buy a self-help book in the hope that this year will be different. Come March or April, we’re all back to our old habits. It’s a different situation in the corporate world. The mantra of ‘self-help’ is a key driver for earnings and share prices that runs ...

London shares continue to sink in early trade on Thursday as US interest rate hawks appear to hold the upper hand, spooking investors on both sides of the pond, and across Europe. The FTSE 100 index dips 33 points, or about 0.5%, to 6,369, although a number of FTSE 100 companies went ex-dividend, shaving 5.4 points off the benchmark and explaining some of the early losses. Declines were heavier ...

655.5p Gain to date: 3.0% Closed-life fund consolidator Phoenix (PHNX) expects to come through this summer’s industry regulatory review unscathed. We remain bullish on the buyer of life insurance funds that no longer accept new business, despite it losing 13% of its value following the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) shock announcement (28 Mar) that it is looking into how ...

Insurers have been hit by reports that the UK financial regulator is to investigate historical product mis-selling allegations. Some £150 billion of policies may come under review, which could result in savers transferring their pensions and other investments into better deals without paying any exit fees if the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) uncovers evidence that people were exploited by ...