Two of Britain's biggest insurers are poised to slash dividends this week, potentially derailing the stockmarket's blockbuster summer rally, The Times reports.
Aviva is expected to unveil a 40% cut in its first-half payment and warn of further potential reductions. Legal & General (L&G), which has been facing persistent questions over its capital strength in recent months, is likely to reduce its dividend by up to half.
The news comes after the FTSE recorded its best month in six years, gaining 8.5% in July, closing at 4,608 on Friday. The index has been driven by better-than-expected profits in Britain and America.
Aviva and L&G are among the biggest FTSE dividend payers, shelling out £1.2 billion to investors last year. Full story...
THE NUMBER of people becoming insolvent will reach record levels when official figures are published next Friday, writes The Independent.For the first time, the number of personal insolvencies will top 30,000 for a quarter.
In fact, there have been 41,870 personal bankruptcies this year - which works out at one person every six minutes. 22,976 people have entered into an individual voluntary agreement (IVA) since the beginning of the year - that's five people every hour.
Insolvencies - made up of bankruptcies, IVAs and debt-relief orders - could top 125,000 for the year, according to insolvency experts Tenon Recovery, which is almost double what they stood at just four years ago.
The number of people who saw their financial situation collapse in 2005 was 66,646. The figure had soared to 106,348 by last year and will leap again in 2009, says Carl Jackson, national head of Tenon Recovery. Full story...
BRITAIN WILL come out of the recession by the end of September, much quicker than many business groups are forecasting, according to an authoritative survey of surveys.
According to the Guardian, accountants BDO Stoy Hayward says the confidence of businesses about increasing their order books in the next few months rose at the fastest rate for 13 years in July.
Having analysed the UK's main business surveys from the last month, BDO estimates that the third quarter will see muted economic growth, signalling an end to the recession in Britain.
This contrasts with the CBI, which does not expect economic growth until next year.
