Category Archives: Investment

Investment

Highway Insurance Group Acquired by LV

LV=, the UK based insurance, investment and pensions group, has announced its acquisition of the Highway Insurance Group, which includes Highway Insurance and Hero Insurance Services, further expanding the fast growing general insurance division of LV=.

The initial offer of 73.35p per share, which was recommended by the Highway Board, was made in August. Highway shareholders also received their interim dividend of 1.65p, payable at the start of October 2008. This gives an overall value of the entire issued share capital of Highway of £150m.

Fenchurch Advisory Partners acted as exclusive financial adviser to LV while Shore Capital Stockbrokers acted as corporate broker to LV=.

Mike Rogers, Group Chief Executive of LV= said: “We are pleased to have completed this deal quickly and we look forward to welcoming Highway into the LV= Group. This acquisition makes sound strategic sense and will assist us in our stated ambition to become a top five insurer in our chosen markets by 2012.”

He continued, “Highway is highly complementary to our existing general insurance operations and will provide a strong platform for growth. Putting the strengths of LV= and Highway together will enable us to compete even more effectively in the insurance broker market.”

Highway Insurance will become part of the LV= General Insurance business which is led by Managing Director John O’Roarke, who formerly headed up the Churchill and RBS Insurance businesses.

Andrew Gibson, Chief Executive of Highway, will be staying on in an advisory capacity until the end of the year, when he will be leaving to explore opportunities outside the LV= Group.

As LV= is a mutual organisation, owned by its members, Highway Insurance will be de-listed from the London Stock Exchange in due course.

About LV=:

LV= is a trademark of Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society Limited (LVFS) and LV= is a trading style of the Liverpool Victoria group of companies. LV= employs over 2,700 people, serves more than 2.5 million customers and members, and manages more than £7.7 billion on their behalf. LV= is the UK’s largest friendly society and a leading mutual financial services provider, providing home insurance and car insurance well as travel and pet insurance direct to consumers. It also offers insurance products exclusively to brokers via the Highway and ABC Insurance brands.


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Venulum’s Master Fund Has Risen Up The Bloomberg Ranks To Third Place Overall

Venulum, a multinational private wealth management firm, has reported that its Master Fund, consisting of Venulum Property Investment Limited, Venulum LLC and Venulum Property Limited, is now ranked third by Bloomberg across all mortgage backed arbitrage funds in all jurisdictions.

The excellent returns produced by Venulum Property Investment helped lift the overall performance across the funds. The performance was considered to be a strong reflection of the group’s strength by Giles Cadman, Chairman of The Venulum Group.

“We have an established team who utilise their skill and experience to create value,” Mr Cadman explained. “In rising markets it can be very easy to make strong returns, but when market conditions deteriorate you need to have the ability to add value. We often get criticised by our competitors in the property market for not taking enough risk, but as the last few months have proved, markets can change and wipe out value very quickly.”

CFO of Venulum Group, Richard Lowden, was instrumental in the listing of Venulum’s funds with Bloomberg. “Venulum is a private company owned by a family trust and we invest on behalf of private individuals, so the opportunities to compare our returns with competing funds are limited” he explains. “When our administrators, Folio suggested we register our funds with Bloomberg we thought it would be a great opportunity. The listings are not in the public domain because the funds are privately held, but brokers and independent financial advisors who subscribe to a Bloomberg terminal have access.”

The process involves significant due diligence carried out by Bloomberg on Venulum and the Private Placement Memorandums of the funds, and it is then the responsibility of Folio to update the monthly share prices.

Mr Lowden is confident that the funds will hold up well in the downturn. “Our wine business is run by exceptional people who have a very clear investment strategy to take advantage of price movements and we have taken the risk out of our property business by focusing on the public sector housing market and investing exceptionally cautiously over the past two years, in expectation of the current downturn.”

About Venulum:
The Venulum Group is a multinational private wealth management firm headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. The Group manages the wealth of high net worth individuals, and specialises in alternative investments often not available to the general public. Venulum helps high net worth individuals balance their portfolios.

The Venulum Group was formed in 2002, and has expanded to include offices in four countries, with service offices in a further two. Since 2002 Venulum’s client base has expanded rapidly, and now has a substantial number of United States based clients.

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Venulum’s September Client Was A Great Success With Over 40 Clients And Their Partners Of The Private Wealth Manager Attending From All Across America

The Venulum September client conference was held on Friday morning and set out to clarify Venulum’s strategy for 2009 together with a review of performance of the Mutual Wine and Property Funds in 2008. Giles Cadman, Chairman of the group, was pleased to announce the overall returns for the Group had exceeded 15% in 2007 and was positive about 2008-2009 in light of the opportunities presenting themselves because of the deteriorating economic climate in the US and the impact felt in the UK and Europe.

“We are well placed to take advantage of the weakening property market in the UK as we have strong liquidity in the Property Fund,” explained Cadman, “We have been waiting for three years for the property market to cool so that we can acquire property within our yield criteria of between 7% and 9%.” The property team are now analysing three opportunities where values have fallen by over 50% in the past twelve months.

Rob Spalding, Business Development Officer from Pensco Trust Co was also a speaker at the conference. Pensco started trading in 1989 in New Hampshire and are an independent custodian of self directed IRA’s, specialising in non traded assets. Rob Spalding explained that as a regulated IRA custodian, Pensco are independent and are never in conflict with investors’ goals because they do not sell investment products nor provide investment or tax advice.

“At Pensco Trust, we combine proprietary technology, built specifically to facilitate smooth, safe processing of investment transactions with the greatest depth of in-house expertise in the industry” explained Spalding, “Clients benefit from our expertise on non-traditional IRA investing that comes from our singular focus. We are proud of our philosophy of sharing this expertise with our clients and prospects by providing free education on self directed IRA investing.”

Daniel Cann, Director of Folio Administrators Limited was also on hand to answer specific questions from clients throughout the weekend. Folio administers all of the Venulum funds. Having been founded in 2001, they have grown to be the largest fund service provider in the British Virgin Islands, currently providing full administration services to over 130 funds with approximately $5.5 billion of net assets under administration.

Daniel commented “We focus on tailoring our services to match individual requirements by employing specialist, highly qualified accountants and administrators. We utilize the best in fund administration solutions with PFS-Paxus and Bloomberg.”

The second session of the Friday morning presentation focussed on Venulum Wine Ltd and the different ways that Venulum invest in wine. “Wine is an asset class that Venulum believe is perfect for use in IRA and 401K investment vehicles,” Giles Cadman explained, “It can produce strong consistent returns as it benefits from diminishing supply as it gets drunk whilst demand increases as it improves with age.” Venulum Wine Limited has a team of experts and consultants who attend the annual tastings in Bordeaux and Burgundy to unearth those wines they think will provide the strongest investment returns. The company offers clients the opportunity to invest with different levels of gearing, from a straight forward full physical purchase to instalment contracts, En-Primeur agreements or forward purchase agreements.

Venulum are already planning conferences for 2009 on the West Coast and back at Greenbrier in the fall.

About Venulum:
The Venulum Group is a multinational private wealth management firm headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. The Group manages the wealth of high net worth individuals, and specialises in alternative investments often not available to the general public. Venulum helps high net worth individuals balance their portfolios.

The Venulum Group was formed in 2002 and has expanded to include offices in five countries with service offices in a further two. Since 2002 Venulum’s client base has expanded rapidly, and we now have a substantial number of United States based clients.

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New Research From LV= Reveals That Parents Spend A Staggering £233 Billion Supporting Their Adult Children

New research from insurance, pensions and investments group LV= reveals that parents spend a staggering £233 billion* on supporting their adult children (children aged 18 years or over), and are foregoing their own financial freedom to support their children.

The LV study, which was carried out amongst adults aged 40+ years who have children 18+ years, found that 94% of parents continue to contribute financially towards education and other major purchases such as houses and cars, plus living expenses, once their children have reached ‘adulthood’.

Over half of all parents surveyed (55%) admitted to helping their adult children with general living costs, indicating that the ‘credit crunch’ and rising living costs are impacting on the finances of adult children.

Nigel Snell, Communications Director at LV=, said: “Parents certainly like to financially contribute, if they can, towards large purchases for their adult children, such as weddings and deposits for first homes. However, it seems that the current economic climate is impacting on day-to-day finances. Parents are the hardest hit, with a large proportion admitting that they are helping to cover their children’s living expenses, as well as meeting their own financial commitments.”

One quarter (23%) of parents aged between 40 and 49 years still have children aged over 25 years old living with them, indicating that despite falling house prices, adult children are not in a hurry to leave the nest, and may not be able to afford to either.

According to the research, it is not just their own children that parents are paying for either. Of those parents with grandchildren, 79% reported supporting both their children and grandchildren.

Almost half of all parents aged 70 years or older (45%) are still helping their children financially. Despite generally being retired and living on a reduced income, 55% of these parents state that they help their children because they feel it is their responsibility as a parent, and 42% stated that they support their children ‘because they can afford to’.

In contrast, less than one third (29%) of the parents questioned said that they had received financial help from their own parents after they had left school. Now, 62% of parents say they help their adult children because ‘they need the assistance’ and 17% of parents say that their adult child actually asks them for financial support.

Nigel Snell concluded: “Our study shows that parents can no longer expect their children to pay their own way once they have flown the nest. More than ever it’s true to say that having children means signing up to a lifetime financial commitment.

“Many parents will have had to put some plans on hold to manage the costs associated with raising a family, and once their children are old enough, parents should begin to encourage their own children to make small provisions, so that the financial burden can be reduced and parents can enjoy more financial freedom in retirement.”

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Dubai International Capital has appointed David Smoot as Managing Director of DIC private equity

Dubai International Capital LLC, the international investment arm of Dubai Holding, announced that it has appointed David Smoot as Managing Director of Private Equity. David will be based in Dubai and report to Sylvain Denis, Chief Executive Officer of DIC Private Equity.

David, aged 38, joins Dubai International Capital from Morgan Stanley Private Equity, where he was a member of the investment committee who led portfolio investments and helped to build a 35-person team located in New York and London. Key transactions include the acquisition of Tops Markets from Royal Ahold and the firm’s co-investment with JLL Partners in the acquisition of McKechnie Aerospace.

David has a 14-year track record in investment banking and private equity, of which 11 years were spent with Morgan Stanley. Before co founding the Private Equity Group he was Managing Director of Financial Sponsors at Morgan Stanley, where he advised clients including Bain Capital, Blackstone, First Reserve and Warburg Pincus on M&A, IPOs, debt and equity financings. Before joining Morgan Stanley, David spent three years at Salomon Brothers where he specialised in energy and chemicals investment banking.

Sylvain Denis, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai International Capital Private Equity said, “David has exceptional experience and relationships in the private equity field as well as expertise in building a best-in- class team. I look forward to working with him on the development of our growth strategy for DIC’s business in North America.”

David Smoot, Managing Director, DIC Private Equity commented, “Since its launch in 2004, DIC has made outstanding progress in building a profitable business that manages combined assets in excess of $12 billion. DIC’s Private Equity division has established a strong reputation as a specialist in European secondary buyouts and I look forward to working with Sylvain to expand the portfolio in North America.”

David Smoot’s appointment as the managing director of DIC private equity comes shortly after DIC and its CEO, Sameer Al Ansari, was named MENA Private Equity Firm of the Year in the 6th annual Awards for Excellence in Private Equity Europe 2008, organised by Dow Jones Private Equity News.

About Dubai International Capital:
Established in 2004, DIC is an international investment company focused on both private equity and public equity, with its current CEO being Sameer Al Ansari. A wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai Holding, DIC manages an international portfolio of diverse assets that provide its stakeholders with value growth, diversification, and strategic investments. Assets under management total over US$12 billion.

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The Importance Of Location, A Factor That Every Would-Be Homebuyer Should Consider Carefully, Says Financial Solutions Company Thinkmoney.Com

Commenting on recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), financial solutions company ThinkMoney.com reminds potential homebuyers of the need to think twice about the location of their proposed purchase.

In Q2 2008, there was an 18% quarterly increase in ‘loans for house purchase’ (mortgages) in Scotland – a year-on-year decrease of 34%. These figures were significantly more robust than the Q2 figures for the UK as a whole: a 5% quarterly increase and a year-on-year decrease of 46%.

“The issues in the mortgage market are affecting the whole of the UK,” said a spokesperson for ThinkMoney.com, “but the availability of mortgages does vary greatly from country to country. Prices are, of course, a key factor in determining whether people can get on – or move up – the property ladder: in May 2008, the average house price in Scotland was £167,126, according to the Department of Communities and Local Government, while the average UK house price was around 30% higher, at £218,151.

“What these figures highlight is the sheer scale of the price variations in different parts of the UK – but there’s no need to move country to benefit from this, as the price of two similar properties a few miles apart can easily vary by tens of thousands of pounds. Any would-be buyer would be well advised to broaden their search to include nearby areas: unless there’s a significant difference in terms of amenities, a lower price could more than compensate for any minor compromise they have to make.”

At a time like this, when prices have dropped substantially, a slightly more flexible approach to house-hunting can really work in a buyer’s favour – especially if they’re a would-be landlord and therefore less likely to be ‘tied’ to a certain area. “Lower prices always give homebuyers a chance to buy a better property and / or put down a larger deposit, but in today’s mortgage market, a lower price can be particularly attractive.”

Since deposits are measured in terms of percentages, a sum that counts as a 23% deposit on one house could easily account for 26% of the value of another. In some cases, this could give access to a significantly lower rate of interest; in others, it could make the difference between being offered a mortgage and being refused.

While mortgage providers have always reserved the best deals for people with larger deposits, the disparity is particularly noticeable in today’s mortgage market, with the bulk of the recent rate cuts benefiting people with larger deposits far more than those with less to lay down.

Finally, when house prices are dropping, no would-be homeowner should buy property without weighing up the odds of losing money on it, and comparing this with the money they’d spend if they continued to rent. “This isn’t a straightforward equation. Even though homeowners face the possibility of negative equity (carrying a mortgage that’s larger than the value of the property), they also know that house prices are bound to recover sooner or later – but any money spent on rent is gone for good.”

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Eqlibrium Investments Now Offers Trust Deeds For Clients

A trust deed, or also known as a deed of trust, is a document used to secure debt on a home acting as a mortgage. A trust deed is recorded as a lien on real property. However, although a deed of trust acts like a mortgage, there are differences between a mortgage and a deed of trust.

A trust deed is used as security for a loan on real property, and the specifics regarding the loan are written in a promissory note. A deed of trust is then documented at the county recorder’s office to legally notify the world that the property in question has now been pledged to secure a loan.

There are three parties involved in a trust deed. The Beneficiary which is the investor/lender/note holder, the Trustor which is the borrower and the Trustee which is a third party selected by the investor who has the legal power to act on the investors behalf and holds the title until the note has been paid. The deed of trust recorded against the borrower’s property title is what secures the lenders investment.

When making an investment in a deed of trust, the Trustor makes the property transfer, in trust, to the Trustee (independent third party). The Trustee then holds the conditional title on the behalf of the beneficiary (investor/lender/note holder), and then either of the following takes place: The trust deed will be returned to the borrower once they satisfy all of the terms and conditions that were outlined in the promissory note. The property will be put up for sale should the borrower default – also known as foreclosure. “In many cases, if the borrower defaults there is actually more profit in the investment,” said Louis Pugliese, President of EQlibrium Investments. “A good management company will pass along most, if not all, of this additional return to the investor.”

A few of the benefits of trust deed investing are high returns, a consistent cash flow, and capital preservation while owning an investment that is secured by real property. “Trust deeds offer a great way to earn a higher rate of return and still be secured by an asset to minimize risk,” Pugliese said.

Investors who invest in trust deeds typically make a 12 to 18% return, paid out monthly, with a minimum investment of just $50,000 and relatively low risk. As a result, they are able to enhance their lifestyle significantly without threat to their principal, or build a large nest egg, safely, in a relatively short period of time. Pugliese adds: “Most investors do not realize that they can also use their 401K and IRA’s to invest, earning them much higher returns.” Investing in a trust deed is simple. All you need is knowledge of your personal financial situation and investment account records.

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Quest CE moves to larger offices in Milwaukee’s Two Park Plaza to keep pace with the company’s vigorous growth

Quest CE the nationwide provider of continuing education and compliance solutions for financial services professionals, today announced it will be moving to new corporate headquarters. The move to new offices in Milwaukee’s Two Park Plaza will accommodate Quest CE’s current staff and make room for expansion to keep pace with the company’s vigorous growth.

“Quest CE’s service and technology orientation and emphasis on client service have provided a solid foundation for our tremendous growth,”
said Alan Krenke, Quest CE’s President and CEO. “Our continued success relies on our ability to provide products and services that innovate while maintaining the customer service that we are known for. We’ve developed our new headquarters to be both functional and to inspire so we are able to attract and retain the service-oriented professionals who are central to our continued success.”

Quest CE’s new headquarters offers a modern and open layout. All combine to create a working environment that fosters creativity and the open exchange of ideas among Quest’s staff and between Quest and clients.

Initially, Quest CE is occupying 6,000 square feet of the 18,000 square foot 10th Floor of Two Park Place, with options to expand as the company continues to grow. Quest will begin operating out of its new headquarters on Tuesday, September 2, 2008. The company’s new address is:

Two Park Plaza
10850 W Park Place
Suite 1000
Milwaukee, WI 53224

Telephone and fax numbers.
Toll Free: (877) 593-3366
Local: (414) 375-3400
Fax: (414) 375-3449

About Quest CE
Quest CE is a nationwide provider of continuing education and compliance courses to licensed professionals and financial planners. Each year Quest CE delivers over 150,000 continuing education courses either over the Internet or through live CE training. To find out more information about Quest’s Corporate Discounts and large volume orders go to the company web site at www.questce.com or call 877-593-3366.

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Sunwest Trust Witnessed An Unprecedented Rise In Demand To Open Up New Accounts, Breaking Its Own Previous Record, Which Was Set Previously In Better Economical Conditions

Sunwest Trust, Inc. (the “Company”), the only New Mexico company acting as an escrow agent and IRA custodian, has achieved a new record by opening up new accounts. July is the eventful month that ended with the hiring of new people to serve better.

Sunwest Trust offers a wide range of retirement and self directed plans such as Roth IRAs, Spousal and Traditional IRAs, SEPs, and SIMPLEs. It offers direct investment within the retirement accounts and allows their clients to invest in a number of things, including, but not limited to sales and purchase of real estate, mortgages, publicly traded stocks, bonds, private limited liability companies, mutual funds, secured and unsecured notes and more. Credited to this diverse range of plans and options, the Company witnessed an unprecedented rise in demand to open up new accounts, leading the Company to set a new record in July for newly opened accounts.

Following this record-breaking performance, the Company announces the induction of three new employees. Casey Love, Natalie Rodriguez and Sandra McBride are going to contribute in different departments. Casey Love, a bachelor’s degree holder in Secondary Education with a minor in English from the University of New Mexico will work in the IRA Department. Natalie Rodriguez, a California native, brings nine years experience in the escrow and title businesses. Sandra McBride is the third addition who will be handling the Customer Service Department. In addition to her job as Customer Service Representative, she is attending school part time to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Business.

With the recent upsurge, Sunwest Trust now services over $900 million in assets and provides services to over 14,000 individuals and companies. The company management has expressed the hope that the trend will continue in coming months as well.

“We are happy with our progress and we are excited about the growth during a cooler economy and during an election year. I expect to continue to see increased growth over the coming months and years as more boomers and investors get closer to retirement, look to truly diversify, and shift a portion of their funds out of the market and into the local real estate market,” Terry White, CEO Sunwest Trust, says with confidence.

The statement of Terry White attests the fact that the Company is relying upon boomers, which actually are more than 75 million in U.S. As boomers get closer to retirement, they look for alternatives to invest their money in order to have a secure future. By counting on this fact, management is pretty hopeful that the trend of increased demand, with boomers investing more, will continue in coming months and years.

About Sunwest Trust, Inc.:
Sunwest Trust is a New Mexico based company, which acts as custodian for self directed IRA accounts and as an escrow agent. It offers a range of retirement accounts and a multitude of escrow services along with dealings in private mortgages, real estate contracts and other notes. To acquire more information about the Company, visit http://www.SunwestTrust.com/.

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New research from Prudential reveals working-age adults have lost sleep worrying about their pensions

According to new research from Prudential, more than one in three working-age adults have lost sleep worrying about their inability to save enough for retirement*, and the pressure on retirement saving is being increased by a combination of the housing market slowdown and rising household costs.

The Prudential research focusing on working adults provides a snapshot of ‘Burned Out Britain’ as concerns about being unable to save enough for a comfortable retirement drives people to work longer hours and increases stress levels. Around one in five working-age adults have worked longer hours or taken an extra job to increase their pension savings.

Prudential’s research shows just 27% of adults believe they are saving enough to maintain their current standard of living in retirement while 38% want to contribute more to pensions with half of them keen to contribute a lot more.

However financial pressures are making it difficult for them to put their money where their ambitions are – 51% blame higher costs of living while 18% of them don’t want to reduce their disposable income to ensure a more comfortable retirement.

The struggle to match pension ambitions with reality is also increasing the stress levels for these people with three-quarters expressing they were feeling increasingly anxious, and the current economic climate is piling on the pressure.

Julie Mulvanny, Prudential’s Head of Business Development for Pensions said: “The pensions crisis is becoming extremely personal when people are losing sleep over being unable to save enough for retirement.”

She continued, “When the pressures of the current short-term economic climate are added to the mix it is almost surprising that more of us are not lying awake at night worrying. It is clear however that many of us are waking up to the idea that we have to take responsibility for our own retirements and that is a long-term commitment.”

Around 9% said they have cut the amount they save into their pension due to rising living costs.

Up to one in 20 say the housing market slide has knocked their confidence in property as a pension while eight per cent are concentrating on building up short-term savings to tide them over in the event of any problems caused by the current economic climate.

Julie Mulvanny concluded, “It is encouraging that this message is getting through and there is plenty that we can all do to ensure we get the retirement we want and deserve. The UK needs a new approach to retirement income and planning for retirement. That should involve more than simply saving into a pension but should also involve looking at all sources of income.”

Disclaimer:
The information contained in Prudential UK‘s press releases is intended solely for journalists and should not be used by consumers to make financial decisions. Full consumer product information can be found at www.pru.co.uk.

 

About Prudential:
Established in 1848, today Prudential plc is an international financial services company with a product range which extends from personal banking, insurance, pensions and retail investments, to institutional fund management and property investments.

In the UK Prudential is a leading life and pensions provider with around seven million customers.

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Despite soaring oil prices Emirates Group posts record profits

The Emirates Group has reported its 20th consecutive year of net profit, notching a new profit record despite soaring oil prices and challenging business conditions in the second half of its 2007-08 fiscal year.

The Emirates Group net profits increased 54.1% to AED 5.3 billion (US$ 1.45 billion) for the financial year ended 31st March 2008, on revenues of AED 41.2 billion ($ 11.2 billion) compared to the previous year’s AED 31.1 billion ($ 8.5 billion). The Group’s net margin improved to 13.2% from 11.4% in the previous year.

The 2007-08 Annual Report of the Emirates Group – comprising Emirates Airline, Dnata and subsidiary companies – was released in Dubai at a news conference hosted by His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group.

The Group’s latest record performance reflects its success in growing customer demand through the strategic expansion of its business operations across six continents, supported by ongoing investments in the latest technology, products and customer service while keeping a tight rein on costs. This is illustrated by the 21.2 million passengers who flew with Emirates in the latest financial year, 3.7 million more than in the previous year; as well as the expansion of Dnata’s international ground handling operations to 17 airports in seven countries.

Sheikh Ahmed said: “It was another record year for the Group in spite of a challenging business climate, particularly in the second six months where the soaring cost of jet fuel made a big dent, although the impact was partly offset by other operating gains.”

He continued, “Despite the long-term forecast of a decrease in the number of passengers traveling in First and Business class, I am happy to report that Emirates once again bucked the trend and boosted our seat factor in the forward cabins. Emirates is fortunate to be located in Dubai at the centre of the new Silk Road between East and West. I believe the threat of an economic downturn will be offset for Emirates by the boom in the Middle East, especially the thriving travel industry of tourism and commerce.”

Sheikh Ahmed concluded: “The Group’s excellent performance this year is very satisfactory. As with previous years, we do not intend to rest on our laurels. We plan to secure our future growth by investing in the latest technology and products, so that we can continue to provide our customers with the high quality experience that they have come to expect from us.”

Another area of expansion for the group over the past 12 months was the growth of the Emirates Hotels & Resorts from its original Al Maha property into a multi-property hotel operation with International Central Reservations, a Corporate Sales and Business Development unit, global online distribution systems and support services for the design and development of its growing resort portfolio.

In all, the Emirates Group’s Facilities/Projects Management department commissioned and opened AED 2.12 billion ($578 million) worth of new buildings during 2007-08, including the impressive new Emirates Group Headquarters, the Engineering Centre, Dnata Cargo’s Free Zone Logistics Centre, The Harbour Hotel & Residence, and a new crew training college. Projects currently in progress total AED 3.9 billion ($1.1 billion), including new buildings in Dubai such as the Destination & Leisure Management Annexe, Emirates Call Centre and staff accommodation at Ras Al Khor, Al Majan and Media City.

As of 31st March 2008, the Group employed 35,286 staff, representing 145 different nationalities. During the year, the Group hired more than 7,000 people including 2,000 cabin crew and 400 new flight deck crew.

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When it comes to car insurance Brits are bargain hunters

New research from Fairinvestment.co.uk has found that price is everything for its users when it comes to shopping for car insurance. The research involved asking users what the most important aspect is when shopping for car insurance.

57 per cent of the Fairinvestment.co.uk users who were questioned said that Car Insuranceprice was most important to them, and the level of cover was considered less important with only 19 per cent of the vote. The research also found that a courtesy car is paramount to 5 per cent of those who voted.

Of equal value to voters in the poll, with 2 per cent each, was breakdown cover, a discounted rate for partners, a low excess and a protected no claims bonus.

The study also found that some aspects of car insurance are of no interest at all to Fairinvestment.co.uk users. For example, cover for driving other cars received no votes whatsoever and, surprisingly, none of those questioned were bothered about a no claims discount, despite the fact that a maximum no claims bonus could save drivers a considerable amount.

An important aspect for one participant was a lack of overseas call centres, a feature that has caused controversy in the past. Another user appears to have missed the point, stating having a car as the most important aspect of shopping for car insurance.

Commenting on the findings, director of Fairinvestment.co.uk, James Caldwell, said: “Motorists should be careful choosing their car insurance by price alone, the cheapest car insurance is not always the best and there are other aspects to be taken into consideration.

“I would advise anybody shopping for car insurance to compare deals not just on price but also policy features, some of which may be outlined in the small print.” Mr Caldwell advised.

About Fair Investment
fairinvestment.co.uk, is an independent online finance portal, providing financial comparison tools, news, reviews and information on a wide range of financial products and services, including insurance, credit cards, mortgages, loans, savings and investments.

Fair Investment Company is a leading internet player that sees 400,000 unique users per month, sells over £5 billion worth of mortgage enquiries and is a Hitwise 100 Banks and Financial Institutions site.

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Sunwest Trust introduced a new portal dedicated on Self Directed IRA And Escrow Clients

Sunwest Trust, Inc. added another dimension in its profile in order to provide better services for prospective customers as well as existing client base in New Mexico. Albuquerque based Sunwest Trust Inc. re-launches sunwesttrust.com along with Best Online Results jointly. The new website has been introduced to strengthen the web presence of Sunwest Trust Inc. It is destined to suite the purpose in the role of a destination or a hub.

Sunwest Trust Inc. is known for its diversified business interests. These include self-directed IRAs that allow clients to invest their IRA in anything that the IRS will allow such as Real Estate, Mortgages, Limited Liability Companies and Private Stock. In addition, Sunwest Trust will act as escrow agent for most any transaction involving the exchange of money.

Sunwest Trust, Inc. is known in the pertinent industry for its excellence in providing an alternate option for IRA investors, especially those who are in search of an apposite process to make their retirement portfolio with a self directed IRA more diverse. The alternative procedure is such that it enables the IRA holders to make investments in affluent sectors of real estate, oil and gas, discounted notes and other alternative assets.

Speaking on this and terming the entire approach as an exceptional move for the Sunwest Trust Joshua Geary, Managing Member, Best Online Results, LLC and Senior Marketing Consultant for Sunwest Trust, Inc. says, “It is our sincere hope to see Sunwest Trust transition beyond the traditional Dot Com barrier held my most sites in this market space and become what they are capable of becoming, which is a Dot Community for their great brands and a resource for investors and for their thousands of satisfied clients who need Self Directed IRA and Escrow services. We feel this is an important step to making this vision a reality.”

Simultaneously, Terry White, Chief Executive Officer, Sunwest Trust, Inc. terms it as an exemplary approach that will make it easier for the clientele to cope with transitioning from a traditional “in the box approach” to growing a retirement account to a self directed IRA mentality. He said while commenting on this, “In the next few short years many baby boomers will be looking for alternative means to stretch and grow their retirement dollars as they recognize their need to truly diversify and view their retirement beyond just a safety net, but as a living breathing asset, which if used smartly can be used as a wealth builder. We needed a hub or new platform to do so.”

“Our new platform will not only allow our clients to check their accounts in close to real time, but also will have a new blog chalked full of resources for those who are curious and are looking at transitioning their investment portfolio into alternative assets like real estate. We are in the process of revamping our blog system to the latest technology so we may interact with our clients and put out information pertinent to account holders who need quick access to administrative tips as well,” he added.

Sunwest Trust offers neutral third-party accounting services to ensure accuracy and reliability for a nominal service fee. It also offers customer friendly services that are available by phone that helps customers get answers of their questions about payments, payoffs, disbursements, and other contract details.

About Best Online Results
Best Online Results is a renowned company that specializes in web optimization and Internet PR and as a result excels in its respective sphere of operation. The company was commenced with the intention of witnessing the growth of businesses on the Internet. From the very beginning, therefore, the company has been proceeding with poise to care the businesses of others and also to observe their successes.

Best Online Results located at BestOnlineResults.com, truly excels in receiving the traffic of any particular website that helps the website owner immensely. The association with Sunwest Trust, Inc. is destined to achieve new heights in industry.

About Sunwest Trust
Sunwest Trust, Inc. was formed under the auspices of the owners of Sunwest Escrow, LC for the sake of providing more extensive range of financial products. For this reason, Sunwest Trust, Inc., apart from providing its conventional concept of escrow service to the customers, nowadays is also active in the role of custodian for self-directed retirement plans that includes IRAs, SEPs and Simples.

From a small escrow company operating within the confines of the local Albuquerque market, Sunwest Trust grew through means of integrity and transparency to become a nationwide Trust company, which specializes in facilitating investors who wish to diversify their retirement through self-directed IRAs.

Via EPR Network
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Research conducted for Prudential reveals UK pensioners are failing to budget for life in retirement

According to new research conducted for Prudential, UK pensioners are failing to budget for life in retirement, with many spending considerably more in year one than in subsequent years, only to regret their splurge as the reality of living on a pension bites.

The study found more than one in four (29%) pensioners admit to spending more in their first year of retirement, on average splashing out £8,000 more than in subsequent years.

The research also found that 19% of those who had spent more in the first year of their retirement regretted doing so and only around a third (32%) of retired UK adults said they set a retirement budget. More than a third (34%) said they just played it by ear and a mere 17% saw a financial adviser for advice on living
on their pension savings.

Despite this, the study conducted among retired UK adults, found that 63% said they felt they had planned their finances adequately before retiring.

Gary Shaughnessy, Prudential Managing Director Retail Life & Pensions, said: “It is quite worrying to see the lack of planning people undertake as they approach retirement and it’s particularly surprising to see how few of today’s pensioners sought financial advice. Seeing a financial adviser should be a baseline activity for everyone planning their retirement so that they structure their finances to maximise retirement income from all available sources, including pensions, savings and investments and equity in their homes, if necessary.”

About Prudential:
Established in 1848, today Prudential plc is an international financial services company with a product range which extends from personal banking, insurance, pensions and retail investments, to institutional fund management and property investments.

In the UK Prudential is a leading life and pensions provider with around seven million customers.

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Sixty per cent of homeowners not interested in environmental issues

Only one in six home movers believe that the introduction of HIPs (Home Information Packs) will speed up the buying process and just one third believe they are a good idea, according to a new survey by thinkproperty.com, a major new, independent consumer property portal which offers estate agents an online sales and marketing channel to deliver better value, improved lead generation and excellence in customer service.

The survey, which had over 3,100 respondents, revealed that more than one third of home movers are confused about Home Information Packs and one third of home owners were not aware of their introduction in June. A third of respondents believe HIPs will slow down the property market, twenty per cent commented that HIPs will increase property prices (http://www.thinkproperty.com/soldhouseprices.htm), seventeen per cent believe HIPs will lower property prices and thirty per cent believe that the introduction of HIPs will not change how they buy property (http://www.thinkproperty.com/findanagent.htm).

In spite of home movers’ lack of support for HIPs, the vast majority would modify their property to make it ‘green’ if the Government incentivised this with offers of green mortgages and lower council tax. Over two thirds of home movers do not believe the Government is doing enough to build greener homes, and sixty per cent say the same of new home developers.

One hundred per cent of respondents agreed that the Government should help home owners to fund fuel efficient boilers to improve energy efficiency, followed by roof insulation (eighty per cent), double glazing (seventy per cent), solar panels (sixty one per cent) and wall insulation (forty seven per cent). Just seventeen per cent felt that the Government should financially help home owners with energy improving devices.

However, the results highlighted a general lack of interest in green properties, with sixty per cent claiming that they didn’t want more information on green property issues. In fact, less than two thirds of home movers claimed to be interested in the environment, with nearly sixty per cent commenting that ‘there are more important things to be worrying about’. The view from one in five respondents was that it is too expensive to switch to environmentally friendly products, with over one quarter of home movers commenting that ‘the only people that are interested in the environment are sandal-wearing hippies’.

Already, seventy per cent of home movers claim to have double glazing, sixty per cent have roof insulation, fifty seven per cent use low energy light bulbs and forty per cent run a fuel efficient boiler. Over two thirds of home movers claim to recycle and three quarters say they switch off all unused lights.

Low energy lighting should be compulsory for all new home builds according to over seventy per cent of respondents, followed by solar panels (fifty five per cent) and grey water systems (forty two per cent).

Mark Goddard, Managing Director of the property portal (http://www.thinkproperty.com/) comments: “Clearly the introduction of HIPs is not popular with home movers and many think that the Government should be doing more to help home owners improve the energy efficiency of their homes.”

About ThinkProperty
ThinkProperty.com (http://www.thinkproperty.com/) provides an accountable marketing channel to today’s modern property professional and already averages 400,000 property details available from around the UK every day.

ThinkProperty.com is owned by Trader Media Group which has an unrivalled reputation for bringing buyers and sellers together in huge numbers through its dealer software products and market leading consumer websites and magazines.

Via EPR Network
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Welcome to EPR Financial News

Welcome to EPR Financial News.

EPR Financial News is a new blog, part of EPR Network, that is going to be focused on and will be covering the financial news and stories from press releases published on EPR Network.

EPR Network (EPR stands for express press release) is one of the nation’s largest press release distribution networks on Web. The EPR’s nationwide network includes 12 State based PR sites, one major PR forum and a number of industry specific PR blogs and what started as a hobby on Internet years ago turned out to be a rapidly growing business today. EPR Network is also known as one of the most trusted (human optimized, published, edited and monitored, spam/scam/low quality PR content free) PR sites on the web with more than 10,000 company and individual press releases distributed per month. EPR Network is putting your press releases on top of all major search engines’ results and is reaching thousands of individuals, companies, PR specialists, media professionals, bloggers and journalists every day.

EPR Network has thousands of clients around the world including global 500 corporations like Hilton Hotels, Barclays Bank, AXA Insurance, Tesco UK, eBay/Skype, Emirates, just to name a few. The network’s PR web sites are currently reaching from 150,000 to sometimes 500,000 unique visitors per month while our viral reach could possibly go to as much as 1M people per month through our presence across various social media sites. EPR Network was established in 2004 and as of May 2008 it had more than 800,000 press releases (pages) published on its network.

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