Wm. Low takes the high road to profits

Article Abstract:

William Low & Company PLC Finance Dir Harvie Findlay believes that the success of the firm, the major supermarket chain in Scotland, is the result of the opening of new selling space. The firm has recorded outstanding results, recording an operating margin of 5.99% in 1990, which are linked to a policy of expansion started during the 1980s. The firm acquired Laws Stores and began adding 100,000 square feet of selling space annually. Findlay, who is also company secretary, reports that the firm has increased its selling space by one-third in the last three years, and has created a portfolio of stores averaging between 12,000 to 35,000 square feet, as opposed to an average of 6,000 square feet per store in 1979. The firm is also a success due to its commitment to central distribution since the early 1960s, its offering of a wider range of products in the last five years, and its excellent customer relations.

United Kingdom, Management, Grocery industry, Grocery stores, Great Britain, Findlay, Harvie, William Low and Company PLC

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With-profits with risks?

Article Abstract:

With-profits policies generally provided investors with excellent returns in the 1980s. These investment schemes gave investors who held maturing policies returns that sometimes reached as high as 13% above inflation. In the 1990s, however, these with-profits policies are not expected to yield returns that are quite as good. The assumption is that the depressed state of investment markets in the 1990s shall mean that few insurance companies will be able to achieve the investment performance they obtained in the booming 1980s. Unfortunately, many insurance companies have not been too eager to inform potential investors of the likelihood that future bonuses on with-profits policies shall decrease. Indeed, many of these firms have been paying out artificially high bonuses to enable them to obtain high rankings in the performance tables that many investors consult to evaluate with-profits plans.

Evaluation, Prices and rates, Life insurance, Insurance policies

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Policies that pay the mortgage

Article Abstract:

Mortgage payment protection policies provide home buyers with covergae for mortgage payments in the event of income loss resulting from illness, accident or redundancy. This form of mortgage plan was designed by insurance companies as a better alternative to the usual low-start or fixed-rate plans. Among the major players in the mortgage plan business are the tandem of Abbey National PLC and General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation PLC, where their policy for mortgage payment protection functions by insuring mortgage commitment fees for a maximum of 1,500 pounds sterling per month. Other insurance firms such as Halifax Building Society provide counseling services for redundancy.

Surety insurance, Usage, Services, Abbey National PLC, Mortgages, Insurance, Halifax Building Society, Mortgage insurance, General Accident Fire and Life Assurance Corporation PLC (Perth, England)

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