News in brief

Company pensions make up ground

COMPANY pension funds gained more than 18pc last year the first positive returns since the bear market began to bite in 1999.

According to research by Russell/Mellon CAPS, a fund worth Pounds 100m at the end of 1999 would have lost around Pounds 30m by the end of 2002. By the end of last year, however, it would have regained almost half that amount.

Melting margins

CHOCOLATE retailer Thorntons (down 1p at 1611/2p) said Christmas sales were up 4.6pc, but cut-price offers ate into profit margins.

The management is still trying to agree a buyout backed by Lehman Brothers.

Global threat

SIR Andrew Large warned last night that highly borrowed hedge funds and new risk transfer techniques have made the global financial system vulnerable to instability. In a speech at the London School of Economics he noted that over the last eight years the value of assets held in unregulated hedge funds surged 450pc. Large also expressed concern about the lack of regulation for new non-banking players in the financial sector, such as the American giant General Electric.

American farewell

XANSA, the IT outsourcing company, is pulling out of North America at a cost of up to Pounds 26m. The company, down 41/2p at 94p, is also winding down its Continental European operations. It will focus on its UK business, supported by staff in India.

If the cap fits…

INSURANCE legend Sir Mark Weinberg, pictured, lent his support to controversial government plans to impose a Pounds 1.4m lifetime limit on taxprivileged pension savings.

‘Asking me whether the limit should be raised is like asking a lion if he would like more meat,’ said Sir Mark, chairman of St James’s Place Capital.

‘The cap will affect some people, but many more will benefit. We are broadly in favour of the reforms.’

Wall Street

IN New York the Dow Jones index closed 0.4 points down at 10,623.2.