News about John Neal

John Neal, who has battled to bring staff back to the three-century old insurance market after the pandemic, warned that putting employers under too much pressure with new rules could risk job cuts or pushing them into sending jobs overseas.

The boss of the Lloyd's of London insurance market has urged the new Labour Government to be 'sensible' as speculation swirls over possible rises in capital gains tax, inheritance tax and National Insurance paid by employers - and a raid on pension savings. The concern was echoed by the head of buyout giant CVC who said higher taxes could prompt its executives to pack their bags and leave London.

The commercial insurance marketplace revealed its combined ratio - the difference between written premiums and payouts - improved to 83.7 per cent in the first half of 2024, up from 85.2 per cent the previous year. Any number below 100 per cent indicates a profit. Lloyd's also increased pre-tax profits from £3.9billion to £4.9billion, which it credited to 'resilient underlying profitability across the market.'

After losing £0.8 billion in 2022, the world's biggest insurance market, which dates back to a 17th-century coffee house, recovered to a £10.7 billion net loss last year. It credited the success to rising interest rates and a 'unwind of the previously reported mark-to-market loss.'

A group of children in the Southern Necropolis, a massive cemetery in Glasgow's Gorbals district, reported a vampire. The children, who were between the ages of four to fourteen, told a menacing figure with iron teeth that had assaulted and killed two young boys. The news broke quickly, sparking a surge of anxiety and hysteria in the region. Glasgow police were alerted to a disturbance at the cemetery on the evening of September 23, 1954. When they arrived, they were amazed to find many hundred youngsters, wielded with wooden stakes, knives, and home-made tomahawks, on the hunt for a vampire. Many households had their dogs. On this occasion, a local headmaster was summoned to the cemetery to coerce the children to obey. However, the children returned for the next two nights with the sole intention of finding and killing the Gorbals vampire. It became abundant that the children had misinterpreted the situation as the legend unfolded. In reality, the so-called 'vampire' was an abandoned and decayed old tomb that the children had mistook for a creature. The iron railings surrounding it were described as teeth, fueling the imaginative story.

The Met Office said the weekend would be cloudy and cool in much of England and Wales with occasional glimpses of sun, as well as occasional showers in Scotland. People enjoyed punt rides on the River Cam in Cambridge while wrapped in cosy blankets; a large portion of southern England is also dealing with the flood and wreaked by Storm Henk (bottom right). Yellow weather warnings of snow and ice are now in place in a large portion of Scotland's north, extending from Stonehaven and Aberdeen to Skye and the Western Isles.

PAUL CANOVILLE: The Le Coq Sportif shirts remind me of Chelsea's golden age. In our first season in the top flight, we won the Division Two crown in 1983-84 and then finished sixth. John Neal made some good signings, it was a good squad, and I was starting to make a name for myself by scoring a few goals and being involved.

Chelsea legend John Hollins has died at the age of 76. Hollins came out at the age of 15 and went on to make more than 500 appearances as a coach before taking over as boss for three years in 1985. Chelsea said in a tweet: "Chelsea Football Club is deeply sad to learn that John Hollins MBE, our former player and boss, has died at the age of 76.'

BY ROBERT DINEEN: Exclusive INTERVIEW BY ROBERT DINEEN: No investor is safe from his censure, regardless of the form of American wealth fund that bought his beloved Chelsea. The Arabs are the Arabs.' Qataris, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Bahrain... clubs are either a rich man's plaything or worse, one of them, "we've [tryed to] emulate the American tradition, where they've had five to six national games, each with 10,12 clubs, no relegation, and they're all owned by wealth management firms," he says. It's just a matter of investing.' You don't win anything anymore; you buy them; and I think it's disgraceful. It's not the game.'

The instability, according to Lloyds chief executive John Neal, has sunk US bank Silicon Valley Bank as well as Credit Suisse, would put a dent on otherwise stellar investment returns this year. Neal was speaking at a London insurance market increase to £2.6 billion in 2022, but a significant paper loss due to the company's investments.

Lloyd's of London swung to a pre-tax loss last year and took writedowns on its fixed-income investments. The pre-tax loss for 2022 came in at £800 million, against a £2.3 billion loss a year ago. However, Lloyd's underwriting income increased by 53% to £2.6 billion as higher premium rates continued to help raise insurers.

BY MATT BARLOW: PELE's glittering career came to an end with three years at New York Cosmos (right), where he politely accepted all manner of requests in the name of promoting the wonderful sport, including once leading his team out on horseback while wearing a cowboy hat. These were wild times in the North American Soccer League back in the United States. Celebrities were mingled in the dressing room and the Cosmos were invited to hang out at New York's raucous Studio 54 nightclub. It was also an era of opportunity for a select group of British footballers (Steve Hunt, second left) who wanted to know the greatest footballer of all time.

To combat the cost-of-living crisis, Lloyd's of London will pay employees earning less than £75,000. Officer John Neal (left) said they were considering those who were'most affected.' The civil war in Ukraine has pushed energy prices skyrocket, with companies around Europe struggling with higher energy prices. The insurance company has also set aside £1.1 billion to pay claims related to the conflict in Ukraine, despite a £1.8 billion loss in the first six months of 2022 against a £1.4 billion loss a year earlier.

It comes as a result of similar moves taken by other large companies, including most banks, engineer Rolls-Royce, and some housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey and Barratt. It comes as the insurance industry set aside £1.1 billion to settle claims related to the Ukrainian war as it fell to a first-half loss.