Time to come clean

Former Miton distribution director Graham Hooper has joined Charles Stanley to spearhead the promotion and sales of its products, Investment Week can reveal.

River and Mercantile Group, the asset management and consultancy business which formed in February, is to list today at a price which values the business at £150m.

F&C Investments has hired RWC's John Bennett as head of wholesale institutions as part of a move to rebuild its distribution team.

UK pharmaceutical group Shire saw shares jump 10% by mid-morning, after it revealed it rejected a £27bn bid approach from a US group.

Wealth manager Charles Stanley has reported a 33% drop in profit before tax following a year of "significant" cost which has seen it spend millions on acquisitions.

D2C platform Charles Stanley Direct has launched a new loyalty programme for clients with a series of additional fee cuts, alongside a customer charter which promises users a "fairer deal".

A tough economic backdrop, no performance track record, or a lack of clout when it comes to distribution can all hamper a fund launch these days, but thirty years ago the challenges were very different.

The FTSE 100 was higher by mid-morning despite this morning's data from the ONS revealing a greater than expected fall in the rate of CPI inflation.

As the offer period on Neil Woodford's new fund comes to an end, Investment Week asks what he needs to do to beat the most successful launches ever.