It will have 75 new-look stores trading by the end of this month, compared with analysts’ expectations of 50 – leaving it with 245 to go.B&J said like-for-like sales rose 11 per cent during the past six weeks, after climbing 5 per cent during its first half.Angus Monro, the chief executive, said: “We have continued to lay the foundation for a very strong recovery.” He decided to ditch the Poundstretcher format after research revealed that customers found the term “pejorative”.Out went the “more is more” mantra of the traditional bargain retailer, and in came Instore, a “brighter, less congested” shopping experience, according to Mr Monro. The European Union yesterday said it would appeal against a finding that as much as half of its sugar exports violated global trade rules. Mr Spitzer said the “investigation is broad and deep” and would expose “disregard for ethics and the law among some of our largest corporations”.Two AIG executives have pleaded guilty to criminal fraud charges for their involvement in the alleged manipulation.. Shares in Jardine, which does about 60 per cent of its business in the US, fell 4.75p to 440p.The lawsuit also implicated the US group, Hartford, American International Group (AIG), the world’s largest insurer, Chubb and ACE, as well as a division of Munich Re. Shares in US insurers and European counterparts dropped sharply as details of the allegations emerged. However, Jardine Lloyd Thompson, another UK-based insurance broker, yesterday said it had not been approached by the attorney general’s office and that it provides full disclosure on its remuneration practices to customers.

It also alleges that the company’s policy of not disclosing how much the contingent commissions add to its earnings has misled shareholders.Benfield said it had never used the type of commission arrangements that are under scrutiny. “Benfield has acquired businesses where a limited number of PSAs existed and took appropriate action to close these down in line with group policy of full transparency for its customers.” It said it would co-operate with the Attorney General and “supports actions that result in greater market transparency for customers”. The attorney general said its review of documents from 2003 found that Marsh collected $800m (£444m) in these contingent commissions, which was more than half the $1.54bn of profits. This is not illegal when disclosed, but Mr Spitzer is charging Marsh with garnering commissions by rigging bids for business and fixing prices that inflated costs for its clients. Benfield is not, however, subject to a formal investigation by the Attorney General.Benfield shares fell 7.5p to 255.5p as investors feared the investigation could have repercussions throughout the insurance industry.Mr Spitzer has accused Marsh & McLennan, one of the world’s largest insurance brokers, of placing business with certain insurers in exchange for lucrative pay-offs.

It is also accused of inventing fictitious quotes to make customers believe they were getting the most competitive deal on offer.The lawsuit targets a practice known as “contingent commissions”, also known as payment service agreements (PSAs), whereby insurers pay brokers to steer business their way. He said the group had corrected such “range omissions” as a lack of Christmas trees, with help from the new distribution centre it opened earlier this year.The strong figures prompted analysts to upgrade their forecasts. Mark Charnock, at Investec Securities, raised his pre-tax profits target by £2.5m to £9.5m, while Nick Bubb, at Evolution Beeson Gregory, increased his to £10m from £9m.B&J narrowed its pre-tax losses to £2.8m from £4.6m, excluding the profits it made on selling properties.. Benfield, the reinsurance broker that listed in London last year, has been dragged into the investigation by Eliot Spitzer, the New York attorney general, into bribery and corruption at Marsh & McLennan and the insurance industry. In 1988, joined Friends Provident as head of fixed interest and saving, eventually being promoted to chief investment officer of Friends Ivory & Sime. In 2000, he became chief executive of FIS, which was rebranded as Isis Asset Management in 2002, following the acquisition of Royal & SunAlliance’s investment business. After successfully completing the reverse takeover of F&C this month, he became chief executive of the enlarged group.Interests: Going to the gym, watching cricket and playing the odd round of golf..

Brown & Jackson, the discount retailer that is being taken upmarket, reported a sharp rise in underlying sales yesterday, insisting the woes of last Christmas were well behind it. Began career as economics lecturer at Leeds Polytechnic in 1974, before moving on to become a senior economist at Montagu Loebl Stanley, a stockbroking firm, in 1981. Joined Prudential-Bache as chief economist and director of UK government bond department in 1984. Not bad for a man who started his career as an economics lecturer at Leeds Poly.From lecturer to leaderPosition: Chief executive of F&C Asset Management (called Isis Asset Management before this week).Age: 53.Pay: £797,000 including pension contributions in 2003.Career: Graduated from University of East Anglia with BA, and then MA in economics in 1973 and 1974. If he can prove that he has the mettle to make a successful shift to an organic growth, he may soon find himself well placed as a potential successor to one of the UK’s top financial services groups’ chief executives. Although most of the firms involved in the split-cap investigation harbour some resentment about the manner in which they have been bullied into paying up for a crime they feel they never committed, Mr Carter remains reluctant to be drawn into a debate on the topic before the final ruling has been released.After four years in the job and the end of his days as a consolidator fast approaching, the ambitious Mr Carter must surely now be keeping one eye on his exit strategy. While the exact amount that F&C will pay is yet to be revealed, it is likely to be a seven-figure sum and could be anything up to 5 per cent of group pre-tax profits.Mr Carter, however, remains supportive of the regulator as a whole, arguing that standards were in dire need of being raised from the worryingly lax levels before the Financial Services Authority came into being five years ago.