News: RBS Insurance md joins raft of exits in wake of rejig - Marketing Week

News: RBS Insurance md joins raft of exits in wake of rejig - Marketing Week:

RBS Insurance md joins raft of exits in wake of rejig

13-Dec-07

The company, which owns Churchill and Direct Line, is seeking a replacement for him. His responsibilities will be covered in the interim by Steve Treloar, a member of the motor categories senior management team.

Moat is one of a number of senior executives to leave the company in recent months. In September, director of brand and proposition Peter Corfield, previously Churchill marketing director, left for rival Zurich Financial Services (MW September 28).

An RBS Insurance spokesman says Moat's departure will not affect marketing, which is led by director of marketing and strategy Roger Ramsden, who has picked up additional responsibilities as director of household.

Previously, Moat was managing director of RBS-owned UKI Partnerships, which manages the Green Flag brand. He was replaced in the summer of 2005 by Andy Watson, who has since left the breakdown organisation (MW January 11).

Moat and Webster are understood to have left the company following a restructure called by RBS Insurance chief executive Chris Sullivan earlier this year. The division is now structured around product lines rather than brands, and a centralised marketing team has been created. Its advertising accounts remain separate, with M&C Saatchi handling Direct Line and WCRS Churchill.

Email delivery rates in sharp fall - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

Email delivery rates in sharp fall - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic:

by Alex Donohue Brand Republic 13-Dec-07, 14:00

LONDON - Email delivery rates slid significantly between the first and second quarters, accentuating their recent downward trend, according to a new report by the Direct Marketing Association's Email Marketing Council.

Acquisition slid by seven percentage points to 68% while retention levels dropped by the same amount to 80%.

The report identified an email service provider's reputation as the most important factor influencing deliverability of campaigns.

The findings led the DMA to call for the direct marketing industry to place greater importance on factors influencing the delivery of emails.

According to the DMA's latest figures, email delivery rates for acquisition and retention have dropped for the last three quarters in a row. The delivery rate for acquisition in quarter four of 2006 was 92%, while the figure for retention stood at 94%.

The DMA's Email Marketing Council is advising clients to make use of email service providers' spam filters, ensure recipient permission has been obtained, maintain list hygiene and develop good ISP relations.

In addition to email service provider reputation, the report highlighted email content and authentication as the other decisive factors in ensuring delivery rates are kept high.

Despite the continuing fall of acquisition and retention levels, email service providers send an average 50m monthly emails, a figure expected to rise by 65% in the next year.

Skip Fidura, deputy chair of the DMA Email Marketing Council, said: "The first step in any marketing campaign is getting the message to the consumer. Regardless of how good the copy and creative are and how compelling the offer is, a campaign will fail if your target audience never sees the message.

"It's therefore vital that email marketers place more importance on ensuring that a message reaches the inbox."

The full report, 'Email Deliverability: How We Got Here and What Marketer's Should Do About It', is available through the DMA.

RBS insurance parts ways with two senior managers:

RBS insurance parts ways with two senior managers

by Richard Kilner

Story link: RBS insurance parts ways with two senior managers

RBS has undergone serious restructuring to tie together its various brands, resulting in two senior managers parting ways with the firm.

Last week both the managing director of motor, Chris Moat, and the chief risk officer, Robin Webster resigned.

Chris Sullivan, chief executive, let staff know about the situation on Thursday.

Moat’s position remains vacant, but Webster’s has been taken on by Mark Hesketh who also has responsibility for finance.

Despite the circumstances an RBS spokesman has stated that the firm wishes both departing men every success with the future.

The resignations come amid the second phase of restructuring at the firm, a phase which sees Andy Cornish become the new managing director of both commercial and brokers, areas previously led by two different managing directors.

The change comes as the firm believes pooling commercial expertise will prove beneficial, regardless of distribution channel.

It is now several months since Sullivan declared the plans for more closely integrating the firm’s various brands, such as Direct Line, NIG and Churchill.

He has been vocal about the necessity of promoting closer collaboration between the brands, some of which are in competition with one another. An early move in his tenure as chief executive was to replace the brand bosses with product line and distribution managers.

Moat had his role as managing director of Direct Line changed to head of RBS motor.

The purpose of the restructuring was to try and corner the largest possible share of the market, and, to a lesser degree, prevent the brands from undercutting one another.

There has been some surprise at Moat’s departure. He has spent a long time with the firm and been described by one insider as ‘very good with organisation and people management’.

Post Online - Two out at RBSI as Cornish adds NIG to commercial remit

Post Online - Two out at RBSI as Cornish adds NIG to commercial remit: "Two out at RBSI as Cornish adds NIG to commercial remit Tuesday 4th December 2007: 17:26 Royal Bank of Scotland Insurance has announced a restructure which has seen two more directors leave and Direct Line for Business and NIG united under one director. Former director of motor Chris Moat and chief risk officer Robin Webster have decided to leave the business as part of the restructure initiated by RBSI chief executive Chris Sullivan. As part of the latest restructure Andy Cornish now has responsibility for direct commercial..."

TREND-News.com / It's official today: World Duty Free is for sale

TREND-News.com / It's official today: World Duty Free is for sale: "It's official today: World Duty Free is for sale"

By Doug Newhouse, 4 December 2007

World Duty Free Managing Director Mark Riches confirmed this afternoon that the world's second largest duty free and travel retail operator is up for sale, following completion of a strategic review by the company for BAA's owners, Airport Development and Investment Limited - the consortium led by 62% shareholder Spanish construction group Ferrovial which acquired BAA for £10bn ($20.6bn) in the summer of 2006.

As Riches stated, the news is not a complete surprise considering the intense speculation surrounding WDF and especially following comments from Ferrovial Financial Director Nicolas Villen in a first-half results conference call earlier this year where he acknowledged that WDF was 'not a strategic asset'.

In an exclusive conference call to TREND/The Business and The Moodie Report this afternoon he said that the world's worst secret was now out since the decision to sell World Duty Free has now been taken and this process will now start almost immediately. Riches said it was not an easy decision for Ferrovial because there were a number of factors that had to be taken into account, including the views of the CAA, but this process was now complete.

The full interview with Mark Riches will be posted on this website within the next hour. Meanwhile, see 'Executive analysis of pending World Duty Free sale' below and 'Comment' for detailed numbers and analysis].


EXECUTIVE ANALYSIS OF PENDING WORLD DUTY FREE SALE:

WHAT IS ON OFFER: World Duty Free operates 67 stores across BAA's seven UK airports, with 15,000sq m of retail space offering over 25,000 products. Its 2,000 employees support outlets located at the seven airports of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton.

POTENTIALLY INTERESTED PARTIES: Private equity firms include Blackstone (the biggest of the PE companies listed here), along with Bridgepoint, 3i and Warburg Pincus. All have been linked to interest in World Duty Free, along with duty free operators Autogrill/Aldeasa/Alpha, Dufry, Lagardère/Aelia and Nuance. There are also dark horses out there who may emerge, including Heinemann, Crossbar, Lotte Duty Free, Duty Free Americas and others, although DFS Group is not thought to be interested in WDF directly.

WORLD DUTY FREE FINANCIALS: World Duty Free delivered net retail income contribution of £122m ($251.6m) to BAA/Ferrovial consortium in the nine months ended September 30 2007, a 9.2% increase on the £112m ($231m) generated over the corresponding period in 2006. During the same nine-month period to September 30 2007, WDF generated sales revenue increase of 7.6% to £306m ($631.3m) and an operating profit increase 11.6% to £21m ($43.3m).
This compared with sales revenue of £284m ($584.9m) for the first nine months of 2006 and an operating profit during this same period of £19m ($39.1m). By contrast, Ferrovial's 2006 annual report points to WDF revenues of E.575m ($847.4m) with EBITDA rising to E.39.7m ($58.2m). As a further guide to the size of the WDF business, in 2005/'06 its underlying revenues were up 3.2% to £385m ($794.2m) and underlying profit rose by 4% to £26m ($54m), alongside a contribution of £126m ($260m) in concession fees paid to BAA.

SHOP LOCATIONS: (Main departure lounge outlets) Heathrow terminals 1,2,3 and 4; London Gatwick North; London Gatwick South; London Stansted; Southampton; Glasgow; Edinburgh; and Aberdeen. (Arrivals shops) Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 and 4; London Gatwick South; London Gatwick North; Edinburgh; and Glasgow.
(Important addition: From March 2008, World Duty Free will also be located in the all British Airways serviced Heathrow Terminal 5 where it will compete for passenger time and money with many other retail and food and beverage operations. Its retail 'competitors' in T5 will include: Accessorize; Chocolate Box; Coach; Dixons Tax Free; Dixons Tax Free Accessories; Glorious Britain; Harrods; Harrods Signature (souvenirs); HMV; Hughes & Hughes; Kurt Geiger; Links of London; M&S Simply Food; Mappin & Webb; Mont Blanc; Mulberry; Paul Smith Globe; PC World; Pen Shop; Prada; Reiss; Rolling Luggage; Smythson; Sunglass Hut; Ted Baker; Thomas Cook; Tiffany & Co; WHSmith (several locations).
WDF will operate about 3,250sq m of retail space in T5 when it opens from total retail space of around 22,000sq m allocated to the terminal.

SALES & MERCHANDISE MIX: WDF's beauty category accounts for more than 50% of all sales, followed by liquor, food, tax free, luxury goods and tobacco. The fact that WDF's sales in this category are equivalent to 20% of all prestige fragrance sales in the UK will not have been missed by potential buyers. As an indication of the size of this and WDF's other category sales, the retailer's 67 stores sell no less than 5m bottles of fragrance a year, 2m bottles of whisky and more than 0.6m bottles of wine.
WDF's overriding product strategy is to focus on five core merchandise categories: Beauty, Liquor, Tobacco, Confectionery and Fine Food and Selected Tax-Free goods. In addition to its main duty and tax free stores, WDF also operates a number of specialist shops such as World of Whiskies, Chocolates, Beauty Studio, Perfume Gallery, The Cigar House, Sunglasses and For Men.
It also operates what it calls 'share approach outlets' and these include: Jo Malone (Heathrow T3); Clinique Service Station (Gatwick North); Dior Voyage (Heathrow T4); MAC Studio (Heathrow T3 and London Stansted); Clarins Studio (Gatwick South); L'Oréal (Heathrow T4); and Molton Brown (Heathrow T4).

DEMOGRAPHICS: Taking the demographics of each airport and forecasting the potential penetration growth and spend from the varied passenger mixes at each will be a complex exercise for all bidders and will be key to any successful future operation.
Forecasting the impact on shops in the existing four terminals at Heathrow will be crucial considering that most of British Airways' passengers are moving to Heathrow Terminal 5 when it opens in March 2008. The impact will be big, considering that 25m passengers - and that is all of British Airway's passengers apart from Australasia, Spain and Italy - will be going through T5.
This will obviously reduce the amount of customers/passengers currently using Terminal 4, Terminal 3 and Terminal 1. Terminal 4 will be most affected. Stansted is just one other example where weighted forecasting will be necessary, considering that 90% of passengers are intra-EU, so most product sold to these customers does not carry duty free margins. This just underlines the fact that all bidders will have to make allowances for separating their rent structures for both EU and non-EU passengers, where both exist at a particular airport and one profile dominates the other.

NATURE OF THE SALE AND VALUATION: The nature of the sale looks likely to emerge as a partial payment upfront and percentage bids for each individual airport, with Heathrow obviously being the highest. Current market feeling and independent valuations presently lean towards a sale price of between £340m to £360m ($701.4m to $742.7m) but if an auction begins then the price could theoretically snowball as high as £450m to £500m ($928.3m to $1bn).
The Business understands that an effective RFP document containing information on the business is being released this week - and possibly even today - to companies that have expressed interest in buying the business. Needless to say, the usual confidential non-disclosure clause is expected to be prevalent in this document.
The fact that the aviation regulator the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said that it is minded not to interfere with the WDF process is one thing [CAA statement made on November 20-Ed], but another is the fact is that post sale, any new owner of WDF could find itself working for more than one landlord if BAA is forced - or decides - to sell one or more of its airports in future. At the same time the CAA has made it known that it believes that the concession fee payable by any new owner of WDF should not be less than 30%.
BAA is understood to have given WDF a contract of up to around 12 years and the fact that The Business understands it will not be less than ten may help to explain part of the reason why BAA/Ferrovial & Co have taken so long to decide whether or not to sell. Apart from waiting to see whether the CAA would interfere/influence in the process - which it says it now won't - this longer term concession period obviously adds considerable value to any sale and will be reassuring for premium bidders and obviously for BAA, which wants to attract private equity bidders, as well as offers from duty and travel retail operators. WDF MD Mark Riches said this afternoon that he wasn't party to the RFP details but he wouldn't be surprised if the CAA recommendations hadn't influenced the RFP structure. But he added that to give further details would be inappropriate.

POINTERS FROM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: In an exclusive interview with The Business/TREND six weeks ago WDF Managing Director Mark Riches said he was satisfied with the business performance over the past year, even factoring in the comparatively difficult period from August 10 in 2006 where heightened security measures severely disrupted the business.
Over the past year he reported that all product categories have performed well, with the exception of the cigarette sector which on trend continues to decline at around 7% to 8% a year - a long way off its once strong historical annual sales contribution of around £80m ($165m) a year.
More positively, Riches said that the liquor category has performed well and the Champagne sector within it in particular. Contrary to some comments elsewhere, Riches added that there is no slowdown in the important fragrance, skincare and colour sectors of the beauty offer, which he confirmed still accounts for more than 50% of WDF's total category sales mix. Another star performer - albeit from a much smaller base - is confectionery where he described the performance in the year to date as "quite stunnning" and approaching record sales levels this Christmas.

CURRENT SENIOR MANAGEMENT: Mark Riches, Managing Director, World Duty Free and BAA Global Retail; Jo O'Connor; Commercial Director; Fred Creighton, Retail Director; Sarah Jezard, Marketing Director World Duty Free and BAA Retail; Dan Curran, Head of Supply Chain World Duty Free and BAA Retail; Debbie Ansell; Head of Category, Beauty & Luxury Goods; Fraser Dunlop, Head of Category, Liquor & Tobacco; Rebecca Slater, Finance and IT Director; Julie Elder, Retail HR Director, BAA; and Sarah Branquinho, Business Relationships Director, BAA and World Duty Free.


COMMENT: While the sale of the company might not be regarded as the ideal tenth anniversary present by some within WDF, it does at least bring to an end a very unhelpful period of limbo for WDF's employees. WDF Managing Director Mark Riches understandably acknowledged in an interview with The Business six weeks ago that they have obviously been unsettled by the barrage of 'will they, won't they' sell stories that have appeared in the media sporadically over the last six months in particular.

But while speculation now shifts to who might emerge as the final owner of WDF, there will also be the inevitable questions surrounding the potential upsides and downsides for certain organisations, depending who the final buyer turns out to be. For example, there can be no doubt that based on statements by the company Autogrill could well be a leading contender as an acquirer. Now should this company be successful in any bid, then there may be competition issues concerning its separate ownership of the Alpha Airports Group which also operates many shops at UK airports.

The question then would be whether this would put AAG's retail arm into play? If this happened, then there might be several organisations who would be interested.

Then there are questions surrounding the private equity organisations that have been linked with WDF, including Blackstone, Bridgepoint, 3i and Warburg Pincus. Whether they are representing themselves (unlikely) or some of the operators that have also been linked with an acquiring interest in World Duty Free (more likely) is another matter. That there can be too many companies with the expertise, infrastructure, or deep pockets required to operate World Duty Free from a management perspective seems unlikely. Therefore the identities of those represented by these private equity organisations will only fuel yet more speculation as the sale process gathers momentum.

Then there is the big question of management style at the acquirer and whether they will continue with the spirit of partnership that WDF and BAA has pioneered quite successfully with its suppliers over the last five years in particular. Any offer for WDF which is too highly leveraged by debt will certainly not be in the best interests of preserving this legacy.

Then finally there is the relationship between the new acquirer and the airport managements at the various airports themselves. For the last decade there has been a clear team effort between WDF and its seven airport partners which has been greatly aided by the fact that both sides are all part of the same company. That will no longer be the case in future and new relationships will have to be forged quickly if any new acquirer is to maximise revenues at the same time that BAA will be reconfiguring the traffic flows at all four of its existing Heathrow Airport terminals next March, when most of its British Airways' passengers transfer to Heathrow Terminal 5.

BIZOnline - Insurance job for Norwich agency

BIZOnline - Insurance job for Norwich agency: Insurance job for Norwich agency
06 December 2007

ADAM AIKEN, SENIOR BUSINESS WRITER
One of the country's biggest insurers has hired a Norwich agency to run a key plank of its online marketing.

The insurance division of Royal Bank of Scotland has taken on OMG Network to run most of its affiliate marketing programme.

It follows a three-month process that involved all OMG's major competitors making pitches.

The contract includes Direct Line's and Churchill's full range of general insurance and life insurance products as well as car and home products for Privilege and Natwest, and Devitt motorcycle insurance.

Affiliate marketing is a way of selling products or services over the internet that allows advertisers to promote their wares through specialist websites.

OMG, which employs about 60 people, manages the network of affiliate websites on behalf of advertisers, looking after which adverts are used where and managing relations between the affiliates and advertisers.

The principle of affiliate marketing is moving from being a niche practice to becoming a mainstream idea, and it is the fastest growing form of online advertising.

"As a result of the RBS affiliate network review, we are very pleased to be working with OMG exclusively on the RBS insurance brands," said David Catterall, RBS Insurance's head of e-business.

"[OMG has] shown exceptional account management and service that has added significant value to our programmes.

"We look forward to continued growth as a result of this, for both us and our affiliates."

OMG managing director Oli Matthews said: "We are absolutely delighted to win the RBS Insurance account on an exclusive basis.

"It has been an incredibly rigorous review and pitch process so it is especially pleasing to go under the microscope in such a way and come out on top.

"As well as being part of RBS, these are all major brands in their own right, and I'm in no doubt that our expertise in handling campaigns for big brands has contributed to our success."

OMG believes that the RBS deal - which is the biggest affiliate deal of the year - will cement its place as a market leader in the financial sector.

It also aims to move into sectors such as retail and travel and take on the incumbents that currently dominate those sectors. Other OMG clients include Norwich Union, Virgin, Marks & Spencer, RAC, CD Wow and Cancer Research UK.

Profits leap boosts RBS - Yorkshire Evening Post

Profits leap boosts RBS - Yorkshire Evening Post:

Profits leap boosts RBS

NATWEST parent Royal Bank of Scotland today revealed write-downs of £1.5bn from the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, but said profits were set to beat expectations.

The Edinburgh-based group, which is the UK's second biggest bank, employs hundreds of staff in Leeds through brands such as Direct Line and Privilege insurance.

The group's write-downs were far better than feared, with analysts reportedly expecting RBS alone to take a hit of up £2bn, excluding potential losses at its recently acquired ABN Amro business.

RBS has been under pressure to reveal the extent of its liabilities to the credit crunch and default-hit US high-risk home loan market.

The group's shares have suffered recently amid fears of substantial losses across the sector.

Today it said it hoped full-year operating profits would come in "well ahead" of market forecasts, despite suffering write-downs of £1.2bn and a further £300m at ABN.

RBS was able to offset £250m of losses amid the credit turmoil by using its own cash reserves instead of turning to more expensive wholesale credit markets

It also revealed today that second-half deposits had soared amid Northern Rock's high-profile problems as savers quit the troubled bank.

Challenge

Sir Fred Goodwin, group chief executive, said: "Rarely have the diversity and quality of the group's business platform been more important in enabling us to deliver consistently strong performance.

"Although some of our businesses have been affected by the challenging market conditions, the group's underlying earnings trajectory has remained comparatively unaffected."

He said the integration of ABN AMRO was "off to a promising start", adding that the company now anticipated better financial returns than envisaged.

He added: "More importantly, the increased exposure to many high growth economies that ABN AMRO brings us seems more attractive and relevant than ever."

Coke rolls out Sprite avatar on Facebook - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

Coke rolls out Sprite avatar on Facebook - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic:

Coke rolls out Sprite avatar on Facebook

by Gareth Jones Marketing 04-Dec-07, 08:45

LONDON - Coca-Cola has partnered with Facebook to roll out Sprite Sips, a customisable branded character that consumers can use to interact with their friends online.

The FMCG company has launched a sponsored Facebook group to promote the Sprite brand-building initiative, which allows internet users to create a personalised Sprite Sips avatar.

Once they have joined the Sprite Sips group, Facebook users are encouraged to choose from a selection of hairstyles, faces and arms to customise their character.

Members can then use their animated Sprite Sip to contact their Facebook friends via the social network's Poke, Pop and Flirt applications. Users are required to interact with their Sprite Sip on a regular basis to keep it 'happy' and avoid it 'turning against them'.

The Sprite Sips Facebook group gives users access to a range of branded content, including photos, video clips and music, as well as discussion boards and forums.

Members can also sign up to Sprite's recently launched wireless social network The Yard, which is aimed at 13- to 25-year-olds. The initiative is being rolled out in inter-national territories with the support of localised on-pack promotions.

Market leader Sprite is losing share of the lemon-and-lime carbonates sector following a cut in adspend. Its share fell by 5.9% to 58.5% for the year to 8 September, according to Nielsen.

Separately, Coca-Cola is seeking a mobile marketing agency as it plans to increase its SMS on-pack promotions in Europe, the US, South America and Asia. It is co-ordinating the search from its Atlanta headquarters.

Financial brands rein in spend over credit fears - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

Financial brands rein in spend over credit fears - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic: "Financial brands rein in spend over credit fears by Bill Britt Marketing 04-Dec-07, 08:45 LONDON - The true impact of the credit squeeze has manifested itself in a dramatic decline in financial marketing spend. Finance firms' spend on traditional marketing relating to lending, across mortgages, credit cards and personal loans, has plunged since the squeeze began. Total adspend by banks, building societies and credit-card companies on advertising and direct marketing, excluding search and email, fell by £15m or 28% to £38m in September, following a 27% drop in August, according to exclusive data from Thomson Intermedia. There has been a particularly notable fall in investment in direct mail and print for credit card products. 'There may be a shift to cost-effective forms of digital marketing,' said Paul Ryan, head of insight at Thomson Intermedia. Spending on credit-card promotions in traditional media fell by 23%-53% every month from January to September. Credit card companies spent £45.9m less on direct mail over the period year on year, a 49% drop. Marketing spend on mortgages rose until September, when it fell 19%. Mortgage approvals fell from 100,000 in September to 88,000 in October, the lowest level since February 2005, accordi"

United Kingdom, Intellectual Property, High Court Upholds Direct Line’s Successful Opposition To Mouse On Wheels Mark - Stephenson Harwood - 04/12/200

United Kingdom, Intellectual Property, High Court Upholds Direct Line’s Successful Opposition To Mouse On Wheels Mark - Stephenson Harwood - 04/12/2007 13:27:53, Trademark: "High Court Upholds Direct Line’s Successful Opposition To Mouse On Wheels Mark

The High Court upheld on appeal Direct Line’s successful opposition to a trade mark application for a computer mouse on wheels in relation to insurance services on the ground that the Hearing Officer committed no error of principle in holding Esure’s mark, as applied for, would be likely to take unfair advantage of or be detrimental to the repute of Direct Line’s well-known registrations for a telephone on wheels."

UK internet users receive 20bn junk emails a day - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic

UK internet users receive 20bn junk emails a day - Brand Republic News - Brand Republic:

UK internet users receive 20bn junk emails a day

by Alex Donohue Brand Republic 03-Dec-07, 12:20

LONDON - UK internet users are being bombarded with 20bn unsolicited emails a day, making the country the third biggest target for spam in the world, according to a new report.

Conducted by US-based internet security firm IronPort, the report found the average UK internet user receives 300 spam emails a day, while 98% of all email traffic worldwide is now spam.

According to IronPort, the UK is now the third biggest target for spam behind the US and China, and has doubled the amount of unwanted emails it has received in the last year.

IronPort warns that users of social networking sites Facebook and MySpace are becoming a bigger target for spammers because of the amount of personal data available on the sites.

The company, which specialises in internet security products, said around 120bn spam emails are sent worldwide daily, while the UK has increasingly become a target for spammers because it is viewed as having a more affluent internet user population.

The report said more sophisticated malicious software or malware techniques, whereby spammers use software to infiltrate or damage a PC without the owner's knowledge, has meant the likelihood of computer users becoming a victim to viruses and malicious code had not diminished.

Meanwhile, IronPort estimated the global cost for companies stopping spam email to date could be as much as £10bn.

Paul Doran, spokesman for IronPort, said: "The UK represents not just a very large market, but also a very affluent market. This makes us a sweet spot for cyber criminals."