London IPO market slows to a crawl in 2023 as analysts warn ‘challenging’ times to come April 11, 2023 London managed only five IPOs in the first quarter of 2023, raising just £81m as the City’s flagship exchange struggles to attract new participants. The main market saw only two IPOs, from Dar Global and Streaks Gaming. The two IPOs raised a combined £63m, with £60m of that coming from luxury real estate firm Dar [...]
The City’s flagship markets still matter – despite a changing Square Mile April 11, 2023 London’s markets are something of a hot topic in the City at the moment, and the smattering of rather unspectacular floats so far this year will do little to calm concerns that our capital markets are not the global hotspot they once were. The question is whether it matters to anything other than our collective [...]
Last orders: British pubs closing at a faster rate than during Covid-19 – and it could get worse April 11, 2023 Pubs are vanishing from communities across England and Wales amid soaring energy and food prices. Analysis of government data conducted by real estate advisor Altus Group shows that the number of public houses shutting up shop leapt to 51 a month in the first financial quarter of 2023. In 2022, after the UK emerged from [...]
Gender pension gap: Women trail men by thousands – and the gap could widen April 11, 2023 Women’s pensions are on average £17,014 smaller than their male counterparts, per a new study by pensions consultants TPT. The research found that among those who knew how much they had put aside, the average man in his 50s would retire with far more money than a female counterpart. Women workers, by contrast, fear that [...]
Is confidence returning despite recession chatter? This index suggests it just might be April 11, 2023 The worst of the UK’s economic downturn could soon be over, with companies reporting supply chain cost increases are beginning to slow down. Figures published by BDO found that business confidence rose in March in reaction to a 2.19 percent ease in the advisory firm’s inflation index rate from 113.18 in February to 110.99 in March. Tumbling [...]
Crisis-hit MJ Hudson offloads divisions to Apex – with suspended CFO leaving the business April 10, 2023 Asset management consultancy MJ Hudson, which has been embroiled in controversy for months after telling markets it no longer had confidence in its own accounts, has sold some of its divisions to the Bermuda-HQed financial services giant Apex. The deal was communicated to staff at the back end of last week, with a fractious all-hands [...]
Tesco share price: Analysts watch grocer’s market share April 9, 2023 Tesco is expected to reveal a dip in profits for the past year as the supermarket group grappled with rampant food and drink inflation. The UK’s largest retailer will update investors and analysts over its financial performance for the year to February in an update on Thursday April 13. A consensus of analysts has said [...]
Royal Navy’s Type 31 frigate could be ‘significantly delayed’ April 8, 2023 The Royal Navy could see delivery of its Type 31 frigates significantly delayed, a union has warned, as workers at a Scottish yard are poised to down tools for weeks in their battle for higher pay. Around 100 workers at the Rosyth yard employed by contractor Kaefer are set to strike after overwhelmingly supporting industrial [...]
Warm weather helps shoppers hit the high street at start of Easter bank holiday weekend April 7, 2023 Retail footfall jumped this morning as shoppers hit the high street for the bank holiday weekend, new data reveals. Shopper numbers were up 4.8 per cent on last week as dry weather tempted customers out to the High Street, according to data from MRI Springboard. However, the uptick was lower than expected as shoppers shunned [...]
Sluggish progress on open banking regulation has left consumers ‘at risk’ April 7, 2023 Sluggish progress on open banking regulation has left consumers “unduly at risk” and regulators need to urgently ramp up protection measures, a group of experts has warned. Open banking, which was rolled out by regulators in 2017 to force high street lenders to open customers’ data to trusted third-party firms, has been consistently touted by [...]