Entain: Ladbrokes owner snaps up US analytics firm for £81m as it continues on deal spree July 17, 2023 Ladbrokes owner Entain has snapped up a US sports pricing and analytics firm for £81m, as it continues on its recent acquisition spree. The betting giant said that on top of the millions it’s splashed on Angstrom Sports, it will also pay contingent payments over the next three years – meaning future payments of £122m are promised to the seller upon [...]
Trustpilot flies in former Just Eat exec who took it into FTSE 100 as its new CEO July 17, 2023 Trustpilot has appointed Adrian Blair as its new chief executive, replacing founder and CEO Peter Holten Mühlmann. Blair will join from Cera, the digital health company, where he was chief business officer. In this role he was responsible for engineering and data at the firm. Before Cera, Blair was chief executive at accounting automation platform [...]
Bank of England interest rate hikes trigger record £2.1 trillion UK wealth collapse, report claims July 17, 2023 The Bank of England has engineered the largest contraction in UK household wealth on record by jacking up interest rates in response to scorching inflation, a new report out today has claimed. Asset values have collapsed by £2.1 trillion since early 2021, mainly driven by a sharp fall in bond prices in response to UK [...]
Seraphim: Investment deals take off as UK ranks third globally July 17, 2023 Seraphim Space has reported that overall startup activity and later-stage funding within the space tech industry are at higher levels than ever before, according to its half year investment index published today. Globally, the UK ranks as having the third-highest number of space deals in the past 12 months at 39, trailing behind the US [...]
New data: Cost-cutting and restructuring helps keep restaurant industry alive July 17, 2023 Bank of England interest rate rises could threaten the UK restaurant sector’s return to profitability, according to national accountancy group, UHY Hacker Young. The group say the percentage of UK restaurant companies turning a profit has more than doubled from 35 per cent to 78 per cent in the past year, but recent rate increases could [...]
Ministers are obliged to find a fudge to end rail strike misery July 17, 2023 One of the skills of the modern politician is to be close to success and far from failure. For reasons best known to them, a host of greasy pole-climbers felt obliged to tweet out appropriately statesmanlike congratulations to Carlos Alvarez yesterday after his victory at Wimbledon, basking in some kind of reflected glory. Yet many [...]
Investment banking slowdown set to hit Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley results this week July 17, 2023 Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will likely report another slowdown in profit on Wednesday and Tuesday respectively amid a continued slump in global dealmaking. Analysts at JP Morgan reduced their earnings per share estimates for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on “lower IB revenues…with limited cost offset”. The analysts cut Goldman Sachs’s EPS for the [...]
The Notebook: Guy Hands on shattering the class ceiling, how to hire the right person and the importance of empathy July 17, 2023 The Notebook is where the City’s movers and shakers get a few things off their chest. Today it’s Guy Hands, founder of Terra Firma Capital Partners Our education system separates pupils. That’s wrong Sir Keir Starmer recently made headlines with his ambition to “shatter Britain’s class ceiling” by reforming the education system. While less radical [...]
Easyjet: Can the budget airline quell investors’ fear of strikes and cancellations? July 16, 2023 EasyJet shareholders will be looking ahead with bated breath this week, with the budget airline set to unveil its third quarter trading performance on Thursday. EasyJet shares have plateaued following a flying start to the year, with concerns peaking amid an announcement earlier this week that nearly 2,000 of its flights would be cancelled over [...]
Gatwick boss says airport is prepped to avoid chaos – despite strikes and cancellations July 16, 2023 Gatwick’s boss has said that the airport is not expecting further flight cancellations over the busy summer season. Speaking to the Sunday Times, Stewart Wingate said “I haven’t had any discussions with any other airlines [about cancellations].” He added: “I think that from the perspective of passengers, if there’s a need for an airline to [...]