Serco: Defence spending pushes order pipeline to 10-year high August 7, 2025 Government services firm Serco’s order pipeline has risen to the highest in more than a decade as countries across Europe and North America ramp up their defence budgets. The firm’s pipeline stood at £11.9bn, up six per cent compared to the end of last year, with as much as 80 per cent of its order [...]
London hit with a slowdown in mid-market deal activity August 6, 2025 Mid-market private equity investment in London suffered a fall in the first half of this year, as economic uncertainty and wider geopolitical issues affected investment activity. According to fresh analysis from professional services giant KPMG, the volume of mid-market private equity investment fell 14 per cent in the capital, with just 168 deals completed. KPMG’s [...]
AI-for-Excel firm Tracelight raises $3.6m to streamline finance work August 6, 2025 UK founded AI company, Tracelight, has raised over $3m in seed funding as it bids to hand laborious finance work over to AI tech. The London based company raised $3.6m (£2.7m) in seed funding from a series of venture capital firms, led by Chalfen Ventures with participation from Acequia Capital, Inovo and EF City AM [...]
Spectris bidding war intensifies as KKR submits fresh offer August 5, 2025 The private equity bidding war for precision instrument business Spectris has stepped up a gear after New York-based KKR stepped in with a fresh offer that values the business at £4.8bn. The offer of 4,175p per Spectris share outflanks a fresh offer made by Boston-based Advent of 4,100p per share on Friday, and represents a [...]
Tesla board awards Musk $29bn in shares August 4, 2025 The board of the world’s most valuable carmaker has approved the award of shares to chief executive Elon Musk worth a staggering $29bn (£21.7bn) in efforts to prevent the billionaire from leaving the firm. The new award by Tesla, which amounts to 96 million new shares, comes as part of a new pay deal, after [...]
Motor finance ruling hands City banks £7bn stock boost August 4, 2025 The FTSE 100’s banking giants added billions to their market value on Monday after a hefty boost from the Supreme Court’s motor finance ruling. Lloyds Banking Group bolstered its market capitalisation by over £3.5bn after a seven per cent surge to a five-year high on the back of the top Court’s ruling last Friday. The [...]
Swiss shares fall as the country feels the wrath of Trump’s tariffs August 4, 2025 Shares in Swiss firms dropped on Monday morning as markets digested the consequences of US president Donald Trump’s high tariffs. The Swiss Market Index dropped by 1.9 per cent to 11,835 francs upon opening this morning, before easing its losses to trade at 1.54 per cent down. It clawed its way back to 0.77 per [...]
Auction Technology Group shares tumble after debt-fuelled acquisition of Chairish August 4, 2025 Shares in Auction Technology Group tumbled on Monday after the firm added to its debt pile with the acquisition of furniture marketplace Chairish in a $85m (£64m) deal. The London-listed company said it had extended its revolving credit borrowing capacity to $275m alongside the deal, which was funded by a combination of cash and debt. [...]
Close Brothers shares rocket after motor finance win August 4, 2025 Shares in Close Brothers rocketed as markets opened on Monday after the bank won its landmark motor finance case at the Supreme Court. Shares in the FTSE 250 lender surged over 25 per cent during early trading, hitting a high of 500p. Close Brothers win Investors rushed to buy the shares after the Supreme Court [...]
Pharma stocks suffer as Trump demands prescription slash August 1, 2025 Pharmaceutical stocks across the global markets have taken a hit after Trump demanded drug companies lower prices for American consumers. Trump’s threat against pharmaceuticals has given healthcare sector investors “a dose of the blues” after his letter to various company bosses. It outlined that they should either cut US prescription prices or face a tariff [...]