From Russia with kefir: How Biotiful Dairy sold a new drink to the British public March 2, 2020 How do you convince the British public to try a whole new food category, especially when it doesn’t sound very appealing at first glance? That was the challenge facing the Russian-born entrepreneur Natasha Bowes when she decided to try to start selling kefir in the UK. Kefir is a type of fermented milk drink made [...]
Goldman-backed Neyber set to be rescued by rival Salary Finance March 1, 2020 The Goldman-Sachs backed lender Neyber will reportedly sell its assets to rival Salary Finance. Neyber is expected to appoint administrators this week, according to Sky News reports. The consumer finance provider will offload its assets including its blue-chip customer contracts to Salary Finance. Sky News sources said the deal was almost certain to happen in [...]
Schroders set to change results reporting to woo City analysts March 1, 2020 Asset manager Schroders is reportedly changing how it reports results in a bid to highlight individual parts of its business to analysts. The Sunday Times reported that the move could result in a revaluation of the fund manager’s shares. It currently trades on a price-to-earnings multiple of 17 times, compared to fellow wealth manager St [...]
Coronavirus: the investment impact in seven charts February 28, 2020 | City Talk The spread of coronavirus, COVID-19, beyond China has created fresh uncertainty for the global growth outlook and sparked volatility in financial markets. Outbreaks in South Korea, Iran and Italy have raised concerns that the spread outside of China may be accelerating. We offer key facts on the spread of the virus, interspersed with views from [...]
Wealth managers reduce exposure to UK property February 27, 2020 Following the high-profile suspensions of the M&G and Prudential UK property funds last year, UK wealth managers have significantly reduced their exposure to property. Six adviser groups have removed direct property funds from their portfolios for investors across all risk profiles, according to FE fundinfo’s Adviser Fund Index. Ten funds in the sector were removed [...]
FCA tells asset managers to gear up for the end of Libor February 27, 2020 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has written to asset managers to tell them to get ready for the end of Libor. Libor is being phased out after banks were fined billions for trying to manipulate it. The benchmark, used for pricing trillions of dollars of swaps, futures and loans, is set to end at the [...]
Provident Financial increases dividend as it posts a rise in profit February 27, 2020 Provident Financial has proposed a 60 per cent increase in its final dividend has it posted a rise in profit. The figures Group profit before tax rose 1.6 per cent to £162.2m Basic earnings per share increased 22 per cent to 33.3p, while adjusted EPS fell 2.9 per cent from 48.7p to 47.3p. Provident’s division [...]
St James’s Place posts five per cent profit fall as inflows slow February 27, 2020 Wealth manager St James’s Place posts a fall in full-year operating profit after the pace of inflows of client cash slowed. The figures St James’s Place reported operating profit of £952m, a fall from the £1bn posted in 2018. This was, in part, due to a fall in new business from £852.7m in 2018 to [...]
Fintech unicorn Klarna posts first ever annual loss February 26, 2020 Klarna, the joint largest fintech startup in Europe, has suffered its first ever annual loss, with the “buy now pay later” specialist hit by heavy credit losses. The company, which lets people pay for online purchases in installments, reported a loss of 1.1bn Swedish krona (£87.5m) on revenues of 7.2bn krona last year, its first [...]
Can an overseas role help your career prospects? February 26, 2020 | City Talk Even a short posting abroad can have significant, long-term career benefits. It’s never been easier for people all over the world to communicate; international teams can be connected by email, intranet, phone and even video calls. However, there is still no real replacement for face-to-face interaction. Companies post staff overseas for a number of reasons; [...]
