Freetrade to close £7m in second crowdfunding round June 25, 2019 Fintech startup Freetrade is set to raise £5m in a crowdfunding round this week, after its last funding attempt got cut short due to excessive demand from investors. The commission-free stock-trading app last headed to the crowd in April. It raised £2m within a matter of minutes, before investment platform Crowdcube crashed due to too [...]
Regulators place heightened check on Facebook’s libra cryptocurrency June 25, 2019 Authorities in the UK and worldwide have ramped up calls for increased scrutiny on new digital currencies and financial disruption, in the wake of Facebook attempting to enter the space. G20 regulatory group the Financial Stability Board (FSB) said today the trend set by Facebook’s libra coin will cause regulators to take a deeper look [...]
Japanese stocks surf higher over troubled waters June 25, 2019 | City Talk Tokyo’s blue-chip Nikkei 225 stock index is riding out regional fears over China and Hong Kong as well as wider concerns regarding Iran and the US. Despite Japan’s special vulnerabilities to both East Asian tensions and higher oil prices, the index is trading higher than either a month or three months ago. This creates a [...]
Dunelm shares: Upgrade cycle not over June 25, 2019 | City Talk By Graeme Evans from interactive investor Up 70% already in 2019, this quality operator is well-fancied and tipped to keep outperforming. Dunelm (LSE:DNLM) continues to defy expectations after another profits upgrade extended the home furnishing chain’s remarkable share price rally for 2019 to a whopping 81%. One of the stand-out performers in the FTSE 250 index so far this [...]
Up in smoke: Is it time to stub out your exposure to tobacco stocks? June 25, 2019 “Blow in her face and she’ll follow you anywhere.” That was how one advert tried to sell cigarettes back in the 1960s. More than half a century later, the glamorous, seductive veneer of the cigarette industry has gone up in smoke. Gone is the attractive packaging, which has been replaced by ugly images of tarred [...]
Out of the prison cell, into the workplace June 25, 2019 Crime is a top tier political issue for members of the public, but it has barely featured in the race for Number 10 Downing Street. Beyond the popular but reactive refrain of putting more bobbies on the beat, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have so far failed to spell out how they would curb rising [...]
Monzo smashes past £2bn valuation in fresh round from Silicon fund June 25, 2019 Just six months on from its last capital plug, digital bank Monzo has raised £113m from major US tech investor Y Combinator in a round that values the startup at more than £2bn. Through its Continuity fund, Y Combinator joined the round alongside other investors including Latitude, General Catalyst, Stripe, Passion Capital, Thrive, Goodwater, Accel [...]
London markets lower as squalls hit Tory leadership contest June 24, 2019 | City Talk Sterling and stock markets were lower this morning as the race for leadership of Britain’s governing Conservative Party was plunged into turmoil. Three years exactly since the UK woke up on Midsummer Day 2016 to learn that it had voted to leave the European Union, the prospects for an orderly Brexit are overshadowed by serious [...]
Whitbread shares: Waiting for strategy to bear fruit June 24, 2019 | City Talk It’s not easy being a hotelier in this market, but Whitbread shares are holding their own for now. Despite having previously laid the groundwork in guiding expectations lower, Whitbread (LSE:WTB) has delivered a first-quarter update which is light on cheer. Without the diversification and success that Costa brought, the company is now mostly hostage to the cyclical [...]
If you’re bad at remembering names, here’s how to get around the issue June 24, 2019 I have never been good with names. It’s a shame, because I’m pretty good with faces, and can usually tell within seconds of meeting someone whether or not we’re likely to get along. In my first job in London, I worked in an office with just 13 other people. I hit it off with all [...]
