Hochschild joins rare earth race with $56m deal October 2, 2019 Hochschild Mining joined the race to extract vital components for consumer electronics today as the company penned a $56m deal. London-listed Hochschild said it would buy a 94 per cent stake – it already owns the rest – in a rare earth materials mine in Chile. Read more: China rare earth metals warning sparks market [...]
FTSE 100 slumps over 2.5 per cent as global economy darkens October 2, 2019 Britain’s FTSE 100 has tumbled 2.6 per cent today as weak economic data and political crisis fuel investor scepticism about the UK economy. Read more: UK construction activity suffers ‘devastating’ drop as Brexit kills demand US stock markets followed their British counterpart sharply downwards shortly after they opened, following more negative data for the world’s [...]
Rising Risk (Part I): Accounting shenanigans and alternative investments October 2, 2019 | City Talk In this first instalment of a two-part piece, Sebastien Canderle says PE fund managers are getting creative with their accounting – and EBITDA seems particularly malleable. Seasoned auditors know that the risk of fraud increases when a client experiences brisk organic growth or M&A activity. During the 1990s, the most spirited dealmakers included telecoms operators [...]
German think tanks once again slash growth forecast October 2, 2019 A group of top German think tanks today slashed their growth forecasts for the European powerhouse and warned that a disorderly Brexit could knock 0.4 per cent off the country’s GDP. Read more: Eurozone manufacturing sector suffers worst month in seven years The economy is now predicted to grow by just 0.5 per cent in [...]
Wework downgraded by Fitch after IPO troubles leave hole in finances October 2, 2019 Global ratings agency Fitch has downgraded WeWork’s credit rating two notches to “CCC+”, pushing the office space giant into junk territory following the official withdrawing of its initial public offering (IPO) filing. Wework had hoped to raise at least $3bn (£2.4bn) from the floatation as well as borrowing a further $6bn in a loan contingent [...]
FTSE 100 sinks as Brexit ultimatum and manufacturing crisis pummel European stocks October 2, 2019 The FTSE 100 fell one per cent in early trading today as markets stumbled over Boris Johnson’s “take it or leave it” Brexit ultimatum and weak US economic data. London’s blue-chip index dropped to 7,287.8 points shortly after open today, following global stocks plunging into a sea of red overnight. Read more: Boris Johnson’s ‘clarity [...]
What kind of person crosses the Nevada desert to investigate UFO conspiracies? October 2, 2019 Area 51 is a mysterious place. Located deep in the Nevada desert, it is home to highly classified US military operations. Rumours abound that it harbours secrets about extraterrestrial life. In June, a podcaster released an interview with someone who claims to have studied flying saucers in Area 51. The video spread like wildfire on [...]
Aston Martin: The float that left the City shaken, not stirred October 2, 2019 Over the years, Aston Martin observers have watched the firm’s most famous client, James Bond, career into the river Tiber, skid across the polar ice caps and hurtle off an alpine road in its cars. Each time, ludicrously, he emerges alive. So when chief executive Andy Palmer told investors: “We don’t make cars, we make [...]
Small business group warns over effects of wage hike October 1, 2019 The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has urged caution on chancellor Sajid Javid’s plans to significantly increase the national minimum wage, saying many of its members would prefer ten years to implement the rise rather than five. Michael Mealing, employment policy chief at the FSB, also warned that for low-pay areas such as care and [...]
WTO blames tariff wars as it slashes global trade forecast October 1, 2019 The World Trade Organization (WTO) has slashed its forecast for global trade this year to below half its previous estimate, pointing the finger at the US-China tariff war and also blaming Brexit. In a report into global trade, WTO economists today warned that “further rounds of tariffs and retaliation” in the trade war “could produce [...]