Metro Bank leads post-referendum challenger bounceback September 14, 2016 Metro Bank shares climbed again today, as the challenger bank's mighty post-referendum run continues. Shares rose by one per cent to £27.39, leaving the bank up 67 per cent from levels hit amid frantic trading on 27 June. Banks were some of the worst affected in the aftermath of the UK's shock vote to leave [...]
Biggest deal of 2016 agreed – but large hurdles await Bayer and Monsanto’s $66bn tie-up September 14, 2016 Bayer, the German chemicals maker, clinched a $66bn (£50bn) takeover of controversial US seeds company Monsanto yesterday, marking the biggest deal of 2016 and the largest all-cash transaction on record. The agreement was reached after months of negotiations, with GM-seeds producer Monsanto accepting Bayer’s fourth bid of $128 per share. The mammoth tie up still [...]
Secure Trust Bank eyes graduation to London main market September 14, 2016 Secure Trust Bank, one of the UK’s challenger bank brands, is planning to move to from London’s junior market to the main market. The move is expected to happen around 12 October. Shares in Secure Trust have rebounded after hitting yearly lows on 7 July and have climbed by almost 30 per cent. Challenger banks [...]
Allergan to buy pharma firm in $639m buyout September 14, 2016 Irish pharma firm Allergan is buying psoriasis and autoimmune treatment developer Vitae Pharmaceuticals for $639m (£484m) in cash as it hopes to expand its dermatology division – best known for its Botox treatment. Allergan and US rival Pfizer have been on buying sprees since the US treasury stepped on their proposed tax inversion tie-up. Brent Saunders [...]
Media groups could get Google payout from EU copyright rules September 14, 2016 The European Union has proposed overhauling the trading bloc’s copyright and communications rules. Search giant Google could be especially hard hit by the rules that could mean it has to pay out for hosting or show parts of content. The proposals would grant publishers new rights to their articles, making it easier for them to [...]
Biffa to announce biggest post-referendum IPO in £1bn deal September 14, 2016 Giant waste disposers Biffa are set to float on the London Stock Exchange in a deal which could value the firm at more than £1bn, according to reports. The initial public offering (IPO) could raise £300m for the firm to launch an expansion drive, Sky News reported this evening, in the biggest float for the [...]
The Amazon Echo is an artificially intelligent speaker and virtual assistant that can play music, order curries and hail an Uber September 14, 2016 The Amazon Echo is a hands-free speaker that you operate using voice commands. Inside it (well, somewhere in the cloud to be precise) lives Alexa, an artificial intelligence and essentially Amazon’s version of Siri. Alexa’s machine-learning algorithms and rapidly expanding skillset make her smarter as time goes on: so while today she can play music, [...]
US Presidential Election 2016: Would a Donald Trump presidency lead to a stronger US dollar? September 14, 2016 Currency analysts have suggested a Donald Trump presidency could cause the US dollar to strengthen. A Trump victory in November's election is expected to spook investors around the world, leading to an exodus from emerging markets and into safer assets, such as the US dollar and Japanese yen, analysts at Societe Generale and Nordic bank SEB. [...]
The chancellor faces four daunting tasks in preparing his Autumn Statement September 14, 2016 Say your prayers for the chancellor of the exchequer. Most people think David Davis and Liam Fox have a tough enough job over the coming months, but Philip Hammond also faces a daunting challenge. Consider some of the questions in his in-tray: Question One: Is the UK economy slowing down? The received wisdom is that [...]
It’s time for long-term fintech to break into pensions and mortgages September 14, 2016 Certain areas of fintech have experienced an entrepreneurial frenzy over recent years. Sectors once dominated by traditional providers have become hotbeds of startup activity, with most of the action occurring in payments, foreign exchange, short-term lending and, more recently, current accounts. As is often the case, where entrepreneurs have led, money has followed. This has [...]