Spire Healthcare overhauls board amid £1bn private takeover Business The chief executive and chair of Spire Healthcare have stepped away amid a £1bn takeover of the London-listed private hospital group. Veteran boss Justin Ash has said he will retire from the group as it “enters a new phase with strong foundations” under its new ownership by a consortium of investors. Spire’s board have agreed [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 wavers as weak housebuilding drives faster construction downturn FTSE 100 Live Welcome back to City AM‘s FTSE 100 liveblog. The UK’s blue chip index made a soft start on Friday morning, as investors brace for a US jobs report and digest the latest signs of a worsening downturn in the UK’s construction sector. Borrowing costs have eased slightly, after a global rout on government bonds threatened [...]
Surge in third-party funding sparks wave in FTSE shareholder lawsuits Lawsuit A surge in the availability of third-party funding has triggered a wave of speculative FTSE shareholder lawsuits as investors seek to cash in on claims of wrongdoing. Over the last year, multiple blue-chip names, including gambling giant Entain, smoking tycoon British American Tobacco (BAT), and fast fashion retailer Boohoo, have been summoned before the High [...]
Services sector cuts jobs for nearly two years under cost pressures September 3, 2026 Employment in the UK’s services sector dropped for the 23rd consecutive month in August as businesses maintained hiring freezes and trimmed headcounts following cost pressures. S&P’s latest Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the services industry – which is closely monitored by economists – revealed the sector has continued its longest continuous stretch of workforce reductions [...]
Crest Nicholson slashes housebuilding targets in ‘difficult’ summer September 3, 2026 Crest Nicholson has cut back its housebuilding and earnings targets as crunch talks with lenders drag on. The London-listed builder now expects to build up to 1,400 homes this year, compared to earlier forecasts of as many as 1,500. It expects to make an earnings loss of £10m, having previously guided to a profit of [...]
The Works secures heavyweight backing in activist investor row September 2, 2026 The Works has secured the backing of a pair of heavyweight shareholder proxies in the discount retailer’s boardroom tussle with an influential activist investor. The stationary and crafts retailer has been locked in a row with Kelso, a London-listed investment firm, since the investor sought to force a director onto its board. Institutional Shareholder Services [...]
Can OSB’s new boss cut through the noise? September 2, 2026 A FTSE 250 bank has a new boss and plenty of challenges to confront . In this week’s column, Samuel Norman looks at what could be next for OSB. Enrique Labiano confronted a tricky inheritance when he got his feet under the desk on his first day at the helm of OSB on Tuesday. The [...]
Fresh stock market raid sparks clarion call for action September 2, 2026 The London Stock Exchange risks being gutted of even more blue-chip firms this year without urgent action from ministers and officials, a group of top advisers has said, after three more listed companies accepted bids from foreign buyers. The cohort warned that “complacency is not a viable option” following news that FTSE 250 firms Bodycote [...]
Trio of firms poised to quit London Stock Exchange as exodus gathers pace September 1, 2026 The scale of the exodus from the London Stock Exchange has been laid bare on the first trading day back from the summer break after three listed companies simultaneously unveiled plans to exit the market. FTSE 250 members Bodycote and Gamma Communications, as well as energy firm Capricorn, each laid out fresh offers to be [...]
As it happened: FTSE 100 slides as bound rout deepens; Oil jumps as Trump vows more strikes on Iran September 1, 2026 Welcome back to the City AM liveblog. The London market is returning from the Bank Holiday break to a fall as tensions in the Middle East are simmering over again leading to the price of oil moving higher. Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – climbed over $91 per barrel on Tuesday, [...]