Why the world economy is like a wobbly bike June 14, 2019 | City Talk Three months ago we said “the easing in US-China trade tensions, more flexible central banks and the benefits of lower oil prices should stabilise activity later this year and support an upgrade in our global growth forecast for 2020”. However, two of those supports have now fallen away and we are more reliant on looser [...]
Can Amazon really be a climate change champion? June 12, 2019 | City Talk Amazon is not a company normally associated with meaningful strides towards a low carbon future. Although e-commerce is typically better for the environment than heavily air-conditioned, high street stores, speedy deliveries carry a high carbon cost. Any Amazon shopper may feel a pang of guilt – as I have – at using the one day delivery [...]
‘Return of the CDO’ – how scary could that sequel prove? June 3, 2019 | City Talk CDOs 2 (complete, of course, with the tagline ‘Just when you thought it was safe to go back into collateral debt obligations’) is unlikely to have filmgoers queuing round the block – and yet ‘Overconfident group reckon they can do better than previous set of unfortunates in the face of all warnings and evidence to [...]
Aberdeen Standard opposes Non-Standard Finance’s hostile Provident Financial takeover June 2, 2019 A major shareholder in Provident Financial has come out to publicly oppose rival doorstep lender Non-Standard Finance’s (NSF) hostile takeover bid. Aberdeen Standard Investments, which owns 3.1 per cent of the sub-prime lender, said it would not accept NSF’s offer. Read more: Watchdog probes Non-Standard Finance's hostile takeover of Provident Head of UK equities Andrew [...]
Three reasons why the UK stock market looks compelling May 31, 2019 | City Talk Whatever the opposite of a sweet spot is, many investors think UK equities are currently in one. With Brexit still unresolved, some have put the market in the “too difficult” basket. While it is understandable to fear uncertainty, as stock pickers we embrace the mis-priced opportunities created by it. The global nature of the market [...]
London takes second place in Schroders Global Cities 30 index despite Brexit uncertainty May 28, 2019 | City Talk London has overtaken Hong Kong to be ranked second in the latest Schroders Global Cities 30 index, despite economic and political uncertainty in the UK. The ranking reinforces London’s position as a significant contributor of the UK economy and highlights the UK capital’s attraction as a location for real asset investing. London remains the highest-positioned [...]
M&G Investments rejects hostile takeover of Provident Financial May 28, 2019 M&G Investments has announced that it will reject a hostile takeover of Provident Financial by rival sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance. The investment firm, which owns 1.7 per cent of Provident’s stock, has joined Schroders and Coltrane in confirming it will refuse to back the deal. Read more: Non-Standard Finance confident of watchdog support for £1.3bn [...]
Schroders stands firm against Non-Standard Finance’s hostile takeover of Provident May 19, 2019 A major Provident shareholder has stood firm against a £1.3bn hostile takeover bid delivering a blow to rival subprime lender Non-Standard Finance’s hopes of gaining more support. NSF decided to plough ahead with its takeover last week with support from investors holding 53.53 per cent of Provident shares. The doorstep lender dropped its own target [...]
Non-Standard Finance pushes forward with £1.3bn hostile takeover of Provident May 15, 2019 Sub prime lender Non-Standard Finance has dropped the number of acceptances needed to push forward with its £1.3bn hostile takeover of rival firm Provident Financial. NSF said in a statement that its offer was now unconditional in terms of acceptances by investors, with 5 June the last date on which the takeover may be declared [...]
Sparks fly as Provident accused of ‘scaremongering’ over hostile Non-Standard Finance bid May 10, 2019 Non-Standard Finance (NSF) has hit out at the management of Provident Financial, accusing it of “scaremongering” in a bid to fend off a hostile takeover. NSF, which launched the £1.3bn bid in February, today accused Provident of going “to great lengths to deflect attention from its flawed strategy, regulatory breaches, broken promises and underwhelming financial [...]