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 [...]
Provident Financial says hostile bidder Non-Standard Finance is overvalued May 8, 2019 Provident Financial today said it had concerns about the valuation of Non-Standard Finance (NSF) which is trying to take it over. Provident said it had concerns NSF was undercapitalised, it said NSF’s business was facing “significant headwinds”, it said there was an overly positive perspective on NSF’s headline financial performance and said NSF was overvalued [...]
London jumps to second in global ranking of best cities to invest in May 2, 2019 London has overtaken Hong Kong to take second place in a global ranking of cities with the most investment potential. London rose to second place in the index compiled by asset manager Schroders, up from third place in 2017 and eighth place in 2016. Its position in the table has been boosted by strong employment [...]
Which stock markets look ‘cheap’ after strong performances in the first quarter of 2019? April 26, 2019 | City Talk Those who were brave enough to fight the emotional urge to sell during the carnage in markets which brought 2018 to a close have been richly rewarded in the first few months of 2019. Of the five markets in our regular analysis, even the worst of the bunch (Japan) returned almost 8 per cent so far [...]
The fault in default funds: Why you might not be getting the most out of your workplace pension scheme April 17, 2019 There is no denying that auto-enrolment is paving the way for the British population to have a half-decent savings pot in retirement. According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 76 per cent of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up slightly from the 73 per cent enrolled [...]
Countdown to Brexit: three market indicators to watch April 15, 2019 | City Talk With politicians still struggling to agree the terms of withdrawal, investors in assets linked to the UK economy could be in for an uncertain time. UK investments have already underperformed their global peers since Britain voted to leave the EU, in June 2016. For instance, sterling is down 8.4 per cent since the vote and despite [...]
Death of the High Street? Why we’re still backing UK retail April 9, 2019 | City Talk Following some dire headlines you might rightly wonder why the share prices of UK retailers have recorded double-digit gains this year (see graphic, below). Surely the relentlessly downbeat mood music from the mainstream media (and pessimism among analysts) is confirmation that the UK consumer is in full retreat, and consumer-exposed sectors are in deep trouble? [...]
Superdry board in mass resignation as Dunkerton takes the reins April 2, 2019 Superdry suffered a boardroom exodus tonight after the troubled retailer’s co-founder won an audacious bid to reinstall himself onto the firm’s board. In a shock move this evening, Superdry’s entire board – including its chief executive and chairman – revealed plans to step down after Julian Dunkerton won an investor vote which will see him [...]
Dunkerton lawyers warn Superdry about alleged remarks to shareholders in latest feud April 1, 2019 The bitter boardroom battle at Superdry escalated once again this evening amid reports that co-founder Julian Dunkerton has hired lawyers to warn the company against making allegedly defamatory statements about him to shareholders. According to Sky News Dunkerton, whose audacious attempts to return to the retailer's board will be voted on at a crunch investor meeting tomorrow, has [...]