Profit slips at City of London Investment Group September 16, 2019 The City of London Investment Group has reported a drop in pre-tax profit, as the group’s efforts to diversify its business against a “volatile market backdrop” hit earnings. The Group reported a profit before tax of £11.4m for the year ending 30 June, a drop of almost 11 per cent compared to the previous year’s [...]
Royal Mint releases new coin after August gold rush September 16, 2019 August was the most popular month on record for sales of precious metals at the Royal Mint, which has released a new bullion coin following the spike in demand. Demand for bullion rose dramatically last month, rising 127 per cent compared to the same period in 2018, the Mint said. Read more: European stock markets [...]
Overlapping UK and EU regulations post-Brexit would hurt markets, FCA warns September 16, 2019 The head of the UK’s financial regulator has warned that overlaps between UK and EU share trading regulations post-Brexit would damage markets “to no good end”. Brussels has warned that in the event of a no-deal Brexit, EU investment firms must trade euro-denominated shares within the bloc – many of which are currently traded in [...]
M&A activity targeting UK slumps amid no-deal Brexit fears September 12, 2019 Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity targeting the UK has fallen almost 40 per cent on the same period last year, with investors slowing down decision making amid ongoing political turmoil. Corporate M&A also tumbled to £15.1bn in the second quarter of 2019, its lowest value since the EU referendum according to data from Mergermarket. Read [...]
Uber to raise $750m from debt markets to fund purchase of Emirati rival Careem September 12, 2019 Uber has said it will raise $750m (£608m) of debt to help finance the purchase of rival ride-hailing company Careem, the day after California passed a bill that threatens to undermine the company’s business model. The company said the debt placement would primarily be used to raise money for its pending $3.1bn purchase of Careem. [...]
Facebook Messenger down: users complain as tech issues hit platform September 12, 2019 Facebook’s Messenger appears to be experiencing significant problems in the UK, with users complaining of being unable to send or load messages. Read more: Shares in Angry Birds maker Rovio crash as it lowers outlook Outage website Downdetector has recieved at least 900 reports of the messaging app not working. The site shows a spike [...]
‘Bad for business’: Financial lobby group criticises McDonnell’s planned financial transactions tax September 12, 2019 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s plans to extend the scope of Labour’s proposed financial transactions tax have come under criticism from the head of a City lobby group. “A tax on financial transactions would be bad for business, bad for investors, bad for savers, and bad for the economy,” said Miles Celic, chief executive of Thecityuk. [...]
African telecoms firm Helios plans second attempt at London listing September 12, 2019 African mobile network operator Helios Towers has announced plans to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in London, after ditching a planned listing last year that had been expected to value the company at £2bn. The operator said it plans to raise $125m (£101m) via the issue of new shares, and that existing shareholders including [...]
Brooks Macdonald ‘reinforcing foundations’ as it reports funds and profit growth September 12, 2019 Wealth management firm Brooks Macdonald has reported full-year growth exceeding expectations, in a rare glimmer of light for a sector that has been struggling to stem the flow of client outflows. The company reported a profit before tax of £21m for the year ending 30 June, an 11.8 per cent increase on the previous year. [...]
Santander issues first end-to-end $20m blockchain bond September 12, 2019 Santander said today it has become the first financial institution to digitise the process of issuing bonds on a public blockchain. The Spanish banking giant used the public ethereum blockchain to tokenise the bond securely and register it on the blockchain – a sort of digital public ledger that can record transactions in close to [...]
