UK fintech funding races ahead of Europe January 9, 2025 According to new figures, the UK’s fintech sector was beaten by only the US on total investment last year despite a sharp fall in funding on 2023 levels. As global fintech investment fell 20 per cent globally to $43.5bn (£35.2bn), the UK attracted $3.6bn (£2.9bn) of total funding, more than the next five European countries [...]
Proxy adviser backs Boohoo vice chair in Mike Ashley row January 9, 2025 Proxy voting adviser Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) has backed Boohoo in its row with Mike Ashley and Frasers Group, urging shareholders to vote against firing the company’s co-founder and vice chair Mahmud Kamani. In November, Frasers demanded that Kamani be removed as a director of Boohoo, leading the firm to call a general meeting scheduled [...]
S4 Capital: Sir Martin Sorrell’s ad giant loses its CFO January 9, 2025 S4 Capital, the ad giant run by Sir Martin Sorrell, is set to lose its chief financial officer Mary Basterfield. Basterfield has been CFO of S4 Capital since January 2022, having previously worked as CFO of Warner Music Group and UKTV, as well as group finance director of Just Eat. She has a twelve month [...]
Odey partner pay plummets more than 99 per cent January 8, 2025 The pay of partners at disgraced hedge fund manager Crispin Odey’s firm fell to just £49,000 last year, down 99.9 per cent from their previous payouts. In the 12 months to the end of April 2024, the highest-paid of Odey’s 12 members of staff earned just £45,000, compared to £28.6m the previous year, documents published [...]
Johnson Matthey wades into US activist campaign row January 8, 2025 Johnson Matthey has entered the public spat brewing over an activist campaign from its largest investor, attempting to reassure markets it has been taking concerns over its share price seriously. In a withering letter yesterday, US industrials investor Standard Investments slammed the chemicals group’s board for a “continued lack of urgency and incapacity” over its [...]
Flutter: Paddy Power owner loses over £300m on bad US bets January 8, 2025 Flutter, the gambling giant owner of Paddy Power, has downgraded its revenue estimates for 2024 by $390m (£312m) after a period of “very unfavourable US sports results”. In a stock exchange notice, the Fanduel owner reported that November and December had seen a surge in unfavourable results for the bookie, especially in American football parlay [...]
Why private equity trusts could be set for a bounceback in 2025 January 7, 2025 Analysts are expecting private equity trusts to bounce back in 2025 after a year in which they struggled to narrow the gap between the price of their shares and underlying value of their investments. The average private equity trust’s share price (excluding FTSE 100 giant 3i Group) currently trades more than 30 per cent below [...]
The private health companies set to profit from Labour’s NHS plans January 7, 2025 A City broker has said Feedback and One Health Group are expected to be the main beneficiaries of the government’s plans to reform the NHS in the UK. The Elective Reform Plan, published yesterday by NHS England, set out a range of reforms to enable the government to hit the 18-week target for referral to [...]
Rolls-Royce shares worth 820p says City broker January 7, 2025 Despite the strong performance of Rolls-Royce’s stock price over the last two years, a City broker is expecting the aerospace company to keep leading the FTSE 100 in share price growth. In a note published today by Panmure Liberum, analyst Nick Cunningham argued that Rolls-Royce’s shares could still increase by more than 40 per cent [...]
Johnson Matthey: US investor ramps up activist campaign January 7, 2025 Johnson Matthey’s largest shareholder has piled pressure on the FTSE 250 chemicals group, calling its response to a demanded strategic review “wholly insufficient”. In an open letter to Johnson Matthey chair Patrick Thomas, today, US industrials investor Standard Investments slammed the group’s “destruction of shareholder value” as part of its activist campaign. Last month, Standard [...]
