How Asian stock markets are dominating the UK on IPOs December 27, 2024 Asian stock markets continued to surge in popularity in 2024, outperforming the languishing UK market in IPOs. Throughout this year, Asia has dominated on stock exchange floats, with over 600 IPOs throughout the year, more than two thirds of the 867 floats globally in 2024, according to data from Globaldata. In comparison, the UK market [...]
Thames Water urges high court to accept restructuring plan December 27, 2024 Thames Water has urged the High Court to accept its £3bn restructuring plan in a bid to avoid renationalisation. The company said today that over 75 per cent of creditors have backed the restructuring, and cited a new report claiming that no creditors will be worse off as a result of the plan. In October, [...]
Chris Hohn: Hedge fund boss’s pay slumps to just £42m December 23, 2024 Hedge fund boss Chris Hohn took a £233m pay cut this year, as his fund paid out around £340m in charitable donations. The head of TCI Fund Management, Hohn took home $53m (£42m), down from the $346m (£276m) he collected in 2023, Companies House filings have revealed. TCI, which previously employed former prime minister Rishi [...]
Wingstop UK bought in £400m sale by private equity giant December 23, 2024 The UK franchise of Wingstop has sold a majority stake in its business to US private equity giant Sixth Street. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, it is understood that the value of the sale is at least £400m. While Sixth Street will take a majority stake in the company, the restaurant’s [...]
UK economy flatlined last quarter revised figures reveal December 23, 2024 The latest revised figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed the UK economy did not grow in the third quarter of this year. The statistics watchdog had previously said the economy grew 0.1 per cent in the third quarter. However, according to the latest figures, the economy flatlined, leaving the UK with no [...]
Direct Line agrees £3.7bn Aviva takeover December 23, 2024 Direct Line’s board has agreed to accept Aviva’s £3.7bn takeover of the insurer, bringing to an end the firm’s run as an independent company. In a stock exchange announcement this morning, Direct Line’s board endorsed Aviva’s latest £3.7bn offer for the business. Under the terms of the deal, shareholders will receive 0.2867 Aviva shares, along [...]
Business confidence ended 2024 at low point on jobs and prices fears December 23, 2024 Business confidence fell to its lowest level in 2024 during December, as fears around layoffs and price increases hurt opportunity for business growth. Business confidence ticked down by two points to 39 per cent this month, though remained above the long-term average of 29 per cent, according to the latest Lloyds Business Barometer. “While there [...]
What’s in store for bitcoin in 2025 as Donald Trump returns to the White House? December 22, 2024 2024 was definitely the year of the bitcoin: The first bitcoin spot ETFs were approved in the US, the cryptocurrency reached an all-time high, and the fourth bitcoin halving occurred in April. The price of bitcoin now sits at over $84,000, up 142 per cent since the start of the year and 60 per cent [...]
Clients of collapsed advice firm to have claims examined December 20, 2024 Claims from the collapsed advice firm Tenet will be investigated by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) at the start of next year. Earlier this year, the firm’s administrators said 9,645 clients were “considered as being at higher risk of having received unsuitable advice”. Tenet, which billed itself as the largest independent financial adviser network [...]
‘Christmas comes early’ as inheritance tax receipts jump on threshold freeze December 20, 2024 The amount of inheritance tax (IHT) brought in by the government ticked up to £600m in November, as frozen thresholds pushed more estates into paying the tax. “Christmas has come early for the government,” said Shaun Moore, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, with the higher tax receipts allowing the amount the government borrowed [...]
