Wisdom of crowds: startup brings crowd funding to litigation finance February 11, 2019 When Cormac Leech, chief executive of new crowd funding litigation platform Axiafunder, is questioned about the potential 20-30 per cent returns offered to investors on its website, he doubles down. “If anything I’d say its conservatively 20-30 per cent, we would aspire to do better than that actually,” he says. Any investment offering such stellar [...]
Watchdog delays final report on Sainsbury’s-Asda supermarket merger February 11, 2019 The UK's competition watchdog today extended its probe into the supermarket tie-up between Sainsbury's and Asda by eight weeks. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had decided to delay the publication of its report to give it enough time to “reach a fully reasoned final decision” on the £12bn merger. An inquiry group [...]
Petrofac faces potential £400m lawsuit following ex-employee’s bribery conviction February 11, 2019 Oil field services company Petrofac is facing a potential £400m lawsuit from angry investors after its shares crashed when one of its former executives pleaded guilty to bribery and corruption charges. The former global head of sales at Petrofac, David Lufkin, pleaded guilty last Thursday to offering corrupt payments in an attempt to secure contracts [...]
Smith & Nephew is today’s biggest FTSE 100 faller on reports of $3bn US deal February 11, 2019 Smith & Nephew was the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 this morning with shares down more than four per cent on reports it is in talks to buy US spine technology Nuvasive in a $3bn (£2.32bn) deal. Shares fell 4.39 per cent to 1,448p today, having closed on Friday at 1,515p. The Financial Times [...]
UK economic growth falls to six-year low February 11, 2019 UK economic growth slowed to just 0.2 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2018, new data released today by the Office for National Statistics showed. Quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed after a strong third quarter where it grew 0.6 per cent. Annual domestic GDP growth for 2018 was 1.4 per cent, the lowest it [...]
Chancellor needs to find extra billions to end austerity February 11, 2019 The chancellor Philip Hammond will have to find billions of pounds to prop up public spending to deliver on promises of ending austerity. According to a report from think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS), over the four years from 2019-20 to 2023-24, Hammond would need to find a further £2.2bn to avoid cuts [...]
Concerns of ‘overboarding’ spark shareholder backlash against Compass non-exec February 8, 2019 A non-executive at FTSE 100 food company the Compass Group sparked a shareholder backlash at its annual general meeting today over concerns she holds too many roles. Twenty two per cent of the votes cast on whether Ireena Vittal should be re-elected to the company’s board went against her. Read more: Compass shares near all-time high [...]
Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger faces no confidence vote as antisemitism row drags on February 8, 2019 Jewish Labour MP Luciana Berger is facing a no confidence vote by Labour members in her Liverpool Wavertree constituency amid an ongoing row about antisemitism with the party. Berger has been a prominent campaigner against anti-semitism and has been a magnet for online abuse and threats, to the extent she was given a bodyguard to [...]
Freshfields partner accused of slapping DJ in argument over music February 8, 2019 A senior partner at Magic Circle law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has been accused of slapping a DJ in an argument at a cocktail party. Herve Pisani, the managing partner of Freshfields Paris office, was accused of the assault by the unnamed DJ after a party for the firm’s partners in September last year. According [...]
Tata Motors’ share price tanks on Jaguar Land Rover losses February 8, 2019 The share price of Indian conglomerate Tata Motors fell 17 per cent today after it posted the biggest-ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history of about £3.1bn. The loss was triggered by falling Chinese demand for Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) cars, the main source of Tata Motors’ revenue. Tata said JLR would post an operating [...]