Covid restrictions drive online food shopping to record high as customers eat in to help out February 2, 2021 Online grocery shopping hit a record 14 per cent share of the UK grocery market in January, as customers bought more food to enjoy from home. The growth was boosted by a 229 per cent year-on-year rise in online spending by retired households. Supermarkets saw sales growth accelerate to 12.2 per cent in the last [...]
BP posts $5.7bn annual loss after coronavirus decimates oil market February 2, 2021 Oil supermajor BP swung to a $5.7bn ($4.2bn) reported loss in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic sent oil demand plummeting. The combination of lower oil and gas prices, significant exploration write-offs and refining margins and depressed demand sent the firm deep into the red after 2019’s $10bn profit. The firm also undershot analyst expectations for [...]
City of London lobby urges EU to grant UK financial services firms widespread access to its markets February 2, 2021 The City of London’s most influential lobby group has urged Brussels to grant Britain’s finance sector wide-ranging post-Brexit access as talks between the UK and EU on financial services continue. The CityUK today called for the EU to grant regulatory equivalence to the sector, while also calling for the UK government to provide more clarity [...]
Metro Bank snaps up £384m RateSetter portfolio of loans February 2, 2021 Metro Bank has today announced the purchase of £384m in loans to increase its exposure to unsecured personal lending. The purchase has come from peer-to-peer investors through the RateSetter platform. Commenting on the acquisition, Daniel Frumkin, Metro Bank’s CEO, said: “The addition of this portfolio to our loan book is a further step towards growing our [...]
FTSE opens up higher again in February rebound February 2, 2021 London’s main market opened up some 0.40 per cent higher this morning, continuing a positive start to the month after a volatile January. The FTSE 250, the second larger UK index, was up a similar 0.40 per cent, at 20,479. The rebound follows turbulence last week surrounding Gamestop and other companies targeted by both short-sellers [...]
Virgin Money adds £18m fresh provisions for troubled loans February 2, 2021 Lender Virgin Money has set aside a further £18m this quarter to protect its balance sheet from potential loan losses, as it reported a “modest” increase in the number of customers needing additional support after exiting pandemic payment holidays. The new £18m this quarter is in addition to £726m the company is holding on its balance sheet [...]
SSE mulls sale of stake in gas firm SGN as part of £2bn disposals plan February 2, 2021 Energy giant SSE today said that it was mulling the sale of all or part of its stake in gas firm SGN as part of its £2bn disposals programme. SGN – formerly Scotia Gas Networks – owns and manages gas distribution to 5.9m households in Scotland and the south of England. SSE hold a 33 [...]
Moonpig soars on market debut as shares leap by a quarter within minutes February 2, 2021 Online greeting card platform Moonpig saw its shares rise by 25 per cent within minutes of pricing its London IPO on Tuesday. Stock in the newly listed firm was trading at around 440 pence per share shortly after floating at 350 pence. The sharp rise underlines spirited investor appetite and sets the stage for other [...]
House prices fall for first time in six months in January February 2, 2021 House prices fell for the first time in six months in January as the end of the stamp duty holiday approached. Nationwide’s annual house price index showed that prices fell 0.3 per cent last month, the first time they have dropped since June. That means the average price for a house, not adjusted for the [...]
The truthiness of ESG criticism February 2, 2021 There are two often-repeated critiques of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing that I really can’t stand. They have the quality of truthiness about them and are what academics sometimes call “as if” arguments. For my younger readers, the term truthiness is defined by Wikipedia as follows: “Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement [...]
