Whipsaw Markets November 10, 2020 Macro Matters A strong wave of risk-on flow emerged yesterday following reports that Pfizer’s COVID vaccine candidate prevented 90% of infections in the latest study. As a result, the equities market surged higher, with the German DAX index trading up over 5% and US markets moving nearly as high at the open, while gold fell [...]
Landsec sinks to £835m loss but backs London’s office sector November 10, 2020 Commercial real estate owner Landsec sunk to a £835m loss in its half-year results due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but reported strong investor interest in London’s office market. Landsec’s share price jumped 7.37 per cent to 690.9p despite mounting losses after the landlord revealed its optimistic outlook on the central London office [...]
Meggitt shares continue to soar but profit set to halve November 10, 2020 Shares in aerospace engineer Meggitt jumped 12.8 per cent this morning despite warnings that profit would halve for the full year. In a third quarter trading statement, the FTSE 250 firm said that the global aerospace sector was still “weak”, with revenue down to £384m in the period. Across the nine months to date, it [...]
Norwegian Air to run out of cash within months November 10, 2020 Embattled Norwegian Air this morning warned that it could run out of cash in the first quarter of 2021, unless it manages to find a fresh source of financing. Reporting its third quarter results, the low-cost carrier said: “Norwegian is dependent on additional working capital in order to continue operating through the first quarter of [...]
Christmas shoppers flock to toy shops ahead of second Covid-19 lockdown November 10, 2020 Toy and entertainment retailers reported a surge in shopper numbers in the days leading up to the coronavirus lockdown, as Brits snapped up Christmas presents ahead of the closure of non-essential stores. The latest analysis showed that toy stores more than doubled their share of pre-pandemic footfall between Monday and Wednesday last week. But one [...]
UK unemployment hits four year high as redundancies reach record levels November 10, 2020 Redundancies hit a record high in the three months to September while the unemployment rate jumped, according to new figures which show the UK’s labour market declined rapidly before the chancellor U-turned on coronavirus support measures. A record 314,000 British workers were made redundant in the three months to September, 181,000 more than in the [...]
Westfield owner rejects €3.5bn rights issue after shareholder backlash November 10, 2020 Shareholders in the owner of Westfield shopping centres have voted against a controversial €3.5bn (£3.1bn) rights issue, the company said today. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield said its proposals for a capital increase had failed to win the required two-thirds majority following a remote vote that closed yesterday. The Paris-headquartered company faced fierce opposition over the plans from a [...]
Persimmon to pay extra dividend on back of ‘robust’ summer performance November 10, 2020 Housebuilder Persimmon today announced that it would pay an interim dividend of 70p per share in December after fending off the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. The extra payout comes on top of a 40p per share dividend paid in September, and means that the company will have fully replaced its previously delayed 110p per [...]
Softbank rides e-scooter wave with $250m Tier funding deal November 10, 2020 Softbank has jumped onto the booming e-scooter market, leading a $250m (£190m) investment round in Berlin-based Tier. Tier has grown rapidly since its inception in 2018, and now operates 60,000 e-scooters in more than 80 cities across 10 countries. The latest funding takes its valuation to just under $1bn unicorn status, the Financial Times reported, [...]
Mr Kipling owner Premier Foods raises outlook as lockdown feeds demand November 10, 2020 Premier Food has raised its full-year profit outlook, saying it expects a higher demand for its brands – which include Mr Kipling, Bisto, and Oxo – due to fresh lockdown restrictions on eating out. The group reported a 35.5 per cent increase in pre-tax profit to £50.5m for the six months to 26 September, as [...]
