‘Bond market tantrum risks’: Gilt traders brace for Labour leftward pivot as Starmer future uncertain
Ofcom revokes Chinese broadcaster CGTN’s UK licence February 4, 2021 The media regulator has withdrawn China’s state-owned broadcaster right to broadcast in the UK following an investigation. Ofcom said the owner of China Global Television Network (CGTN) does not have control over its day to day output and is a distributor rather than a provider. Star China Media Limited “did not have editorial responsibility for [...]
Watches of Switzerland pushes ahead with expansion despite Covid uncertainty February 4, 2021 Watches of Switzerland will continue with its expansion plans despite the impact of lockdown restrictions, the firm said this morning as it announced trading had remained strong throughout store closures. The luxury watch retailer said group revenue in the third quarter jumped 5.7 per cent to £272.6m, with UK revenue up 1.5 per cent to [...]
Deutsche Bank delivers first profit in six years after trading boom February 4, 2021 Deutsche Bank has recorded a net profit for the first time since 2014, helped by an increase in its fixed-income trading revenue. The German lender reported a net profit of €113m for 2020 after racking up nearly €6bn of net losses the previous year. It was helped by a 17 per cent rise in fixed-income [...]
Rolls-Royce continues disposal plan with €150m Bergen Engines sales February 4, 2021 Rolls–Royce has today announced that it will sell an engine units to Russian firm TMH for €150m (£132.5m). The sale of gas and diesel subsidiary Bergen Engines is the second disposal the FTSE 100 firm has made it as it seeks to raise £2bn to survive the pandemic. Chief exec Warren East said: “We believe [...]
Pandora heads for growth this year as online sales boom February 4, 2021 Jewellery maker Pandora anticipates its first sales growth in three years this year despite many high street shops enduring a harsh pandemic sales dip. 2021 looks to be a year of growth for Pandora, the company said this morning, with thanks to a boost in online sales pushing a strong final quarter in 2020. The [...]
Millions of NatWest customers to see Visa debit card switch to Mastercard February 4, 2021 Millions of NatWest customers will see their debit cards switch as the British bank plans to start using Mastercard over Visa, despite Mastercard’s plans to hike EU fees. NatWest has become the latest bank to adopt Mastercard, which has prior agreements with Santander UK, HSBC’s First Direct and Monzo. The move will divert around 16m [...]
Bumper bullish bonzana: Lummis goes long, PayPal goes parabolic, Musk goes mad, and alliteration goes too far February 4, 2021 Crypto at a Glance It’s all systems go at the moment. Ethereum is in uncharted territory and has entered price discovery mode, Bitcoin has decisively broken out of the $30-35k range and is charging back towards $40k, and Elon Musk is tweeting about Doge again so expect that to have another wild weekend. It’s now [...]
JD Sports raises £464m to fund future expansion plans February 4, 2021 Sportswear brand JD Sports this morning announced it had raised £464.2m which it will use to fund its expansion plans as it eyes acquisition opportunities in new markets. The retailer said that it had placed 58.4m new shares at 795 pence a share, representing about 6.0 per cent of its share capital. The successful raise [...]
Car sales sink 40 per cent as 2021 gets off to worst start since 1970 February 4, 2021 Just 90,000 new cars were sold in January, the worst start to a year since 1970 for the UK auto industry. According to new figures from the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), registrations dropped 39.5 per cent last month, with 90,249 cars sold in total. That’s nearly 60,000 fewer registrations than in January [...]
Barratt reports record new housing completions but profit hit by cladding costs February 4, 2021 UK housebuilder Barratt Developments announced it will resume dividend payments after posting record completions, but warned it will take a £56m hit on legacy properties, including issues related to cladding. The firm said it will pay an interim dividend of 7.5p per share on 10 May following a “rapid and robust recovery and a further [...]
