KPMG partners take 11 per cent pay cut as Covid-19 eats into profits February 3, 2021 Partners at KPMG have had their pay cut by an average of 11 per cent, from some £640,000 to £572,000, as Covid-19 hit profits and revenue at the firm. KPMG’s chairman was paid £1.7m for the year, a decrease of 14 per cent on 2019. Partners across Big Four firms saw pay cuts in [...]
With Ether smashing through $1,500, MicroStrategy’s online ‘Bitcoin for Corporations’ event might send BTC stratospheric February 3, 2021 Crypto at a Glance There have been so many all-time highs set recently that it’s getting hard to keep up, but seeing Ethereum at over $1,500 will be particularly satisfying for many in the space. Is it now set to follow Bitcoin’s December trajectory and take off into the stratosphere? It’s good news everywhere today, [...]
GameStop dubbed ‘greater fool speculative bubble’ as stock price tumbles February 3, 2021 The share price of US video game retailer GameStop slid 60 per cent yesterday to $90, down from a high of $347 at the height of a Reddit-instigated short-squeeze on the stock. GameStop shares rocketed in January after a community led by Reddit forum r/wallstreetbets banded together and piled hundreds of thousands of dollars into [...]
UK PMIs: Services activity plunges to lowest level since May February 3, 2021 UK services activity fell to its lowest levels since last May as stricter coronavirus lockdowns battered the country’s businesses. The IHS Markit/Cips purchasing managers (PMI) index for services registered 39.4 in January, with any score below the 50 mark indicating contraction. That’s more than a 10 point drop from last month’s reading, one of the biggest falls [...]
Santander records biggest loss ever as pandemic bites and profits plunge February 3, 2021 Santander recorded its first ever annual loss today, as €1.14bn restructuring costs overshadowed positive core banking results in the fourth quarter. Net profit plunged 90 per cent to €277m in the quarter versus the same period a year earlier, below the €411m average forecast from analysts polled by Reuters. The annual net loss was €8.77bn [...]
Surge in pandemic data demand pushes up Vodafone revenues February 3, 2021 Vodafone’s revenue rose for the first time since March as demand for high-speed broadband soared across Europe. The British-based mobile carrier saw revenue rise 0.4 per cent in the third quarter, outperforming the 0.2 per cent decline predicted by analysts. Shares leaped by 3.2 per cent as several analysts backed Vodafone as a stock to [...]
Sweden’s Embracer splurges up to $2.5bn on three gaming companies February 3, 2021 Swedish video game group Embracer has agreed to buy three gaming companies, including US-based Gearbox, the maker of first-person shooter game Borderlands, for up to $2.5bn in cash and stock. The company, known for games such as Darksiders and World War Z, will pay Gearbox $363m initially with a commitment to pay another $1bn in the next [...]
Film financier Great Point set for London IPO February 3, 2021 Great Point Entertainment Income Trust (GPEIT) today announced its intention to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. The London-based group will offer a target issue of 200m shares at 1 penny each at an initial issue price of £1 per ordinary share. GPEIT is a newly established investment company which will [...]
Swiss stocks given all clear to resume trading in London February 3, 2021 Shares in Swiss companies will once again be traded on UK exchanges after Switzerland’s financial regulator gave the move the all-clear this morning. Since June 2019, a spat between the EU and Switzerland has meant that the bloc’s exchanges have been banned from Swiss shares. But with the UK no longer a member of the [...]
UK airports launch fresh bid for new government support February 3, 2021 The UK’s airports have today launched a fresh bid for more financial support from the government as the pandemic shows no signs of abating. The Airport Operators’ Association (AOA) today said that it did not expect passenger numbers to recover to pre-Covid levels until 2025 at the earliest. It said that the coming summer needed [...]
