Virgin Galactic: Hopes higher than orbit? May 6, 2022 Virgin Galactic appears to have fallen behind in the space race renaissance, despite its ambitions. Richard Branson’s (below) space venture kicked off the year with the loss of its inaugural chairman, Chamath Palihapitiya, just one month after Palihapitiya was thrown into controversy for claiming “nobody cares” about human rights abuses against Uyghur Muslims in China. [...]
Beazley written premiums ‘ahead of expectations’ but investment losses loom May 6, 2022 Non-life insurance firm Beazley has come in ahead of expectations in its latest update, despite swelling investment losses. Gross premiums written jumped nearly a third (27 per cent) in the three months to 31 March, to $1.2bn, up from $971m a year prior. The London-listed insurance firm, however, did report spiralling losses from its investments, [...]
House prices inch higher to £286,079 as steamroll slows May 6, 2022 House prices have inched higher to an average of £286,079, another new record high – though spiralling prices are beginning to slow. The average price of a home climbed 1.1 per cent since April, but has risen 10.8 per cent year-on-year. While prices appear to have slowed in their steamroll, costs have grown for the [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile? May 6, 2022 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every morning. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. GoCardless Fintech firm GoCardless has appointed a former Mastercard lead as its new president. Paul Stoddart brings a wealth of experience to the London firm, having been CEO of Vocalink after its takeover by Mastercard, and spent [...]
Barratt boss hits out at government’s ‘deeply unfair’ levy to fix cladding crisis May 5, 2022 The boss of one of the UK’s largest property developers has today hit out against the government for its “deeply unfair” levy on housebuilders to solve the cladding crisis. London-listed Barratt Developments has set aside £480m to fix the cladding on buildings it built above 11 metres, however it is expecting to pay another £400m [...]
Canadian investment group bets on London for sparkly European HQ May 5, 2022 Canadian investment group CDPQ has bet on London for its European headquarters, in a decade-long vote of confidence in the capital. CDPQ, also known as Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, passed up on a Parisian HQ – unlike those at crypto platform Binance. The glittering lights of Carnaby and Soho have caught the [...]
Derwent London throws £240m at Moorfields healthcare site May 5, 2022 Derwent London has thrown nearly £240m towards buying a hospital and research centre site, as the capital’s healthcare and pharmaceutical real estate space catches the eyes of investors. The commercial developer has bought the City Road Island site, the location of the Moorfields Eye Hospital and the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, after the pandemic highlighted [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile? May 5, 2022 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every morning. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Kingswood Wealth and investment management group Kingswood Holdings has hired an EY veteran as a technology transformation lead to develop the firm’s recently launched online client portal. Christopher Calvocoressi, who joins from Schroders Personal Wealth, will be [...]
Covid-19 sales dominate Moderna’s $6bn revenue amid profiteering concerns May 4, 2022 Covid-19 vaccine sales have dominated Moderna’s more than $6bn (£5.7bn) revenue, as calls against pandemic profiteering escalate. Revenue hit $6.1bn (£7.6bn) for the first quarter of 2022, compared with $1.9bn (£1.5bn) for the same period in 2021 – carried heavily by the pharmaceutical firm’s coronavirus vaccine, which was responsible for an eyewatering $5.9bn (£4.7bn) in [...]
UK mortgage debt swells to £7bn as interest rates rise May 4, 2022 Mortgage debt swelled in March, according to Bank of England data, with net borrowing climbing from £4.6bn to £7bn in March as interest rates rise. House purchase mortgage approvals slipped to 70.7k in March from 71.0k in February, slightly ahead of consensus but moving towards their 2015 to 2019 average of 66.5k – which analysts [...]
