Neil Woodford keeps flagship fund under lock and key July 1, 2019 Embattled stockpicker Neil Woodford remained defiant last night despite confirmation that his flagship Equity Income Fund will stay frozen for at least another 28 days. Read more: Woodford offloads stake in Raven’s property firm In a new video promoted on social media, Woodford defended his trademark strategy of focusing on “undervalued assets”, saying it “will [...]
Fintech firm Revolut leads list of UK’s top 100 startups of 2019 July 1, 2019 Challenger bank Revolut has claimed first place in a list of the UK’s top 100 startups of 2019, it was revealed today. British fintech startup Revolut topped Startups.co.uk’s Startups 100 list for 2019, as it counts 5m customers around Europe and the UK. Energy startup Igloo placed second, while retail startup Trouva took third place. [...]
Woodford offloads stake in Raven property investment firm July 1, 2019 Embattled stockpicker Neil Woodford has jettisoned his 12 per cent stake in Raven Property Group, bringing the total he has raised since the suspension of his flagship fund to £459m. Raven announced today that it has bought back 72.1m shares from Woodford at 36p per share. Read more: Neil Woodford cuts stake in AI firm [...]
Neil Woodford cuts stake in AI firm as suspension deadline approaches June 30, 2019 Neil Woodford cut his stake in artificial intelligence firm Sensyne Health as the deadline approached for the suspension of his flagship fund to be formally reviewed. The former star trader has been offloading assets to rebalance his Equity Income fund, which was suspended last month following a spike in withdrawals. Read more: Woodford trust cuts [...]
Capgemini shares rise on €3.6bn takeover of rival Altran June 25, 2019 Shares in software and consultancy firm Capgemini jumped seven per cent this morning following the announcement of its €3.6bn (£3.2bn) takeover of smaller rival Altran. Read more: AI software market posts huge growth amid digital transformation boom The French digital innovation giant said the merger will create a group with revenue of €17bn and more [...]
AI software market posts huge growth amid digital transformation boom June 24, 2019 Revenue from AI software soared more than 63 per cent to $846m (£664m) last year amid a surge in firms investing in the new technology. Read more: David Cameron takes up role at US artificial intelligence firm Robotic process automation (RPA), which provides AI tools for businesses, is now the fastest-growing segment of the enterprise [...]
How worried should you be about deepfakes? June 21, 2019 Mark Zuckerberg recently became the latest high-profile subject of a “deepfake” hoax. A manipulated video circulating on Instagram appears to show him boasting about having “billions of people’s stolen data” and thanking a Sheffield art installation for his success. Squint, and you could mistake the fake video produced using artificial intelligence software for the real [...]
Blackstone boss donates £150m to Oxford University for AI research June 19, 2019 Blackstone chief executive Stephen Schwarzman has donated £150m to the University of Oxford for the creation of a department to study the ethics of artificial intelligence. The gift is the largest single donation to the university since the Renaissance. Read more: Small businesses to be given artificial intelligence boost The Stephan A. Schwarzman Centre for [...]
Pokemon Go creator Niantic buys London startup Sensible Object June 18, 2019 Pokemon Go developer Niantic has acquired London-based games studio Sensible Object for an undisclosed sum as it continues to expand its gaming platform. Read more: Pokemon Go creator Niantic valued at $4bn Sensible Object, which uses voice AI and augmented reality (AR) in its games, will continue life as Niantic London after the acquisition. Founder [...]
Technology fuels increasingly mobile future for investment professionals June 18, 2019 CFA Institute report finds that nearly half of investment professionals expect their roles to substantially change within the next decade.