City investors dump hospitality stocks despite pubs welcoming customers back indoors May 17, 2021 England’s pubs welcomed customers back inside for the first time in months today, but investors in the City of London were less taken by the sector’s future. Worries about a possible spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19 made shareholders sell their pub stocks. Wetherspoon, Marston’s, City Pub Group and Fuller, Smith & Turner were [...]
BT’s boss buys £2m of shares one day after major investment push May 17, 2021 The boss of BT has bought more than £2 million of shares in his own company, just a day after announcing a major new investment drive. Chief executive Philip Jansen bought 1.25 million shares at £1.63 each, according to new filings with the London Stock Exchange. The purchase on Friday came the day after Jansen [...]
Wall Street slips as banking stocks and stronger pound weigh on FTSE 100 May 17, 2021 Wall Street opened lower this afternoon, reversing a strong recovery late last week as investors turned their attention back to inflation worries. The Dow Jones slipped 0.02 per cent and the S&P 500 opened lower by 0.09 per cent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 0.46 per cent at the opening bell. It came after London’s [...]
Weekend Read: Foreign investors flee Myanmar as regime strengthens grip May 16, 2021 Businesses have continued to bow out of Myanmar after the bloody coup has killed more than 750 people and seen over 5,000 arrested for protesting the military’s forced reign. Companies began to flee Myanmar in March, like Japanese beverage group Kirin which had a $1.7bn stake in Myanmar Economic Holdings Public Company Limited, a company [...]
Pension transfer scam crackdown risks delaying thousands of transfers May 14, 2021 The government tabled proposals to tackle pension scheme fraud today, but it could risk blocking or delaying thousands of legitimate transfers, AJ Bell’s chief executive has warned. The plans outlined by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) could push providers to ask people transferring to a pension scheme not on the government-approved ‘safe destination’ [...]
Alphawave shares lift slightly, after 22 per cent plunge in London stock market debut May 14, 2021 Following a turbulent market debut yesterday, Alphawave’s shares rebounded slightly in its second day of trading in the capital. The tech firm’s share price bounced to 366.2p per share this morning, down 1.03 per cent, after prices fell as low as 310.85p yesterday. Over half a billion pounds was wiped from the Canadian computer chip [...]
Staff at 02 to be handed £2,000 bonus May 13, 2021 Staff at 02 will be handed a nearly £2,000 bonus at the end of the month, after the operator recorded profits in the first three months of the year. All 02’s 6,500 employees will get an extra £1,930 in their May payslips, according to reports. Some 186 full time staff at giffgaff will also be [...]
FTSE 100 sinks to five-week low while tech shares drive Wall Street higher May 13, 2021 London’s FTSE 100 dropped sharply this afternoon, giving up yesterday’s gains amid fears of a rise in inflation and weak performance from heavyweight stocks. London’s premier index was down by 0.7 per cent in afternoon trading, dropping to 6,953.60 points – its worst price for almost a month. The FTSE 250 of midcap companies was [...]
Balfour Beatty names broadcast boss Lord Allen as new chair May 13, 2021 Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty this morning announced that businessman and broadcaster Lord Charles Allen would become its next chairman. The FTSE 250 firm said that Allen, a former chief executive of ITV and Granada, would take over as chair in July. A Labour peer, Allen has also been chairman of ISS and EMI Group, as [...]
BT: Investors unenthused by £2bn pension funding deal as shares drop 6.3 per cent May 13, 2021 BT today announced plans to bring full-fibre broadband to an extra 5m homes as the financial burden of its pension deficit eased. The telecoms firm struck a new deal for its pension, which is one of the biggest in the country at £7.98bn. Some £2bn of deficit will be met through an asset-backed funding arrangement [...]