For your eyes only: meet luxury eyewear designer Tom Davies July 2, 2018 WHAT do Ed Sheeran, Angelina Jolie, and Carrie Fisher, have in common? They’ve all worn spectacles created by luxury eyewear designer Tom Davies. The entrepreneur’s designs are highly sought after. Not only does he count celebrities among his clientele, but his glasses have appeared on the big screen. In 2014, he was asked to design [...]
FTSE 100 softech Micro Focus’ share price is rising, after annoucing the sale of Suse to private equity house EQT July 2, 2018 Software provider and IT management consultancy Micro Focus has announced the sale of its Suse open source subsidiary for $2.535bn (£1.93bn) to Swedish private equity house EQT, giving its share price a boost as markets opened. Suse is worth almost one-third of Micro Focus’s business, acquired by the company as part of an all-share purchase [...]
Playtech’s share price has dropped dramatically, after its second profit warning this year July 2, 2018 Playtech the maker of gambling software for clients like News UK, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, issued a second profit warning yesterday for this year, causing its share price to drop dramatically as markets opened. Blaming an “increasingly competitive backdrop” for the continued hit on its revenues in Asia, the company’s share price fell by 23 [...]
There’s a new Chinese tech venture in town, and it’s backed by the London investors that supported Softbank’s Vision Fund July 2, 2018 London-based global investment firm Centricus has announced it will be launching a Chinese tech venture fund in partnership with China Merchants Group (CMG) and SPF Group, for a total of 100bn yuan (£11.41bn). Labelled the 'China New Era Technology Fund', the partnership will see the state-owned CMG deploy 40bn yuan in capital alongside additional Chinese-based [...]
Last Week in the City: Amazon buys a pharmacy June 29, 2018 Garry White, chief investment commentator, looks at the market-moving events that have shaped the UK equity markets this week (25 to 29 June 2018). The FTSE 100 traded little over the week, despite a rally in oil prices. There was more bad news from the retail sector after The John Lewis Partnership warned on profits [...]
The GKN break-up is a test for Melrose, don’t bank on a tax cut and Marc Bolland is not just any NED June 29, 2018 Vultures. Asset-strippers. Corporate predators. The board of Melrose has had these perjorative labels and more thrown at it in the months since its initial bid approach for GKN. This week’s approval by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States of the £8bn takeover removed the final obstacle to a deal that elicited greater [...]
Alibaba founder Jack Ma hits out at Bitcoin amid launch of Ant Financial blockchain plan June 26, 2018 Billionaire business magnate Jack Ma has warned against speculating on the Bitcoin market after saying that the virtual currency could be a potential bubble. Ma, who is the founder of technology conglomerate Alibaba, made the remark yesterday as he launched his own “electronic wallet” which would make allow blockchain-based money transfers between Hong Kong and [...]
Last Week in the City: Markets Trumped by trade fears June 22, 2018 The week was dominated by trade war fears as Donald Trump said he would slap further tariffs on Chinese goods should there be any retaliatory measures. Despite this, Nasdaq hit a record high, although the Dow Jones Industrial Average erased all its gains in 2018 so far. The FTSE 100 fell 0.5% over the week [...]
Daimler’s profit warning has sent the share prices of European car manufacturers tumbling June 21, 2018 Daimler, the maker of Mercedes-Benz, has warned that profits will be lower this year as a result of US-China trade tensions, which has seen share prices in other European carmakers fall in tandem. Daimler has said it is considering “possible strategic options” while cutting its profit forecast, following a warning from China that it will [...]
Why Opec matters June 20, 2018 Whether we like it or not oil prices matter, as they affect everything connected with a modern economy, from movement of goods and services, to the amount of disposable incomes for ordinary consumers. That is why this week’s Opec meeting is important in the context of future direction for oil prices, which have risen over [...]