Rachel Reeves could use bank windfall tax to plug Labour’s U-turns July 31, 2025 Rachel Reeves could launch a fresh tax grab on banks to plug the spending holes left by Labour’s recent U-turns, new analysis has found. The Chancellor is poised to hike taxes in the Autumn Budget after a series of government policy switches eroded her already wafer-thin fiscal headroom of £9.9bn. This comes as fresh research [...]
Investors continue to opt for gold driving global demand July 31, 2025 Global demand for gold shows no sign of slowing down as investors and central banks continue to hoover up the safe haven asset. The precious metal rallied over the first half of the year, recording a 26 per cent rise against the dollar and outperforming almost all other major asset classes, according to the latest [...]
FTSE 100 giants Rolls-Royce and Shell lead City market rally July 31, 2025 A fleet of corporate news helped the FTSE 100 edge up in early trading on Thursday with a number of rallies from the index’s heavyweights. Positive updates from Rolls-Royce and Rentokil helped London’s flagship stock market rise 0.5 per cent to 9.182.34 as markets opened. Rentokil topped the risers with a 11 per cent surge [...]
LSEG shares slip despite dividend rise July 31, 2025 Shares in LSEG slipped by more than two per cent in early morning trade despite the FTSE 100 giant upgrading its earnings forecasts and upping its dividend. The data and analytics business, which also operates the London Stock Exchange, said it had been the beneficiary of an intensifying market appetite for more and more data [...]
Shell: FTSE 100 giant takes profit beat amid weak oil prices July 31, 2025 FTSE 100 juggernaut Shell posted a dramatic hit to earnings in the second quarter amid a volatile period for oil and gas prices. The London-listed oil major recorded $4.26bn (£3.21bn) marking a 32 per cent fall from the second quarter of 2024, where the firm pocketed $6.29bn. But Shell managed to scrape past an LSEG-compiled [...]
Unilever: Ice cream success boosts sales but profit drops July 31, 2025 Unilever has announced a drop in profit amid expensive disposals and unfavourable currency moves. Turnover at the FTSE100 firm, which owns brands like Dove, Colman’s and Persil, was €30.1bn, down 3.2 per cent year on year. Sales rose 3.4 per cent in the first half of the year, helped by a strong performance in Unilever’s [...]
Drax hikes dividend despite profit dip amid power station update July 31, 2025 Drax has told investors it was close to agreeing a controversial contract with the government for its wood pellet power station after hiking its dividend despite revealing falling profit. The London-listed group said the energy transition was “creating significant value opportunities aligned with the UK’s energy needs” in an interim update in which it revealed [...]
Standard Chartered wealth arm booms in volatile second quarter July 31, 2025 Standard Chartered’s wealth and markets arms boomed in a volatile second quarter of the year driving a surge in profit at the London-listed bank. The FTSE 100 firm recorded a 47 per cent uptick in global markets income on a constant currency basis, as takings topped $1.2bn (£900m) for the second quarter. Meanwhile, wealth solutions [...]
Mark Kleinman: Un-Wise handling of US listing move July 31, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column Wise fails its name in handling of US listing move If only Wise was as smooth at transferring its stock market listing as it is moving its customers’ money. The company founded by Taavet Hinrikus and [...]
Rolls-Royce: FTSE 100 giant raises profit guidance after £1bn boost July 31, 2025 Rolls-Royce has raised its profit guidance after a “strong start to the year” which saw its revenue surge by almost £1bn. The FTSE 100 giant has reported an underlying pre-tax profit of £1.68bn for the first six months of its financial year, up from the £1.03bn it posted for the same period in 2024. New [...]