Has Covid-19 changed the conversation around sustainable investing? January 22, 2021 Sustainable investing is not just about a company’s financial success, but how it achieves that success. The importance of considering all stakeholders is intrinsic to the approach. Those stakeholders range from employees to shareholders to wider society. The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on how companies treat their employees, protect their customers, and help [...]
Lloyd’s lures Aviva’s MD for new chief of markets role January 22, 2021 Lloyd’s said this morning it has created a new chief of markets role which will oversee performance and distribution at the insurance giant. Patrick Tiernan has been hired for the position once he has seen out his current stint as managing director at Aviva, where he was previously chief financial officer. Tiernan has 24 years [...]
Wall Street slides as ‘Biden bounce’ runs out of steam January 22, 2021 Wall Street fell today as global markets stepped back from the highs they reached on the back of Joe Biden’s new economic stimulus proposal. After once again hitting record highs earlier this week, Wall Street’s main markets once again showed that they were not immune to the malaise felt around the world. The S&P 500, [...]
Vaccine hopes fail to inject consumer confidence during lockdown January 21, 2021 The nation’s largest ever vaccination programme failed to buoy UK consumer confidence during the latest national lockdown, a new survey has shown, as widespread gloom about current Covid restrictions prevailed into the New Year. The closely-watched consumer confidence index from researcher GfK fell two points to minus 28 in January after a slight uptick over [...]
Exclusive: ‘Banks should deliver the same experience as Amazon and Netflix’, says Ezbob CEO January 21, 2021 After a year that was hugely disrupted by Covid-19 and the entire economy and its workforce moved online, City A.M. sat down with Tomer Guriel, CEO of Mayfair-based Ezbob, which provides digital lending software to some of the biggest banks and financial institutions in the City. A vaccine is being rolled out, so the City [...]
IG Group set to buy US broker Tastytrade in $1bn deal January 21, 2021 IG Group is set to buy US online trader Tastytrade in a $1bn cash and shares deal as it continues to dip its toes in the US market. It marks the London-listed firm’s biggest ever acquisition with Tastytrade shareholders set to receive $300m in cash and 61m IG shares valued at $700m. The acquisition will [...]
Pets at Home sales surge as animal ownership soars January 21, 2021 Pets at Home has reported an 18 per cent leap in revenue to £302m for the third quarter of 2020. The UK’s leading pet care firm showed a strong performance despite coronavirus lockdowns effecting store openings on both a regional and national level. Trading built momentum over the festive period, with like-for-like sales seeing a [...]
London’s new ‘postcode lottery’: Councils fail to pay event firms lockdown grants January 21, 2021 London event firms have slammed the process for securing essential grants, describing the task as a “postcode lottery” as the application timeline and criteria differs dramatically in each borough.
UK dividends won’t recover until 2025 at the earliest after bruising year January 20, 2021 UK dividends are unlikely to recover until 2025 at the earliest after a catastrophic year for payouts amid the pandemic. Eight years of growth wiped off UK dividends last year as companies started to make cuts at the beginning of the second quarter following the outbreak of coronavirus. Payouts fell 44 per cent to £61.9bn [...]
WH Smith expects £20m monthly cash burn as restrictions continue January 20, 2021 WH Smith expects a monthly cash burn of £15m to £20m from January to March 2021, assuming Covid-19 restrictions stay as they are. Trading at the book and stationary chain was ahead of plan toward the end of 2020, so the business had some £340m of available cash and facilities at the end of December [...]