Precious metal price surge boosts Russian miner Polymetal March 3, 2021 Russian miner Polymetal today said that earnings hit a record high in 2020 as surging precious metal prices boosted the firm’s profit. The FTSE 100 firm said that earnings reached $1.1bn last year, up from $483m in 2019. In addition, revenue jumped 28 per cent to $2.9bn. A combination of higher production volumes, higher commodity [...]
We asked top chefs for their dream post-Covid meals – find out who ordered the brains! March 2, 2021 As we dare to dream about an end to the culinary purgatory that is Covid, we asked some of our favourite chefs to tell us where they most want to eat when the restaurant world reopens. The answers took us on an incredible gastronomical tour across the world, from the paladars of Cuba to the [...]
Boris Johnson backs Britain to host Euro 2020 and 2030 World Cup March 2, 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has thrown his weight behind British efforts to host Euro 2020 and the 2030 World Cup. Johnson said Britain was “certainly on for” staging more games at this summer’s delayed European Championship, if required. And the PM confirmed government support – expected to be £2.8m – for a joint bid from [...]
Russian retailer Fix Price targets $1.7bn London listing March 1, 2021 Russian budget retailer Fix Price is targeting an IPO size of between $1.5bn and $1.7bn as it finalises its London listing. Earlier this month the company, which is the largest value retailer in Russia, announced its float would allow it to pursue growth and international expansion. Fix Price, which launched in 2007, has more than [...]
Alexei Navalny: Destination unknown as Putin makes opponent disappear February 25, 2021 Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been moved to an undisclosed detention centre outside Moscow, his lawyer and a member of a rights organisation said this evening. One of his lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, said on Twitter that Navalny was transferred to a prison camp but it was not clear which one or where. Navalny, a [...]
More than a dozen companies exit $11bn Nord Stream 2 project to avoid US sanctions February 24, 2021 Baker Hughes Co, AXA group and 16 other companies have stopped working on Russia’s Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline to avoid US sanctions, according to multiple media reports this evening. Russian energy company Gazprom and its partners are in the process of building an $11bn pipeline that will supply natural gas from Russia directly [...]
PM must pull G7 back from the dusty halls of diplomatic irrelevancy to tackle Covid, China & climate change February 24, 2021 Last Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson hosted the first leadership meeting of the UK’s 2021 presidency of the G7. While the western club may appear ill-suited to tackling the global crisis from the pandemic, it has always been at its best reacting to the big issues of the moment. Indeed, the very fact that it [...]
EU ministers agree to sanction Russian officials responsible for Navalny imprisonment February 22, 2021 The EU agreed this evening to sanction Russian officials directly responsible for jailing opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Russia, according to German foreign minister Heiko Mass. Today’s agreement came after France, Germany, Poland and the Baltic countries had urged the bloc to confront the Kremlin. Mass told reporters that “the EU will not be silent. [...]
Queen Victoria’s mourning brooches could soon be yours… February 22, 2021 Have you ever woken up and realised that the one thing you need to finally make your life complete is a collection of mourning brooches worn by Queen Victoria? Well boy are you in luck… Next month Sotheby’s London auction off the collection of Patricia Knatchbull, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, [...]
Global dividend payments fared better than expected due to strong fourth quarter February 22, 2021 Global dividend payouts fared better than expected last year after a strong fourth quarter kept total cuts to $220bn. Janus Henderson’s latest Global Dividend Index reveals that although payments fell 12.2 per cent over the year, it was better than the previously forecasted $1.2 trillion. This was largely because fourth quarter cuts were less severe, [...]