Q&A: What is “natural capital” and why should investors care? July 28, 2021 The last few hundred years of human activity have stored up changes in climate that threaten human existence. Climate change is not the only ecological threat. It’s widely agreed that damage to the natural environment and loss of biodiversity pose a comparable risk. Natural resources are the single most important input to the global economy. [...]
Betting firm Sportech lists on Aim after move from London’s main market July 28, 2021 Betting firm Sportech began trading on Aim this morning after shifting its shares from London’s main market in the wake of pandemic losses. The London-based company last month said it would delist from the primary London Stock Exchange and trade instead on the capital’s junior market. Sportech said Aim was more suited to the company’s [...]
Exclusive: IWG founder and office veteran Mark Dixon on why hybrid working is the new normal July 28, 2021 Office space giant IWG swung to a £650m loss last year due to the impact of coronavirus on working habits, it announced earlier this year. However, founder and CEO Mark Dixon has full confidence in the future of London’s offices, as he sits down with City A.M. for an exclusive interview. Dixon said his company [...]
China’s industrial profit slows as material prices soar July 27, 2021 China’s industrial firms have seen their profits slow in recent months, as raw material prices put pressure on factories. Recovery post-coronavirus in the industry has seen weaknesses in higher materials prices and hits to global supply chains. Year-on-year profit for Chinese industrial firms climbed 20 per cent in June to 791.8bn yuan (£88.5bn), according to [...]
Meet Shein: The secretive Chinese fast-fashion firm taking over online retail July 27, 2021 Taking the Tube at the minute can still, at times, feel like time travel. Around you are slightly tattered posters for theatre productions that haven’t been on stage for more than a year; ads for movies touted for cinema release that ended up quietly released to Netflix with little fanfare. Amongst these relics of a [...]
Aon and Willis Towers Watson call off $30bn insurance mega-merger over monopoly concerns July 27, 2021 Insurance giant Aon and Willis Towers Watson have agreed to terminate their $30bn (£22.9bn) merger agreement in what would have created the world’s largest insurance broker, and have blamed U.S. regulators’ objections for unacceptable delays and uncertainty. Aon cited an “impasse” with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) as the reason behind the decision to [...]
Watchdog slams KPMG for ‘unacceptable’ bank audits for third year running July 26, 2021 KPMG has been called out for failing to meet standards in its bank audits for the third year in a row, by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in a review published on Friday, that found that a third of large company audits by the biggest UK firms failed to meet standards. The industry watchdog called [...]
Cash holdings: UK corporates’ £109bn warchest increasingly a rival to private equity in M&A July 26, 2021 UK corporates have seen their aggregate net cash holdings rise from £20bn to £109bn since March 2020 and the start of the Covid pandemic, a jump of 500 per cent. The build up in cash balances has been so dramatic that UK corporates are increasingly seen as a serious rival to private equity funds in [...]
FRC chair says slow board appointments pose “grave risk” to the watchdog reform July 26, 2021 The interim head of the Financial Reporting Council has said there is a “grave risk” that the slow pace of appointing board members could result in delays to the watchdog’s reformation plans. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC), which oversees the governance of the UK’s biggest listed companies, has been without a permanent chair since May [...]
FTSE 100 in the red ahead of key week of corporate results July 26, 2021 The FTSE 100 started the week in the red this morning as energy and banking stocks dragged down the index. London’s premier market was down 0.4 per cent after two hours of trading, with the FTSE 250 faring little better at 0.2 per cent down. The slide comes ahead of a week stuffed with corporate [...]