The Brexit unknown: how the votes moved markets – and what next March 15, 2019 | City Talk British politics has faced a turbulent week: three nights of Brexit votes, a Spring Statement and a downgrade to economic growth. Market prices have swung on each twist as investors attempt to digest a constantly shifting set of possible outcomes. The single constant factor is uncertainty. With the scheduled exit date of 29 March looming, [...]
UK bank shares: A pre-Brexit view March 12, 2019 | City Talk Some UK bank shares have made massive profits for shareholders, but how should you play the sector now? It’s been a few weeks since the last of the big UK-listed banks published results for 2018, and share price performance since has been varied. Brexit, of course, has played its part and, with some lenders up [...]
FTSE 100 risers and fallers: Index dips amid fears over global growth March 8, 2019 The FTSE 100 index slipped 0.7 per cent today driven by a plunge in gambling company GVC's shares and poor Chinese export data that has sparked fears over global growth. GVC led the day’s fallers with its share price 13.82 per cent down after dropping as low as 18 per cent earlier in the day after its chief [...]
Ladbrokes owner GVC shares plunge as bosses offload majority of their holdings March 8, 2019 Shares in GVC plunged 18 per cent this morning as chief executive Kenneth Alexander and chairman Lee Feldman offloaded the majority of their holdings in the online gambling company. Alexander sold £13.7m of stock and Feldman sold £6m of his holding, prompting other investors to dump their shares despite assurances that the pair will not [...]
Packaging firm DS Smith sells plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners in $585m deal March 6, 2019 Packaging company DS Smith has sold its plastics division to US private equity firm Olympus Partners for $585m (£445m). The sale is part of the London-headquartered firm’s strategy to shift towards sustainable packaging, the company announced in a trading update today. Read more: Rupert Soames joins board at DS Smith The move will address investor concerns [...]
Insurer Phoenix on the hunt for deals after strong results March 5, 2019 The boss of newly promoted FTSE 100 insurance company Phoenix said today he was keen to do further transactions following the £3bn purchase of Standard Life Assurance last year. Phoenix chief executive Clive Bannister said: “We are open for business and very keen to do our next transaction but they do tend to be quite [...]
Bumper Persimmon fails to shake off uncertainty March 5, 2019 | City Talk Despite the housebuilder's £1 billion profit and generous dividend, Persimmon shares are under a cloud. Just when investors thought it was safe to go back into mortar, the government's reported review of the Help to Buy scheme has dealt another blow to the sector. Persimmon (LSE:PSN) 6% share price decline represented the brunt of the blow, [...]
‘Turbocharged’ IAG rides out airline storms March 4, 2019 | City Talk BA owner International Airlines Group continues to impress, helped by a "turbocharged" dividend yield. The British Airways parent International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE:IAG) has produced an outstanding performance, which is particularly impressive given the difficulties being faced elsewhere in the airline industry. The company has, for some years, been concentrating on driving its business by [...]
PwC back with a vengeance at top of audit client rankings March 3, 2019 Accountancy giant PwC has become the leading auditor of listed UK clients for the first time since 2013, retaking its FTSE 100 client crown in the process. PwC, Britain’s biggest professional services firm by revenues, leapfrogged fourth-placed KPMG to take pole position. The smaller firm lost 12 clients between November last year and February, while [...]
Parliament gets Brexit votes: Pound hits $1.33, FTSE 100 comes off 7,200 March 1, 2019 | City Talk Just as it seemed Theresa May was on track to appease the hard-line Brexiters in her party, it’s now the Remainers causing problems. Last week three MPs, Anna Soubry, Sarah Wollaston and Heidi Allen, quit to join the new Independent Party formed by eight breakaway Labour MPs a few days before. More Conservatives have threatened [...]