City Moves – who’s switching jobs at EY, Moneycorp, Seedrs and Egress Software Technologies March 15, 2017 Today's City Moves cover financial services, foreign exchange, technology and venture funding. Take a look at these movers and shakers: EY EY has appointed Dan Cooper to the role of UK financial services banking and capital markets (BCM) leader. He will take over the role in April from Robert Cubbage, who is retiring. Dan started [...]
Tony Pidgley on Berkeley Group’s demotion from FTSE 100, giving up his six-figure salary and solving London’s housing crisis March 15, 2017 Berkeley Homes bowed out of the FTSE 100 following the Brexit vote last year but founder and chairman Tony Pidgley CBE isn’t perturbed. “I don’t run Berkeley for whether it's in or out of the FTSE 100. I run Berkeley because Berkeley does what it does well,” Pidgley tells City PM “I couldn’t control Brexit [...]
Chris Hohn’s activist fund attacks Safran’s “enormously destructive” €8.5bn Zodiac takeover March 14, 2017 Chris Hohn’s activist hedge fund has had another bite at French aircraft-engine maker Safran over a planned €8.5bn (£7.4bn) takeover. The Children’s Investment (TCI) Fund, which owns a 4.1 per cent stake in Safran, publicised its opposition to the deal for plane-seat maker Zodiac last month, saying it had “no strategic rationale”. Safran hit back shortly [...]
Does the FTSE 250 really reflect British economic health? March 14, 2017 | City Talk In the first of an occasional series focusing on ‘untrue truisms’, we look at the commonly-held view that the FTSE 250 index is a better indicator of the UK’s economic health than the FTSE 100 Forget the ‘FTSE 100’ stock market index of the UK’s very largest companies – it is the next block [...]
Leap 100 companies have shown how much can be achieved in just two years March 14, 2017 We're living in an unprecedented time of change. Technology is accelerating at breakneck pace, changing the way we work, creating new industries and, with them, new opportunities for ambitious British businesses. The UK is becoming an increasingly fertile nesting ground for new technology. According to London & Partners, the UK tech sector drew more investment [...]
Pension deficits spike £46bn in February with experts warning of more volatility during Brexit negotiations March 14, 2017 The ability of Britain's firm's to manage spiralling pension liabilities is being hampered by the UK's exit from the EU, experts have warned. Pensions lifeboat, the Pension Protection Fund (PPF) today revealed the aggregate deficit of UK companies had grown at a rate of more than £1.6bn per day during February. Although deficits have retreated from all-time [...]
FinnCap chief executive Sam Smith on IPOs, MBOs and the value of skin in the game March 14, 2017 FinnCap is a unique business grown from unusual circumstances. The leading City broker was established in 2007, when Sam Smith, its chief executive, orchestrated the management buy-out (MBO) of a small broking subsidiary of a private client stockbroking firm. Most significantly, FinnCap is now almost entirely owned by its employees – something that was a [...]
Britain’s savings have undergone a “radical change” under the Conservative government says the IFS March 14, 2017 The savings landscape in the UK has undergone a “radical change” under the Conservative government as incentives push people towards individual savings accounts (Isas) rather than pensions, according to an influential economics think tank. Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said: “We’ve had quite a radical change in the shape of [...]
Another year of profit losses for French Connection March 14, 2017 High street fashion shop, French Connection, has reported yet another year of losses. The figures French Connection said revenues for 2016 were £153.2m, down six per cent, compared to last year’s £164.2m. The company declared an underlying operating loss of £3.7m this year, compared to £4.7m last year. It has less cash this year and [...]
How can investors navigate the choppy waters of European politics? March 14, 2017 Remember this time last year, when Brexit was an outside chance and not many Brits really believed Trump could convince half a country to vote for him? They’re saying much the same thing now about France’s Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders of the Netherlands, but I think we’ve all learnt to take the polls [...]
