Rachel Reeves needs to be able to sell her borrowing to the market October 29, 2024 The first female Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, fears following in the footsteps of the last female Prime Minister in her Autumn Budget statement. The Gilt market sell-off in the wake of the Truss/Kwarteng fiscal event two years ago didn’t just cast a huge shadow over the Conservative Party; it reminded all politicians that financial markets can [...]
Love Island host Maya Jama invests in pea milk brand Sproud October 29, 2024 Love Island presenter Maya Jama has invested in Swedish plant milk brand Sproud – which is already backed by a shareholder of Fortnite maker, Epic Games. Jama is to be a strategic advisor and public face of the company following the deal, the value and scale of which has not been revealed. Sproud’s investors also [...]
Foxtons acquires commuter town estate agents in expansion drive October 29, 2024 Estate agents Foxtons has acquired two smaller companies in commuter towns as it looks to expand its presence in the lettings market. Haslams, in Reading, and Imagine, in Watford, will be bought by Foxtons for £7.6m and £5m respectively. The acquisitions will increase Foxtons’ footprint to 64 branches, as well as delivering an extra 2,900 [...]
Bulmers help C&C outperform the alcohol market October 29, 2024 Drinks company C&C has reported results in line with expectations as its core brands Bulmers and Tennent’s outperformed the market. The company has also reconfirmed its commitment to return a minimum of €150m (£125m) to shareholders over the next three years, adding that it has already completed €38m of buybacks. C&C will pay an interim [...]
BP beats estimates despite lower oil prices October 29, 2024 FTSE 100 oil giant BP has reported strong-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. On Tuesday, it posted an underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $2.3bn (£1.8bn) for the three months to 30 September. The figure beat analyst expectations of $2.1bn (£1.6bn), according to an LSEG-compiled consensus. However, the figure [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown client growth surges as takeover looms October 29, 2024 Hargreaves Lansdown’s client growth surged to 18,000 in the last quarter as the investment platform’s private equity takeover approaches. However, despite the growth, which compared to just 8,000 new customers in the same quarter last year, new assets coming into the platform dropped. Hargreaves Lansdown reported just £500m in net new business, compared to £600m [...]
Pearson: Educational publisher starts to reap rewards of AI October 29, 2024 Pearson said it is starting to see “commercial benefit” from the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its services. The education publisher said there have been over five million student interactions with its higher education AI study tools in the nine months to September, leading to double-digit year on year billings growth in its higher [...]
Santander UK delays results following motor finance court case October 29, 2024 Santander UK has delayed the publication of a detailed set of results covering the third quarter as it waits to assess the impact of a landmark court ruling on motor finance commissions. Full results for the Spanish bank’s UK arm were meant to be published this morning, but the lender said on Monday that it [...]
HSBC shares pop as bank beats profit estimates and launches $3bn buyback October 29, 2024 HSBC has unveiled its latest share buyback after beating profit estimates in the third quarter as the Asia-focused bank gears up for a major restructuring.
BAE Systems plots £220m transformation to create hundreds of jobs October 29, 2024 Defence company BAE Systems is planning to invest £220m to transform its Rochester base into an “advanced technology” factory. The century-old site, which specialises in aerospace technologies and electronic systems, will be revamped into a “state-of-the-art” 32,000sqm facility. BAE Systems expects the bigger and “more efficient” factory will create 300 jobs over the next five [...]