eToro confirms plans to merge with a Spac at $10bn valuation March 16, 2021 Investment platform eToro has confirmed plans to merge with a special acquisition company after years of speculation about going public. The London-based firm announced it had agreed to merge with Fintech Acquisition Corp. V in a deal which values eToro at around $10.4bn. The companies are raising approximately $650m in equity. Established in 2007 by [...]
Three arrested in Germany over $1bn jewel heist November 17, 2020 Police have arrested three people in Germany on suspicion of carrying out an audacious $1bn (£757m) jewel heist at a museum containing Europe’s largest treasure collection. Thieves broke into the Gruenes Gewoelbe — or Green Vault — museum in Dresden last November, escaping with at least three sets of 18th century jewellery, including diamonds and [...]
Wall Street opens flat as big banks kick off earnings season April 14, 2021 U.S. stock indexes opened flat today as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan kicked off the first-quarter corporate earnings season, against the backdrop of a swift vaccine-led global economic recovery The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 8.32 points, or 0.02 per cent, at the open to 33,668.95. The S&P 500 opened lower by 0.01 points, or -0.00 [...]
‘Fat finger’ causes share drop at LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton March 25, 2019 Luxury fashion house LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton suffered a shock dip in its share price early this morning, with investors suspecting a computer slip-up known as the ‘fat finger’ for the drop. LVMH’s share price sunk to its lowest levels in more than a month at the opening bell, tumbling almost nine per cent. [...]
British fashion giant Stella McCartney swings to £11m loss March 8, 2020 British fashion label Stella McCartney swung to an £11m pre-tax loss in 2018 as the fashion house’s costs skyrocketed. Expenses incurred by the eponymous owner Stella McCartney’s decision to buy out luxury giant Kering’s 50 per cent stake in her company, along with flat-lining sales at £42.6m pushed the brand into the red. The disappointing [...]
Notre-Dame fire: LVMH and Gucci owners pledge €300m to repair historic Paris cathedral after blaze April 16, 2019 French billionaire Bernard Arnault has pledged €200m (£173m) to rebuild Notre Dame in Paris as donors flock to save the heritage site, which was gutted by a blaze yesterday. Arnault, who is behind French firm LVMH, which controls fashion house Louis Vuitton and champagne maker Moet & Chandon, said the firm’s architects and creative team will also help [...]
Asian consumers, boomerang businesses and M&A likely to shape 2021 January 6, 2021 It was some year. Anyone who took on the challenge of forecasting what would happen in 2020 more than likely saw it all swiftly swept aside – but, as they say, prediction is very difficult, especially when it’s about the future. Still, investing is a forward-looking profession and so we inevitably find ourselves thinking about [...]
Covid consolidation bears low-hanging fruit for traders June 29, 2020 No understatement is truer than the one about how “nothing will ever be the same again” following the coronavirus pandemic. Businesses in the hundreds of thousands will not reopen. Millions of jobs have been lost. Billions of dollars have been wiped off the valuations of household brands and City darlings. Past worries about Brexit seem [...]
Hermes second quarter sales plunge 42 per cent amid store closures July 30, 2020 Luxury brand Hermes announced this morning that sales fell 42 per cent in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic forced it to close stores and pause production. The French designer group, which makes the £7,000-plus Birkin bag, said revenue in the first half of the year was down 25 per cent to €2.5bn. The [...]
Spac revolution set to unlock Big Bang 2.0 for the City of London March 3, 2021 The UK is set to spark a second Big Bang for the City post-Brexit, with a landmark government report calling for regulators to allow Spacs to list in London and ease a range of share listing restrictions. Lord Jonathan Hill’s report into future financial services regulation, released today, calls for a range of deregulatory measures [...]