Is the turnaround complete? Bank of Cyprus announces London listing and paydown of EU emergency lending November 15, 2016 The Bank of Cyprus made a huge step on its road to redemption today by announcing its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange. The lender said that while it would not be raising any equity directly from the float, it hoped that the move would pave the way for it to access international capital markets. [...]
How do you raise funding if your tech startup is not based in London? February 15, 2017 London, fintech and money. They're three amigos aren't they? A winning combo of location, sector and investment, affording the best exposure to startup capital and markets. Right? Not quite. Last year, more was invested in UK tech and fintech outside of London than anywhere else in Europe. And thousands of tech firms are finding competitive funding and startup costs outside the [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]
Three charts showing why we remain very happy to hold UK banks March 20, 2017 Investors have tended to steer clear of the UK’s big banks since the financial crisis bit in 2008, when share prices plummeted and Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had to be bailed out with taxpayer money. As we tend to do, on our Value Perspective blog, we took a different view – arguing [...]
RBS shares opened lower after it was the worst performer in Bank of England stress tests November 30, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) became one of the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 this morning, with shares opening 2.3 per cent lower at 192.5p, after it was revealed as the worst performer in the Bank of England's stress tests. Having dipped almost three per cent yesterday, shares in RBS fell further this morning after [...]
Big five banks run up £100bn bill in bad loans and legal costs over the last five years February 16, 2017 The UK's big five banks, which report full-year results next week, have run up a bill of nearly £100bn over the last five years for a toxic mix of fines and bad loans according to a new analysis. However, the era of sour loans and megafines that dwarf the banks' dividend payouts could finally be [...]
Sports Direct sells Dunlop brand to Japanese buyer for £112m as it refocuses on becoming “Selfridges of sports” December 27, 2016 Sports Direct is selling the Dunlop brand for $137.5m (£112.3m) to Japan's Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI) as part of its bid to become "the Selfridges of sports retail". The high street chain is re-focusing on developing its relationship with third party brands and its core UK business and has agreed to sell Dunlop's sporting goods and licensing businesses [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive Ross McEwan, chairman Sir Howard Davies, and chief financial officer Ewen Stevenson bought almost £1m shares in the taxpayer-backed bank February 29, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) revealed today that its top bosses have bought up nearly £1m in shares in the lender, just days after the taxpayer-backed bank reported disappointing results for 2015. News of the bank’s eighth consecutive year of losses sent RBS shares down more than seven per cent at the end of last week. Investors were doubly [...]
Not for sale: Government rules out Land Registry privatisation November 23, 2016 The government has announced it will not be privatising the Land Registry. The Treasury said in its Autumn Statement document: Following consultation the government has decided that HM Land Registry should focus on becoming a more digital data-driven registration business, and to do this will remain in the public sector. Modernisation will maximise the value [...]
Williams & Glyn sell off sparks watchdog’s attention November 6, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland's (RBS) potential sale of Williams & Glyn to challenger Clydesdale & Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) has sparked the attention of the banking watchdog. RBS was told to divest of Williams & Glyn, and its network of more than 300 branches, by 2017 as part of its £45bn state bailout deal. CYBG revealed [...]