Oil prices soar as US and China agree to hold fire in trade war December 3, 2018 Oil prices soared overnight after a ceasefire in the US-China trade war was announced yesterday. International standard Brent crude was up 4.7 per cent to $62.42 a barrel this morning UK time. At the G20 meeting in Argentina over the weekend the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, agreed not to impose new [...]
Qatar quits international oil cartel Opec amid ongoing regional tensions December 3, 2018 Qatar will leave the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) next month, its energy minister said today. “Qatar has decided to withdraw its membership from Opec effective January 2019 and this decision was communicated to Opec this morning,” Saad al-Kaabi, the country’s energy minister said at a press conference. The decision came after Qatar, [...]
Aim companies have markedly improved corporate governance reporting, study finds December 3, 2018 Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim) have significantly upped their corporate governance standards since a September 2018 rule change, an annual review has revealed. The market, which lists smaller companies and has less onerous regulations, was reviewed by accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young and lobbying group Quoted Companies Alliance. Their findings showed improvements in transparency [...]
Bristol ‘virtual touch’ firm raises £35m December 3, 2018 Virtual touch technology company Ultrahaptics has raised £35m in a new funding round and brought in a major new backer. The University of Bristol spin-off has developed technology that projects the feeling of an object like a switch or a knob into a users’ hand. This is done by speakers sending out sound waves from black [...]
Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman drives away with £30m funding for used car startup December 2, 2018 Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman wants to cut out the awkward tyre-kicking from buying a used car with a new startup. Chesterman, who sold Zoopla for £2.2bn earlier this year, said Cazoo aimed to make buying a car “no different to buying any other product online today”. The entrepreneur, who will serve as Cazoo’s CEO, has [...]
FTSE 250 outsourcer Kier sees shares plummet as it asks shareholders for £264m to slash debt November 30, 2018 Construction services company Kier Group’s share price plummeted to its lowest point for a decade this afternoon as it announced a plan to raise £264m to pay off debts. The FTSE 250 firm said the rights issue would give existing shareholders the chance to buy its stocks for 409p each, a 34 per cent discount [...]
Junk corporate bond outflows of $2.9bn fuelled by falling oil prices November 30, 2018 The junk corporate bond market has seen outflows surge this week fuelled by a drop in oil prices. High-yield bonds saw outflows of $2.9bn (£2.27bn) in the week to Wednesday, bringing the three-week total outflows to $8.8bn. Outflows in investment grade corporate bonds hit $2.5bn, reaching $8.8bn over the last three weeks, according to research [...]
Oil prices hit one-year low after worst month since financial crisis November 30, 2018 Oil prices are struggling at more than a one-year low following its worst month since the financial crisis ten years ago. It has plunged 21 per cent during November, losing the returns it made throughout the year. Europe’s main share indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris all sank, and Wall Street futures were pointing down [...]
The activist investor revolution has begun November 30, 2018 A year ago, anyone attempting to name a FTSE 100 stock that was likely to chart a double-digit share price rise would have been unlikely to name Whitbread. With a big exposure to the British consumer, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inns seemed to have too many chips stacked on the wrong part [...]
Moulton-backed litigation funder Manolete Partners raises £29m in London float November 30, 2018 A litigation funder backed by City veteran Jon Moulton has raised £29.4m in its London initial public offering (IPO). Manolete Partners announced its intention to float on London’s Aim market today. It said it had conditionally raised £16.3m before expenses from the placing of 9,285,714 new ordinary shares with £13.1m before expenses realised by selling shareholders [...]