Which stock market sectors will benefit as inflation heats up? March 6, 2017 | City Talk We wrote last year about our expectation that inflation would soon start to re-emerge in Europe, and that banks were likely to be among the chief beneficiaries. This scenario has indeed come to pass, perhaps even more quickly than we had anticipated. With signs of inflation becoming ever more apparent, which other sectors should investors [...]
Brexit, Isis and attracting entrepreneurs: Just some of the challenges faced by mid-market private equity firm Livingbridge March 6, 2017 Private equity firm Livingbridge will likely be tied to its former name, Isis Equity Partners, for some time to come. In 2014, shortly before turning 20 years old, Isis chose to change its name in light of the rising prominence of its namesake terrorist organisation. “It was kind of fine [prior to 2014],” says Wol [...]
Security firm G4S reports results this week March 5, 2017 Security firm G4S will be reporting its 2016 full year results on Wednesday, the same day as the budget. This week’s numbers will spotlight the extent to which the group’s chief exec, Ashley Almanza has been successful in turning around the beleaguered company. Investors will be keen to see what progress the company has made [...]
Aviva and Legal General set to report profit rises March 5, 2017 Insurers Aviva and Legal & General are expected to report profit rises when they report on Wednesday and Thursday respectively next week. Analysts expect Aviva’s full-year operating profits to rise 8 per cent to £2.9bn and Legal & General is likely to advise operating profit increases of £1.6bn, an increase of 13 per cent, compared [...]
Tata Steel bidder Thyssenkrupp comes under pressure from investors to consider alternative strategies March 3, 2017 The German industrial firm vying to pick up Tata Steel is plotting alternative strategies if the deal to save Britain's largest steel operator fails. Thyssenkrupp is considering spinning off its European steel division into a separate company that could be listed, according to reports today by German publication WirtschftsWoche. Read more: Tata Steel pension scheme edges towards safety [...]
Private equity buyouts of UK companies start year at highest level ever March 2, 2017 Private equity buyouts of UK companies have surged to record the fastest start to a year since at least 2001 as investors look to put money to work. Deal value to this point has increased by 73.3 per cent year-on-year, according to data company Mergermarket. There have been 30 private equity buyouts in the first [...]
Here’s how we build P2P firms that actually service the poor March 2, 2017 Is payday lender Wonga the only alternative finance business that actually addressed credit demand among poor people? A regulatory crackdown on the industry has pushed the most disadvantaged in this country towards hire purchase firms, where they “buy” something on credit, sell it on almost immediately to obtain ready cash, then end up paying back [...]
How Long Is the Investment Learning Curve? March 2, 2017 | City Talk Mistakes and disappointments are not unusual in the investment world. On the contrary, it is investment successes that are rare. Persistent boom-and-bust economic cycles underline the numerous unavoidable challenges that investment decision makers face. Moreover, professional investors rarely have a complete understanding of their own miscalculations or those of others. From poor analyst forecast accuracy [...]
Man Group reports losses and lower performance fees March 1, 2017 Hedge fund Man Group disappointed investors with pre-tax losses of $272m for 2016 this morning, largely driven by accounting write downs at the company’s discretionary investments arm, GLG, and at FRM, Man’s fund of funds business. Performance fee revenues were down to $81m, compared to $302m in 2015, with declines across all divisions. The FTSE [...]
NCC chief exec Rob Cotton has stepped down after profit warnings March 1, 2017 Cyber security group NCC has announced chief exec Rob Cotton has stepped down today with immediate effect. The departure follows two recent profit warnings, and the group is now on the hunt for a new boss and a new chairman. Paul Mitchell, the current chairman, steps down at the end of May. The company recently appointed [...]