City sounds alarm on £40bn foreign M&A offensive targeting ‘cheap’ UK firms Markets A group of City grandees has sounded the alarm on the wave of foreign firms picking off rivals from London’s stock market, after a flurry of unsolicited offers took the combined value of UK companies poised to leave Britain’s ailing bourse to £43bn. Some 22 listed companies have already accepted or received bids that would [...]
Plus500 boss: Scrapping shares tax would boost market efficiency Investing Scrapping stamp duty on shares would help improve market efficiency and bolster the health of London’s capital markets, the boss of Plus500 has said after a jump in customers’ deposit sizes helped the trading platform beat analyst expectations. David Zruia told Morning Wire that trading volumes would invariably go up if the Chancellor heeded growing [...]
The UK’s IPO market is in need of pizzazz – here’s how to get it Opinion London's IPO market is struggling, but there is hope. Here's how the government can revitalise the country's capital markets.
UK investors flee bond funds amid US Treasury turmoil May 7, 2025 UK investors sold £1.2bn of bond fund holdings throughout April, as US bond markets fell into turmoil over Trump’s tariffs. As Treasury yields spiked during the month over fears around the fiscal ability of the US, investors fled the asset class in droves, according to data from Calastone. At one point last month, analysts were [...]
UK equity funds suffer worst quarter ever as investors pull billions April 8, 2025 UK-focused funds suffered their worst ever quarter on record over the last three months, despite a strong performance from the FTSE 100 and other UK equity markets. Over the first three months of 2025, investors pulled £3.5bn from UK funds, with £1.2bn being withdrawn in March alone, according to data from Calastone. “Instead of putting [...]
Peel Hunt: London Stock Exchange requires ‘urgent’ support April 1, 2025 The UK’s capital markets require “urgent” support from the government, Peel Hunt has said, as the London Stock Exchange continues to be raided by private takeovers. While there have been 15 companies worth over £100m facing acquisition bids on the stock exchange since the start of 2025, not a single firm worth over £100m floated [...]
Inheritance tax grab on London’s junior AIM could cost Reeves £1bn November 26, 2024 Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax hike on London’s junior market AIM in the Budget is likely to cost more than a billion in revenue for the Treasury, investment bank Peel Hunt has warned. The government had estimated that it would raise £92.5m from its 50 per cent inheritance levy on AIM stocks, based on calculations from [...]
Peel Hunt: There’s a ‘missing piece’ in Reeves’ City growth push November 20, 2024 The government has demonstrated a “fundamental shift” in its approach to growth but must address the key issue of pushing investment into the UK stock market, Peel Hunt has said. In an a note to investors today, Peel Hunt’s head of research, Charles Hall, stressed that while Rachel Reeves‘s Mansion House speech had been a [...]
UK fund withdrawals reach largest on record amid Budget panic November 4, 2024 UK equity fund withdrawals reached their largest on record in October as investors pulled billions out of markets to escape tax rises in the Budget. Investors sold a £2.7bn stake in funds throughout the month in anticipation of Chancellor Rachel Reeves hiking capital gains tax, up from £564m of withdrawals in September, according to data [...]
London’s AIM is dying. Here’s how to fix it. September 18, 2024 London's AIM is in a rough spot, but there are a raft of changes that could be made to save the junior market.