FTSE 100 live: HSBC takes profit hit, fresh food inflation rises October 28, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. It may have been more than 15 years since he was convicted and four years since he died, but legendary fraudster Bernie Madoff is still making headlines. Yesterday it was the turn of British banking giant HSBC to unveil the scale of its exposure to business connected [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Goodwin shares soar, HSBC $1.1bn Madoff hit, Petrofac administration October 27, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. Rachel Reeves likes to insist that she will “never play fast and loose with the public finances.” It’s a phrase she deploys quite often, not least when it looks as if the bond market could do with a bit of reassurance, and it means that she won’t [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Natwest ups guidance, Retail sales rise October 24, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. As we get closer and closer to the Budget, businesses are becoming more and more vocal on their concerns over what could be in store. Yesterday it was the turn of London estate agent Foxton’s, which warned of softened demand as a result of Budget uncertainty. “Macroeconomic [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Lloyds takes profit beat, LSEG new investment October 23, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. Just how much is the motor finance redress scheme going to cost Britain’s biggest banks? Yesterday’s results from Barclays offered an insight – and it wasn’t pretty. The Canary Wharf-based bank almost quadrupled the provision it had set aside to cover motor finance claims, from under £100m [...]
UK dividends fall as companies battle challenging economic backdrop October 23, 2025 UK dividends tumbled in the third quarter of the financial year, as large companies made significant cuts to their shareholder payouts. According to the latest dividend monitor from financial services firm Computershare, London-listed firms paid their shareholders £24.6bn in the third quarter, through one off and regular payments. This was a 1.4 per cent year-on-year [...]
FTSE 100 Live: UK inflation holds at 3.8 per cent, Barclays share buyback October 22, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. The UK’s top banks are gearing up for a third-quarter reporting season where all eyes will be on the Labour government’s second Autumn Budget. Speculation of a bank tax hike has dominated chatter around the sector in recent months and elevated fears across the City. It also [...]
Playtech shares tumble after firm becomes embroiled in US lawsuit October 21, 2025 Shares in Playtech tumbled on Tuesday after it emerged the gambling software firm had become embroiled in a US defamation lawsuit. The FTSE 250 firm has been named as the company behind a 2021 investigative report which made a string of misconduct allegations against its Swedish rival, Evolution. Playtech is understood to have commissioned Israeli [...]
FTSE 100 Live: Public borrowing jumps, Coca Cola £2bn takeover October 21, 2025 Good morning from the Morning Wire liveblog team. The London listings revival is gathering pace as prize draw operator Winvia today confirmed plans for an initial public offering (IPO) in the capital. The Omaze rival is set to list on London’s junior AIM market, seeking to raise around £40m from the sale of new shares [...]
B&M: City broker ‘not concerned’ about retailer despite turmoil October 20, 2025 City broker Panmure Liberum has reassured investors about a serious slide in B&M’s share price, arguing that it’s based on a ‘one-time error’ and doesn’t suggest underlying trouble. B&M surprised markets this morning when it released a trading statement showing a significant accounting error and the related departure of its chief financial officer. The FTSE [...]
Plus500 boss: Scrapping shares tax would boost market efficiency October 20, 2025 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 [...]