Business
The latest blockbuster results by semiconductor giant Nvidia have given global markets a lift, with the Nikkei 225 at a record high early today.
The FTSE 100 index lagged gains elsewhere as traders reviewed more blue-chip results, including the latest encouragement for Rolls-Royce shares.
Profits of £7.8 billion by Lloyds Banking Group failed to lift shares after it set aside £450 million in relation to the City regulator’s car loans investigation.
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the FTSE 100 closed higher at 7,684.49 today, with Rolls-Royce and Beazley leading the way.
That’s up 0.3% for the day.
UK tech stocks were boosted by Nvidia fever as the US-listed chips giant hit a new high.
The top risers were Rolls-Royce, Beazley and Lloyds Banking Group, boosted by strong results.
WPP was the biggest faller.
Drugs firm Indivior has said it is considering moving its shares to the US public markets, in the latest blow to the UK’s position as a leading financial hub.
The company, which specialises in treatments for substance use disorders and serious mental illnesses, said it had kickstarted discussions with shareholders.
Chief executive Mark Crossley said: “We are also excited to announce that we are initiating consultations with shareholders on potentially transitioning to a primary listing in the US in 2024 while maintaining a secondary listing in the UK.”
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Administrators for collapsed battery factory project Britishvolt have said they are still chasing money from the Australian buyer of the site and are considering other potential deals.
EY said Recharge Industries is still “in default” a year after it agreed to sell the Cambois, Northumberland site where Britishvolt had said it wanted to build a factory.
The administrators said they have “held discussions” with some other potential buyers for the site. It comes as the BBC reported on Thursday that Northumberland Council will set aside money to potentially buy the site.
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Take a look at the latest market snapshot, as Nvidia surges to a new high
A big read in the FT today on what it calls the “crisis” at Hargreaves Lansdown. Those are strong words for the FT.
A sample: “For many of its upstart rivals, HL has come to resemble the financial advisers it once derided — clunky and expensive.”
It also notes how much HL relies on the cash held on its platform for deposits — 37% of revenues and two-thirds of profits last year.
The Standard earlier made the point about how much these investment houses rake in from zero interest deals on cash deposits.
Its association with failed fund manager Neil Woodford can’t be helping its reputation either. A big job ahead then, for new CEO Dan Olley. It is hard to see how it reforms its IT and does everything else that needs to be done without slashing profits and dividend payments.
Something that will make founder Peter Hargreaves, who still owns 20% of the stock, very cross.
House hunters and mortgage brokers have reacted angrily to news that a string of big-name lenders are hiking the cost of home loans, even with Bank of England base rates expected to fall later this year.
The moves from the likes of HSBC, Santander and TSB have been described as a “handbrake turn” and “March madness” for hard-hit consumers, already struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and an economy that has tipped into recession.
From tomorrow, HSBC will lift the interest rate on its mortgages but has not revealed an exact figure. It gives brokers 24 hours notice that rates are going to move before the final decision on the level kicks in. Tomorrow’s rise is expected to apply across the high street lender’s fixed-term and loan-to-value mortgages and will affect new and existing customers who are not on a fixed-rate package.
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Are Fridays coming back? We’re approaching the fourth anniversary of the first Covid lockdown and numerous employers are looking at how their office use has changed, for better or worse, and considering what the next steps are on how their working week model should look.
First there was WFH (working from home) then we had the TWATs (people attending the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays), a style which became flavour of the month, well flavour of the last three years. But could FOW (Friday Office Work) be the next big thing?
Ok, that acronym is an invention of mine — but it is no fiction that employers are thinking hard about it.
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Energy group OVO has appointed former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King as its new chairman.
King takes up the non-executive role at Britain’s fourth biggest supplier in March after current chair Stephen Murphy steps down after nine years.
The 62 year old is one of Britain’s most respected retailers and has also worked at M&S, Asda, Haagen-Dazs, PepsiCo and Mars.
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David Buik looks over the banking sector’s results
Ever since the credit crisis of 2008, the UK banking sector has been infertile ground for investors. It has proved to be a debilitating laggard for the FTSE 100 over the past 15 years.
Why is this the case? The cost of bailing out UK banks and building societies to the taxpayer was north of £135 billion.
This crisis sent the country into recession with GDP down 2.6% in the first quarter of 2009.
Not only did RBS/NWG, Lloyds/Bank of Scotland require recapitalising, with Barclays accepting an injection of capital from Qatar, but these banks also needed to increase their working capital ten-fold to deliver the same level of business that they executed in 2008. This decision taken by the government was prudent to shore up their respective balance sheets.
Read more here
We had the so called “technical recession” at the back end of last year. Are we now at the start of a “technical recovery”?
Today’s decent UK PMI numbers for February provide the glimpse of a green shoot or two with the composite index at its highest level for nine months.
At face value they suggest that GDP is set for a return to growth of some sort in the first quarter. But as every gardener knows, those tender stems remain vulnerable until the last frost of spring.
Read more here
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