Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher makes surprise resignation February 25, 2025 Unilever chief Hein Schumacher has unexpectedly resigned after less than two years in the role, as the company attempts to push forward with its cost-cutting programme. Schumacher will be succeeded by Unilever’s financial chief Fernando Fernandez from next week and leave the firm at the end of May, the firm said. The news comes amid [...]
Cash ISAs: Will Rachel Reeves bring in a ‘tax on savings’? February 24, 2025 The financial industry has split over whether Chancellor Rachel Reeves should be cracking down on cash ISAs to encourage investment. While Reeves has ruled out scrapping cash ISAs completely, the Treasury is currently mulling whether to bring the limit for them down to just £4,000 a year. Currently, investors have a tax-free allowance of £20,000 [...]
Former Hipgnosis duo set to float trust on London Stock Exchange February 24, 2025 Achilles Investment Company is set to start trading on the London Stock Exchange tomorrow after raising £54m to make an activist push against struggling investment trusts. The trust, run by City veterans Christopher Mills and Robert Naylor at Harwood Capital, would be the first investment trust float on UK markets since 2023. Naylor and Mills [...]
Ben Whitmore: Jupiter’s former star stockpicker launches inaugural fund February 24, 2025 Star fund manager Ben Whitmore has launched his inaugural fund within his new boutique asset manager. Last year, Whitmore made a shock exit from Jupiter Asset Management, where he handled around a fifth of the firm’s assets. News of his exit sent Jupiter’s shares down nearly 15 per cent in a single day, and the fund house [...]
St James’s Place fund in the doghouse over underperformance February 21, 2025 St James’s Place’s Global Quality Fund has retained its spot as the largest fund to be consistently underperforming after falling 26 per cent below its benchmark over the last three years. The report from Bestinvest, which identified the funds in the ‘doghouse’ due to persistent underperformance, found 137 funds struggling to match their peers. Despite the [...]
Working from home: Analyst on trial for £1m insider trading scheme February 21, 2025 A former Janus Henderson analyst used working from home to make nearly £1m from insider trading, a court has heard. Redinel Korfuzi was on trial yesterday with his sister Oerta Korfuzi and two other alleged members of a cartel that allegedly made inside dealings on shares throughout the first two years of the pandemic. Prosecutors [...]
US hedge fund shorts British firms despite aim to ‘save’ UK market February 20, 2025 Activist investor Saba Capital has taken short positions against some key UK companies, including beloved Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury, despite previously claiming to be the “white knight of the UK market”. The American hedge fund has taken out a 0.95 per cent short position against the £537m publisher, or a roughly £5.1m bet against it. [...]
London Stock Exchange Group upgraded ahead of results February 20, 2025 Analysts have upgraded London Stock Exchange Group as investors prepare for the bourse’s full-year results next week, with hopes that a further share buyback programme will be announced. In a research note today, RBC Capital Markets analysts upgraded the London Stock Exchange Group’s target price from 11,600p to 12,500p. The stock is currently sitting at [...]
Aviva Investors warns three funds failing on performance February 19, 2025 Aviva Investors has flagged three of its funds as failing to deliver value for customers on performance, though it said no changes will be made to the funds. Aviva, which manages 15 investment funds, revealed in its latest Assessment of Value report that three funds are struggling to beat their benchmark. Asset managers are required [...]
Glencore: FTSE 100 miner mulls ditching London February 19, 2025 Glencore became the latest company to warn it could ditch its London listing today in a move that has been described as a “sucker punch” to UK markets. Speaking to the media after the miner’s results today, Glencore chief Gary Nagle said that questions had been raised over whether the UK was the right place [...]