Lloyds Banking Group and Schroders are to end their British wealth joint venture after the business struggled to meet growth targets amid a high executive turnover.
The venture, Schroders Personal Wealth, aimed at the “mass affluent” section of the market and Lloyds will now take control of Schroders’ 49.9 per cent stake in the operation, the Financial Times reported.
Taking full control of the business will give Lloyds greater oversight as well as the flexibility to sell a broader range of products to its more than 3 million customers.
Schroders Personal Wealth was started in 2019 by the former Lloyds boss Antonio Horta-Osorio and the former Schroders boss Peter Harrison and started with £13 billion of assets transferred from Lloyds. This had grown to assets under management of £15.7 billion by last December.
Shawbrook considers London flotation shortly
The retail and commercial bank Shawbrook could file for an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in the coming days in what could be one of London’s biggest floats in recent years with a possible valuation of about £2 billion.
The lender is owned by the private equity firms BC Partners and Pollen Street and was planning a flotation this year before shelving the attempt amid market volatility. It is understood that no firm decision has been made about a flotation, Reuters reported.
The bank was taken off the public market by its present owners in 2017 and those owners were reported to have been previously considered a tie-up with rival lenders in the past two years, including Metro Bank and Co-op Bank.
The London market has suffered a dearth of IPOs in recent years and is on course for its lowest number of IPOs ever this year.
Eurozone unemployment rate rises in August
The eurozone’s unemployment rate rose in August, which could increase the possibility of the European Central Bank lowering interest rates.
The central bank has held its key interest rates unchanged for its last two meetings. It next meets on October 30.
The European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat, said unemployment rate in the eurozone rose to 6.3 per cent from 6.2 per cent in July. In the EU as a whole, the unemployment rate was 5.9 per cent in August.
Eurostat estimates that 13.089 million people in the EU, of whom 10.842 million in the eurozone, were unemployed in August.
London’s leading share index was trading flat at lunchtime as Tesco’s upbeat update was offset by a sharp fall at Experian.
The FTSE 100 was trading up 1 point, or 0.01 per cent, at 9,447.69, barely extending a rally this week.
The investment company 3i Group remained the biggest riser after a report of the investment company’s possible £1.3 billion exit from French IT company Evernex.
Britain’s biggest supermarket group Tesco gained after it raised its full-year profit forecast after benefitting from the hot summer in which it won market share from rivals.
Experian dropped on concerns surrounding a programme started by the American analytics company Fair Isaac (Fico) that potentially reduces reliance on Britain’s largest credit check agency.
Weak demand for UK gilt sale
PAUL ROGERS FOR THE TIMES
A British government sale of £4.5 billion of ten-year bonds drew the weakest demand since May, despite offering investors the highest yield for such gilts since January.
Investors submitted bids worth 2.78 times the amount on offer of the 4.75 per cent October 2035 gilt, the lowest bid-to-cover ratio since an auction on May 21 at a yield of 4.769 per cent.
The low level of demand will add to concerns for the Treasury about the appetite for gilts before the budget next month.
Czech sphinx Kretinsky sells German steel stake
Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire who owns Royal Mail, is selling his 20 per cent stake in Thyssenkrupp’s steel business, ending lengthy talks that could led to the creation of a German-Czech steel and energy giant.
Daniel Kretinsky, the co-founder and chairman of EP Group
DAVID W CERNY/REUTERS
The discussions had not made any measurable progress since Kretinsky’s EP Group bought the stake in Thyssenkrupp Steel Europe (TKSE) last year.
It leaves Thyssenkrupp free to pursue talks with India’s Jindal Steel International, which last month presented an indicative bid for the steel business, which it has sought to divest for years.
Steel producers in Europe are facing difficulties from cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs.
No more taxes on business, Tesco boss urges Reeves
The chancellor told the Labour conference this week that Britain “will face further tests, with choices to come, made all the harder by harsh global headwinds”
RASID NECATI ASLIM/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES
The boss of Tesco has warned Rachel Reeves that “enough is enough” amid fears of furtehr tax rises in her November budget.
Ken Murphy, chief executive of Britain’s largest supermarket chain, said of the chancellor’s budget: “Our one ask is, don’t make it harder for the industry to deliver great value for customers.”
“In the last budget the industry and the sector incurred substantial additional operating costs. We’re doing our best to deal with them, but enough is enough.”
Murphy said that Tesco would like to see “pro-growth and pro-jobs” in the budget, “which as a result will help customers with the cost of living”.
He added that households were currently “worried about what lies ahead and we’re seeing that in the consumer sentiment”.
ICG raises guidance for performance fees
ICG shares climbed 4.3 per cent this morning after the FTSE 100 alternative asset manager raised its guidance for the performance fees it expects to earn.
The company, which oversees $123 billion across asset classes including private equity, private debt and infrastructure, said it was changing the way it recognised performance fee revenues to “remove certain elements of management judgment” and make the fees “more visible than under the current approach, in particular in the early years of a fund’s life”.
This will result in a one-off gain of between £65 million and £75 million in its first-half results for 2026 and has also prompted an upgrade to its medium-term financial guidance.
It now expects performance fees to account for between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of its total fee income, an improvement on its previous forecast of 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
Dr Martens expands in UAE and Latin America
The Dr Martens chief executive previously said: “We need to become a business that is no longer reliant on any single market, product or channel”
BEN GURR FOR THE TIMES
The FTSE 250 bootmaker is expanding into the United Arab Emirates and increasing its presence in Latin America.
Dr Martens announced a distribution partnership agreement with Beside Group in the United Arab Emirates, entering the country for the first time.
The retailer has also partnered with Crosby in Latin America, which opened a store in Santiago, Chile, this week — its second in the region after the opening of a store in Argentina in August.
Ije Nwokorie, the chief executive, said: “These exciting partnerships are consistent with our strategy of entering new growth markets to reach more consumers than ever before through a capital-light approach.”
Dr Martens shares, which have risen more than 80 per cent over the past year, gained 1 per cent, or 1p, to 99p.
OpenAI overtakes SpaceX as most valuable start-up
Sam Altman, the chief executive
KIM KYUNG-HOON/REUTERS
OpenAI has reached a valuation of $500 billion after a deal in which current and former employees sold roughly $6.6 billion worth of shares.
It means the ChatGPT owner has overtaken Elon Musk’s SpaceX – valued at $400 billion – to become the world’s largest startup.
As part of the deal, OpenAI employees sold shares to a consortium of investors including Thrive Capital, SoftBank, Dragoneer Investment Group, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and T Rowe Price, Reuters reported.
In the first half of the year, OpenAI reported revenue of about $4.3 billion, a 16 per cent increase on its total revenue for the whole of last year. The company is on track to reach a full-year revenue target of $13 billion. However, high research and development costs have meant OpenAI has made a $7.8 billion operating loss.
Government may exempt UK IPOs from stamp duty
Dozens of companies worth more than £100 million have left London’s market this year
CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
The Treasury is looking to give a stamp duty holiday to companies that list on the London Stock Exchange, the Financial Times has reported.
The measure is expected to help bolster London’s stock market and make it a more attractive place to list. A number of companies have opted to list in America.
Investors would be exempt from the 0.5 per cent tax on buying the shares of newly listed companies in Britain. It could be announced as a measure in next month’s budget.
London’s leading share index has extended its recent rally, helped by pharmaceutical and mining stocks.
The FTSE 100 rose 6 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 9,452.72, adding to yesterday’s closing high — the second consecutive record high this week. Pharmaceutical companies have risen after a US agreement on pharmaceutical prices with Pfizer on hopes that other big pharma companies will follow suit.
The investment company 3i Group was the biggest riser after a report of its possible £1.3 billion exit from the French IT company Evernex. AstraZeneca rose, and Anglo American was lifted by higher metal prices.
Tesco, up 1.5 per cent, was not among the main risers but its upbeat results buoyed the rest of the sector, with Marks & Spencer higher.
The pound was helped by a weak dollar, rising to $1.3493. Gold dipped to $3,86566 an ounce but remains close to its high. British government bond yields fell.
Thames Water creditors submit revised rescue plan
The creditors believe they can cut gross debt from over £20 billion to £14.5 billion, making Thames Water resilient
MINA KIM/REUTERS
Thames Water’s creditors have submitted what appears to be a take-it-or-leave-it final rescue plan to recapitalise the company.
They have submitted the improved plan for the takeover of the stricken utility to regulators, offering a £4 billion write-off of their debt in return for renegotiated targets on pollution incidents and mains water leakage.
They have pledged £20.5 billion of investment in catch-up infrastructure in the five years to spring 2030, with a further £24.9 billion of capital expenditure in the subsequent five-year regulatory period.
In the plan, the creditors say Thames Water would eventually return to the public markets through a London Stock Exchange listing once the turnaround is complete and the company is financially stable.
The crisis at Britain’s largest privatised water utility has been going on for 18 months since its previous shareholders walked away. Rejection of the creditors’ plan would inevitably lead to the government being forced to call in administrators and the company being put into a “special administration regime”.
• Read in full: Thames Water creditors make ‘take it or leave it’ rescue offer
Fit-out business drives Morgan Sindall profit growth
The FTSE 250 construction group Morgan Sindall has said it expects full-year results “will be significantly ahead of its previous expectations” after a strong performance from its office fit-out division.
The group said that Overbury, the largest office fit-out business in Britain, had continued to strengthen significantly. Shares in the company rose more than 40 per cent over the past year.
South West Water appoints chief executive
South West Water covers areas in Cornwall, such as the Roseland Peninsula
TRAVELLINGLIGHT/ALAMY
Pennon Group, the owner of South West Water, has appointed Keith Haslett as its next chief executive to replace Susan Davy.
Davy said she was stepping down in July, a day after the company agreed to pay £24 million in settlements for wastewater failures. She had been in the role for five years and had spent 18 years at the London-listed utility.
Haslett is the chief executive of Affinity Water and is expected to join Pennon in 2026, after his notice period. He has held executive roles at Northumbrian Water Group and United Utilities.
Tesco budget full-year profits forecast higher
Tesco has nudged full-year profit forecasts higher as it reported “strong trading” in the first half of its financial year.
Britain’s largest supermarket chain, which also owns the Booker cash and carry business, said it now expected full-year operating profit of between £2.9 billion and £3.1 billion. The group had previously forecast profit of between £2.7 billion and £3 billion.
Tesco reported that interim operating profit was a fraction lower at £1.6 billion in the six months to the end of August, from £1.61 billion over the same period last year. Sales across the group rose 5.1 per cent over the period to £33.05 billion as UK like-for-like sales rose by 4.9 per cent.
Ken Murphy, the chief executive, said: “I am pleased with our first half performance, which builds on already strong momentum. Our market share gains in the UK are a particular highlight and reflect the decisive action we took at the start of the year to further invest in value, quality and service.”
Fermi shares expected to jump in London
Rick Perry, right, the former US energy secretary and co-founder of Fermi, and Toby Neugebauer, the chief executive
VICTOR J BLUE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
London-listed shares in the data centre property start-up co-founded by the former US energy secretary Rick Perry will be in sharp focus when they start trading.
The shares rose 55 per cent above the offer price on their Nasdaq debut last night, valuing the company at $19.3 billion amid surging investor enthusiasm for AI infrastructure stocks. It is the first Nasdaq-LSE dual listing in decades.
The company, founded in January this year, is aiming to build the world’s largest energy and data complex, powered by nuclear, natural gas and solar. It said it is “focused on developing electric grids that deliver on-demand power at gigawatt scale, required to create next-generation artificial intelligence”.
In its financial filings, Fermi has reported zero revenue in its first few months and has incurred operating losses of around $6.4 million. Projects are not expected to begin collecting meaningful revenues until about 2027.
White House drops Antoni as new labour statistics chief
The White House has pulled the nomination of the economist EJ Antoni to replace Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) fired by President Trump after he claimed jobs data had been “rigged” to suggest the economy was performing worse than expected.
Antoni, a controversial conservative economist, was to appear before a Senate committee for a confirmation hearing for the BLS commissioner role. However, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing yesterday: “It became clear, unfortunately, that he was not going to have the votes.”
The withdrawal came after a CNN report that Antoni operated a since-deleted Twitter account that featured sexually degrading attacks on Kamala Harris, derogatory remarks about gay people, conspiracy theories and crude insults aimed at critics of Trump.
The White House said it would announce a replacement nominee very soon.