Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is to face a multimillion-pound lawsuit that could result in millions of iPhone users being reimbursed in relation to a secret decision taken in 2017.
A software update released in January 2017 slowed down older iPhones.
The Bank of England increased its interest rate today by 25 basis points, in line with expectations.
Shorter office leases, the rise of flexible space and pressure from all stakeholders embracing environmental, social and governance values are driving structural change in London office markets, JP Morgan said.
The broker, which has reiterated ‘overweight’ ratings for Derwent London PLC (AIM:DLN) and Great Portland Estates (LSE:GPOR) PLC, has what it calls a “super profit thesis” regarding London office space that it thinks points to a supply shortage increasing all the way through to 2025.
US cosmetics giant Revlon (NYSE:REV) filed for bankruptcy after years of being undercut by rivals focused on online sales and high debt load and supply chain crunch.
According to a court filing, the company initiated Chapter 11 proceedings to manage its debt, which it said ranged from US$1bn to US$10bn.
Remember the halcyon days of November 2021 when the bank rate was just 0.1%?
The rate is now 1.25%, which seems sure to push up the cost of mortgages.
Britain's financial watchdog has issued a warning to UK's 3,500 lenders and consumer credit providers that too little support is being provided to those hardest hit by soaring inflation and rising interest rates.
The Financial Conduct Authority suggested banks should take into account similar measures that were recommended during the pandemic, including debt help and "tailored forbearance" such as loosening repayment rules on borrowed funds.
The Crown Estate boosted its net profit by 16% this year after a mammoth leasing round for wind farms off the UK coast, producing a future pay-out of approximately £78 million for the Royals.
The estate generated £312.7mln in net profit from revenues in the fiscal year ending in 2022, a £43.4mln uplift compared to last year, it said in a statement today.
Speculation has mounted that hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, also known as 3AC, is in trouble over losses associated with the recent collapse in Bitcoin, Ether, and other cryptocurrencies.
3AC, Zhu and fellow co-founder Kyle Davies are thought to be among the world’s biggest holders of crypto, with the fund managing over US$10bn at its peak, according to analytics firm Nansen.
Southern Energy Corp (TSX-V:SOU, AIM:SOUC, OTC:MAXMD) announced that Paul Baay has agreed to join the company's board of directors as a non-executive director, subject to the completion of customary due diligence required in accordance with the AIM Rules for Companies.
The natural gas exploration and production company said Baay, who previously acted as a special advisor to Southern and is currently CEO of Touchstone Exploration, brings more than 25 years of experience leading oil and gas exploration and production companies to his new role.
They may be unglamorous and largely ignored (unless you end up in one after falling asleep in a night bus) but Britain's bus depots are the real reason behind the flurry of private equity interest in the transport sector.
For this reason, suggested Citigroup, the takeover deal that Go-Ahead Group PLC recommended earlier this week is a real steal.
Robinhood was tipped to open lower again as the value of the retail investor trading app continues to slide.
Analysts pointed out yesterday that the value of the trading app is now below the cash on its balance sheet, which at the end of May stood at US$6.2bn.
ExxonMobil has fired back at US President Joe Biden after his quip that it is making ‘more money than God’ due to soaring crude prices.
The US oil and gas giant pointed out it had invested more than US$50bn in the US over the past five years, resulting in an almost 50% increase in US production of oil during this period.
Ford Motor Co has recalled almost 50,000 of its top-of-the-range electric sports cars due to worries over a potential loss of power when driving.
Fast charging and repeated rapid acceleration can cause the high-voltage battery main contactors to overheat, said the car maker.
Spotify Technology SA (NYSE:SPOT) shares got a boost from its plan to reduce hiring "and be a little more prudent" over the next few quarters.
Chief executive Daniel Ek notified the audio app company's workers via email that it would slow the pace of recruitment by 25%, having added more than 2,000 new employees between 2019 and 2021 to take it total to 6,617 at the end of last year.
Braveheart Investment Group PLC (AIM:BRH) said it is hopeful that the current market turbulence will "present interesting new investment opportunities and we will be positioned to respond as events unfold".
Annual results for the year ended 31 March 2022 showed earnings of 3.1p per share, compared to 36.3p a year earlier.
Shanta Gold Ltd said it was awarded a maiden mining licence covering the Porcupine South resource area of the Lupa Gold Fields, about 22 kilometres from its New Luika gold mine (NLGM) processing plant in Tanzania.
"Porcupine South is an orebody that was newly discovered in 2020, taking the known deposits at NLGM to twelve, each of which has the potential to increase in size,” said chief executive Eric Zurrin.
The value of the Queen's so-called "sea-bed rights" surged to £5bn on the back of record prices for offshore wind farms.
The crown estate, which generates money for the UK Treasury and the royal family, is now valued at £15.6bn, an increase of 8.3%, swelled by the first auction of its seabed licences in 10-years.
Feedback PLC (AIM:FDBK) reported strong sales momentum over the past twelve months led by its mobile-based medical imaging product Bleepa.
At the start of the month, AIM-listed Feedback flagged that trading was materially ahead of expectations and confirmed today that revenues in the year to May rose 105% to £0.59mln.
Alien Metals Ltd (AIM:UFO, OTC:ASLRF) saw losses widen in 2021 as the exploration and development company focused on new prospects in western Australia and made significant progress on the Hancock iron ore project.
Operating loss came in at US$2.3mln, compared to a loss of US$1.2mln in 2020, as it completed a number of drilling programmes at the Hancock Ranges project which culminated in a maiden JORC resource.
Harbour Energy PLC (LSE:HBR) launched a US$200mln share buyback programme, marking a fresh milestone in the rehabilitation of what’s now the North Sea’s largest independent oil and gas producer.
The company (formed last year with the merger of Premier Oil and Chrysaor) told investors it has entered into irrevocable, non-discretionary agreements with its corporate brokers to execute the share buy-back programme on its behalf. It is scheduled to be completed before the end of 2022.
Concerns about the cost of living crisis in the UK have been further elevated by a report suggesting food price rises could reach 15% this summer and that higher prices will linger well into next year.
Grocery trade body IGD said meat, cereals, dairy, fruit and vegetables are likely to be the worst affected.
Metal Tiger PLC (AIM:MTR, OTC:MRTTF, ASX:MTR) has agreed to sell its 49% interest in Kalahari Metals Limited (KML) to Cobre Limited, which owns the other 51% of KML.
The AIM and ASX-listed investor in natural resource opportunities said Cobre will acquire 24.5% of the shares in KML for a cash consideration of £750,000 – expected to be paid in September – which Metal Tiger will use for general working capital purposes.
Hurricane Energy PLC (LSE:HUR) confirmed it is looking beyond next month’s bond repayment with chief executive Antony Maris telling investors he believes there are “exciting opportunities ahead” for the company.
The UK offshore oil producer told investors it banked some US$59.5mln from its latest oil shipment, in May, which was priced at US$110 per barrel. The next cargo is due at the end of July.
KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) has reported progress at its two projects in Saudi Arabia.
It said it is on track to post its mineral resource estimate and preliminary feasibility study for the Hawiah copper-gold asset after confirming the exploration licence had been renewed for five years.
Halfords Group PLC (LSE:HFD), the car parts and bikes seller, saw its shares slump in early deals after it gave decidedly shaky profits guidance.
The retailer said it expects underlying profit before tax in the year to the end of March 2023 will be within the range of £65m to £75m but acknowledged the uncertainty that this year is likely to bring.
Shaftesbury PLC (LSE:SHB) and Capital & Counties (LSE:CAPC) Properties PLC have agreed terms on a recommended all-share merger to create a group with a £5bn property portfolio in London’s West End.
Shares in Shaftesbury fell 7.6% to 538p after the deal was confirmed, while Capco’s were little moved at 151.8p.
Bens Creek Group PLC (AIM:BEN, OTC:BENCF) reported an updated reserves estimate for its coal properties in West Virginia and Kentucky, US.
The properties contain an estimated in-place reserve base of about 92.7 million tons.
Zephyr Energy Plc told investors its portfolio of non-operated well interests, in the Williston Basin, North Dakota, continues to grow – with new drilling and bolt-on acquisitions.
Over the past two months the company has elected to participate in seven new wells and has agreed to acquire interests in eleven additional wells, most of which are newly drilled and await completion, the company said in a statement.
AfriTin Mining Ltd (AIM:ATM, OTC:AFTTF) increased quarterly production and cut costs at the Uis mine in Namibia in the first quarter of its current year.
The miner said tin concentrate production for the three months to end May totalled 239 tonnes, up 11%, while tin in concentrate increased 13% QoQ to 152 tonnes.
ASOS PLC (LSE:ASC) has cut its full-year profit guidance to reflect the impact of inflation on consumer behaviour, it said in a trading statement today.
The company also said it has appointed José Antonio Ramos Calamonte, who joined the company last year to lead commerce, as its new chief executive after Nick Beighton stepped down last year.
THG PLC (LSE:THG) said it still has not received an acceptable takeover offer, despite “numerous parties” making unsolicited bids in recent months.
The online retailer, better known at The Hut Group, said all of them have been “unacceptable and significantly undervalued the company” and it has not deemed any of the offers were a level sufficient to warrant giving access to its books to conduct due diligence.
Researchers in Australia have highlighted the potential of ANGLE PLC (AIM:AGL, OTCQX:ANPCY)’s liquid biopsy system in assessing which small cell lung cancer patients might respond to expensive checkpoint inhibitor drugs.
The team at Edith Cowan University found the company’s Parsortix system provided the level of granularity when assessing circulating tumour cells to make a determination.
Arecor Therapeutics signed an exclusive formulation study collaboration with a top-five, but unnamed. global pharmaceutical company.
Under the terms of the agreement, Arecor will use Arestat, its formulation technology platform, to develop high-concentration liquid formulations of the pharma’s proprietary products.
Boohoo Group PLC (AIM:BOO) said revenue dropped 8% in the three months to the end of May as inflation impacted costs in "its supply chain and international competitive proposition."
Nevertheless, the online retailer stuck to its outlook for the year ending 28 February 2023 and said revenue growth for FY23 is expected be low-single digits, with a return to growth in Q2 and growth rates improving in the second half.
Halma PLC (LSE:HLMA) posted a 19th consecutive year of record profit as it announced its chief executive officer is to step down.
The safety, health and environmental-technology group said adjusted pretax profit for the for the full year to March 31, 2022 rose 14% to £316.2mln.
Ariana Resources PLC (AIM:AAU) reported positive results from resource and exploration drilling at the Tavsan project in Western Turkey.
“These drilling results have continued to reinforce our understanding of the Tavsan gold-silver deposit and have largely extended the footprint of known mineralisation, particularly across the North Zone,” said the AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company's managing director, Dr. Kerim Sener, said.
musicMagpie PLC, the seller of refurbished technology products, allayed fears of another profits warning by reaffirming full-year guidance.
While acknowledging the current uncertain economic environment facing all consumer businesses, the board is confident of achieving its full-year expectations with a much stronger profit performance in the second half of its financial year.
MGC Pharmaceuticals Ltd (LSE:MXC, OTC:MGCLF, ASX:MXC) said a three-year pre-clinical programme examining the use of cannabinoids to treat an aggressive form of brain cancer delivered ‘outstanding results’.
Specifically, it found that its formulations were cytotoxic to glioblastoma tumour and stem cells, reducing their viability and inducing programmed cell death, known as apoptosis.
Seeing Machines has been appointed to deliver its AI-powered FOVIO Driver Monitoring System (DMS) by an existing global automotive Tier-1 customer to a separate large global automotive group (OEM).
The programme, to be delivered via Seeing Machines' embedded Driver Monitoring Engine (FOVIO e-DME software library), is led out of North America and covers a broad array of vehicle models with certain minimum volume guarantees, the computer vision technology company said in a statement.
Goodbody Health Inc (AQSE:GDBY, CSE:GDBY, OTCQB:GDBYF) said its network of clinics is now registered with the Care Quality Commission for its health testing services.
Having applied last year, the company said it successfully passed the registration criteria to provide services under the CQC’s regulated activity diagnostic and screening procedures.
Sovereign Metals Ltd (ASX:SVM, AIM:SVML) has fielded "exceptional economics" with low capital and operating costs and high margins in an expanded scoping study for the Kasiya Rutile Project in Malawi.
This study highlights the potential for Kasiya to become a major producer of natural rutile and graphite in international markets, with steady-state of production of 265,000 tonnes of rutile and 170,000 tonnes of graphite over a 25-year mine life.
Retail investors have been increasingly looking for investment trusts that offer dividend income, as protection against market volatility and rampant inflation.
The past three months have seen a "notable increase" in customers looking for dividend strategies compared to the three preceding months, the Interactive Investor (ii) platform said.
With the US Federal Reserve expected to hike interest rates by 75 basis points later Wednesday, it is time to look at how the UK, America and Europe are tackling surging inflation.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused global shortages and inflation levels unseen for 40 years, which, in turn, largely contributed to the looming recession, economic downturn and reduced consumer spending and confidence.
The adage goes that lenders make a killing in times of recession or downturn.
If there is a grain of truth in the saying, specialist financiers could mop up from the current environment of rising interest rates and inflation.
Rolls-Royce PLC continues to divide opinion among City analysts with Berenberg today downgrading the aero-engine maker on the back of uncertainty over the timing of a civil airline recovery.
The broker says the Rolls is well-positioned to benefit when airlines do fully get back on their feet, but the visibility on this is uncertain, especially in the narrow-body market.
Bitcoin and Ethereum plummetted further as the crypto bear market worsened and volatility concerns continued to mount.
Both were whiskers away from key lows in Wednesday’s early afternoon trading. Bitcoin dropped 8.0% to US$20,624 while Ethereum, the next largest crypto, sunk 10% to US$1,067.
The US has been in a bearish trend for 160 days, over half the median length of an average downturn, meaning there could be a light at the end of the tunnel for shareholders.
A bear market is defined broadly as a 20% or more decline in the market share value of market indicators such as the Dow Jones S&P 500 indices, as opposed to a ‘bullish’ or high-performing stock market where the value of those stocks increases.
The increased investment by NetScientific PLC (AIM:NSCI) in Q-Bot is further evidence of the group’s stated strategy of deeper involvement in selected portfolio companies, and shows its ability to structure and execute complex deals and drive company performance, said house broker WH Ireland.
NetScientific's 20.6% newly acquired direct stake in Q-Bot is now valued at £2.77mln, a gain of approximately £1.45mln since it first made an investment in December.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced Wednesday that around eight million poorer households would receive their first of two payments from the government to alleviate the soaring cost-of-living crisis from 14 July.
The Chancellor said last month there would be a £21bn injection to help soften the blow of surging energy costs, which are expected to soar roughly 40% to £2,800 from October, following a 50% increase in April.
A new joint lawsuit against Link Fund Solutions has been filed by law firms that were previously pursuing separate class action cases over its administration of the collapsed Woodford Equity Income Fund, which was revealed today as having decreased in value by another 13% since April.
This comes as Link provided an update for investors that the value of the remaining assets in the LF Equity Income Fund, as it is now called, had decreased to £118.5mln as of today.