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FCA warns on danger of binary options trading
The Financial Conduct Authority has issued a warning about the risks of investing in binary options, after highlighting the potential for fraudulent companies to take advantage of inexperienced investors.
Currently binary options are not a financial instrument regulated by the FCA, however from 3rd January 2018 this will change. Up until then companies offering the trade of binary options have been monitored by the UK’s Gambling Commission – meaning their trade is more of a bet than a legitimate investment.
Trading in binary options involves making a bet on the change of value or price of a stock, commodity, currency, index over a very short space of time, often between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. According to the FCA data, the majority of consumers lost money when making bets and ‘consumers find it difficult to make sustained profits over a series of bets’. The FCA highlighted concerns earlier in November, including the risk of addictive behaviour, conflicts of interest and the potential difficulty on undue pressure from companies on the phone.
UK Investor Magazine published an article on this scam back in 2016, after receiving several complaints from readers who had been impacted by it. The full article can be found here.
Centrica shares plunge as customers leave in droves
British gas owner Centrica saw shares plunge over 17 percent on Thursday, after the company lost almost a million customer in just four months.
Its share price sunk to its lowest level in 14 years, after losing 6 percent of its customer base in the period from July to October. The company also warned that full-year trading may come in below forecasts, despite raising its prices for millions of customers in September.
A one-off charge at the company’s North American units will send their profits down by £140 million for the full year, with stronger competition in the UK meaning the company are likely to just break even for the full year.
Centrica’s chief executive Iain Conn said: “Although some aspects of our delivery in the second half of 2017 have been disappointing, I remain encouraged by our progress in implementing our strategy.”
Investors were less encouraged by the performance however, with shares currently trading down 16.90 percent at 135.79 (1056GMT).
Mothercare share price sinks after “challenging” backdrop leads to loss
Mothercare’s share price tanked on Thursday, tumbling over 15 percent after posting a loss of £16.8 million.
Whilst some of the figures for the six months to September looking promising, investors were spooked by a recent “softening in the market” and “a challenging consumer backdrop”.
Online sales growth grew 57 percent in constant currency, with half-year like-for-like UK sales up 2.5 per cent to £229 million.
However, Mothercare’s adjusted loss before tax came to £0.7 million, a significant drop from the £5.9 million profit made in the same period last year.
International like-for-like sales fell eight per cent, despite the group vowing to move its focus to more international sales, and overall six-month losses stood at £16.8 million.
Mothercare’s problems with its defined benefit pension scheme continued to weigh, and the group were forced to pay out £7.1 million to the scheme to keep it in the black. By September, the shortfall was still stood at £68.9 million shortfall. The firm went to the bank to draw down £24.5 million on its lending facility over the period.
Mothercare shares are currently trading down 15.87 percent at 70.25 (1025GMT).
Philip Hammond’s budget: LIVE
Chancellor Philip Hammond laid out his budget on Wednesday, focusing heavily on Brexit and aiming to alleviate the effect of a possible fall in economic growth as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.
Brexit
Hammond said the government “are determined to to ensure that the country is prepared for every possible outcome”. Because of this, Britain is to set aside £3 billion for Brexit preparations over the next two years, on top of £700 million already invested.Tech
Turning to investment in the technology sector, Hammond said that “Britain must be at the forefront of technological revolution”. “Britain must invest and in this budget that is what we choose to do,” unlock over £20 billion British business bank seeded withStart-up businesses
Ensuring that EIS is not used as a shelter for low risk capital preservation schemes. National Productivity Investment Fund to be extended for a further year and expanded to more than £31 billion.OBR figures
British productivity growth revised down by OBR. The OBR forecasts the deficit to be 1.3% of GDP in 2020-21, giving £14.8bn of headroom against the 2% target.Maths
Commitment to maths, 40 million to train maths teachers and extra money for schools who get pupils to take A Level maths.Environment
Focusing on the eni extra funds and tax incentives for electric car drivers. That includes a new £400m charging infrastructure fund, an extra £100m in Plug-In-Car Grant, and £40m for research into charging.Wages
Increase targeted affordability funding, benefitting 400,000 people. National wage living raising 4.3 percent to 7.83, with the largest increase in youth rates in 10 years. Pay rise for over 2 million low wage workers across the country. New rail card for people under 30.Duties
Duties on most ciders, wines, beers and spirits to be frozen. Fuel duty rise for April cancelled. Tobacco tax will continue to rise at inflation plus 2%. That could see the cost of cigarettes rise by about 6%.Tax
Higher rate of income tax free allowance rise to £46,350Universal Credit
Commitment to fix Universal Credit Now onto the Universal Credit fix, or attempt to fix the worst problems – govt removing the 7 day waiting period, extending repayment period for advances, any claimant will get housing benefit for another 2 weeks – package to ease concerns is 1.5 billionSmall businesses
Further business rate relief. Annual uprating of business rates in April next year, bringing forward planned switch from RPI to CPI. Worth £2.6 billion to businesses in the next 2 years.Housing market
Providing Kensington and Chelsea Council with a further £28 million for community space and local residence counselling. 100pc council tax premium on empty properties. “House prices are too high. Rents absorb too much of monthly income”, says Hammond. “Governments have failed to build enough homes to meet needs”. Increased supply of homes by more than 1.1 million since 2010. Housebuilding stands are highest level since the crash. £44 billion of capital funding to support housing market. Additional £34 million to develop construction skills. Announcement that stamp duty will be abolished for all first-time buyers on properties up to £300,000 and for the first £300,000 on purchases up to £500,000Thomas Cook share price plunges after hit to UK profits
Shares in travel company Thomas Cook plunged on Wednesday morning, after UK profits dropped significantly in the year to 30th September.
The group was hit by a combination of rising holiday prices and a fall in the value of the pound, as well as a price war in the Spanish market.
Earnings in its UK division dropped by 40 percent over the year to £52 million, sending shares down over 10 percent at market open. However, outside of the UK, underlying earnings rose across the group as a whole to £330 million, despite being hit by a surge in costs from fraudulent illness claims.
Thomas Cook said: “In response, our UK tour operator has implemented a set of actions to improve profitability.
“We have taken a robust approach towards illness claims including improving our handling and assessment processes, and taking legal action against fraudsters – as a result, the claim rate has declined dramatically.”
However, looking ahead, the company confirmed that current trading remained in line with expectations after a renewed interest in winter breaks in Egypt and the Canaries.
Peter Fankhauser, chief executive of Thomas Cook, said: “2017 was a milestone year in the strategic development of Thomas Cook.
“Looking to the year ahead, we can see real momentum in our Group Airline, and expect our Continental Europe and Northern Europe tour operator businesses to continue their good performance.”
Clothing brand Quiz sees shares rise over 5 pc after Love Island star collaboration
Fast fashion clothing group Quiz (LON:QUIZ) saw shares rise over 5 percent on Wednesday, as its marketing revamp begins to take effect.
The group hired a new head of marketing, Lesley Morton, in September 2017, who launched a more widespread marketing campaign and a collaboration with Love Island star Gabby Allen.
Group revenue rose 35.2 percent in the six months to September, from £41.5 million to £56.1 million. Profit before tax rose by 31 percent to £4.8 million, driven by a 204 percent increase in online revenue to £13.8 million.
Underlying international sales increased 26.1 percent to £10 million, with revenue from UK stores and concessions increasing by 15.2 percent to £32.3 million.
Tarak Ramzan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said he was “pleased to report a very good performance for the QUIZ brand in the first half of the financial year”.
“The Group’s strong performance is a reflection of the growing awareness of the QUIZ brand and increasing demand for our products that offer the latest glamorous looks and occasion wear at great value.
“Current trading has remained strong since the period end and, underpinned by our strong collections, the Group enters the important Christmas trading period with good momentum. The Board remains confident of delivering growth across all channels for the full year.”
Shares in Quiz are currently trading up 5.75 percent at 166.55 (1100GMT).
easyjet shares fly after final results
easyjet released final results for the year ending 30th September on Tuesday and investors welcomed them, pushing shares over 7% higher.
The low-cost carrier said passenger numbers had risen 9.7% over the past year helping revenue jump by 8.1% to £5.05 billion.
The company pointed to ‘rigorous cost control’ and savings of £85m to help offset a drop in revenue per seat.
Out-going Carolyn McCall, easyJet Chief Executive, commented on the results saying:
“easyJet delivered a robust performance during a difficult year for the aviation industry, flying a record 80 million passengers at our highest ever annual load factor of 92.6% whilst growing capacity by 8.5% and revenues by over 8.1% to more than £5 billion.
“Our planned approach of achieving number one or two positions at Europe’s leading airports, friendly and efficient customer service and a continuous focus on sustainable cost control has put easyJet at a strategic advantage during a period when there have been bankruptcies and some airlines have struggled operationally. easyJet’s model is resilient and sustainable and we now have a huge amount of positive momentum which will enable the airline to continue to grow profitably.
“On a personal note, this will be my final set of results as CEO and I would like to thank all of easyJet’s people who have contributed so much to easyJet’s success story. I wish them all the very best for the future.”
Touching on the Air Berlin acquisition, easyjet said it would incur losses in the region of £60m for the newly acquired operation at Berlin Tegel airport.
Shares in easyjet rose to 1369p, up 7% at the time of writing.
Burningnight Group crowdfunding passes the 50% mark
A crowdfunding campaign by bar company BurningNight Group to create a new sports-themed venue, Sportskeller, has already raised 50% of its target just weeks after launch.
Sportskeller will be its first chameleon bar, teaming up some of the most popular elements of the hugely successful Bierkeller and sports bar Shooters.
BurningNight Group, which owns and operates six Bierkeller Entertainment Complexes in cities across the country, plans to add the new bars in smaller cities and towns.
It has already pinpointed four potential sites and intends to use capital raised through the Crowdcube platform to support the roll-out.
People can invest from as little as £10 and, up to £50, they’ll have it matched on a loyalty card for food and drink at existing bars. With other generous incentives on offer, including a suitcase of world beers, private masterclasses and tastings, the campaign has attracted almost £400,000 since its launch at the beginning of November.
BurningNight Group CEO Allan Harper says he has been delighted with the positive response so far from individual small and larger investors. He said: “Sportskeller will bring something new to the leisure market, combining a lot of features that people love about Bierkeller and Shooters into one.
“We’re excited about the idea, we can see from our customer base that it has such potential, and we’re really happy so many people agree. With interest rates so low at the moment, a lot of them are looking for different ways to make their money work, we know they’re keen to support British-based businesses, and bars and restaurants are an especially popular sector right now.
“The sales and profits at our bars are strong and we believe our Crowdcube campaign is a great way for people to have a stake in our newest brand right from the start.”
You invest in Burningnight now via Crowdcube by clicking here.
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