Kasei Holdings is the second of three Aquis new admissions this week. The investment company intends to build up a portfolio of investments in cryptocurrencies and blockchain. The objective is capital growth.
There should be around £3.7m available for investment, although 10% of that will be required for working capital. The costs are being kept down with total board salaries of £18,000, but the directors will have the opportunity to take a share of asset growth as payment.
The Fund Incubator Ltd is the alternative investment fund manager for the company. This should mean that Kasei Hol...
The extraordinary run of cryptocurrencies has attracted a vast number of new investors who have been drawn in by the potential for huge profits and risk-taking.
Proving to be extremely volatile, facing crackdown in China and issues over energy use – just how long will cryptocurrencies be popular amid investors?
Kathleen Breitman, Pascal Gauthier and Tim Draper sat down at the Lisbon Web Summit to discuss the future of the controversial currency.
The FCA regularly warns that investors should be warned to lose all their money due to the financial risks and security issues involved.
“There are also several high-profile cases of hacking-related thefts of customer funds. So far, these incidents have not had a significant impact on financial stability. However, as crypto assets become more mainstream, their importance in terms of potential implications for the wider economy is set to increase,” wrote Dimitris Drakopoulos, Fabio Natalucci and Evan Papageorgiou who wrote about cryptocurrencies for the Global Financial Stability Report.
For Pascale Gauthier, CEO of Ledger, the security issues around cryptocurrencies need to be acknowledged and investors need to be correctly informed before investing.
‘When you enter crypto, need to understand there’s a complete change in security. When you invest in crypto, security becomes your problem. The value of crypto is always rising so cyber security is also on the rise,” said Gauthier.
“Something terrible can happen and you need to handle it. Hackers could have a feast and we don’t want that.”
Whilst all three speakers are champions of cryptocurrencies and don’t believe they are going anywhere, co-founder and CEO of Tezos, acknowledged the issues around environmental impact and said it was “the most honest criticism” of virtual currencies.
Tim Draper, the founder of Draper Associates, said: “‘Miners are finding new sources of energy. Overall, the cost of energy has continued to go down thanks to all the innovations happening in the area. I think crypto will eventually be far more green space than traditional banking.”
A huge component of digital currencies, Draper concludes that they are not only a new form of currency – they are an “anthropological leap forward.”
He adds: “Bitcoin represents freedom. Soon, there will be no reason to use traditional currency ever again.”
Next shares fell on Wednesday as the retailer it said it didn’t expect sales to continue at the same they did in the last quarter.
Despite total sales for the last quarter jumping 17%, Next shares fell over 4% on Wednesday morning as the company said: “We do not expect sales to continue at the level seen in Q3 and are maintaining our guidance for full price sales to be up +10% in the fourth quarter.”
The group blamed diminishing pent up demand and supply issues as reason for reducing their sales guidance.
“NEXT have delivered a stellar sales and profit performance in recent quarters, but the going is getting tougher. The company will not be alone in facing delays and higher costs in sourcing and distributing stock,” said Steve Clayton, fund manager at HL Select.
“Nor will they be the only one whose customers face a squeeze on their spending money, when the gas bill turns up. All the evidence so far is that NEXT will handle these issues better than most. But profits are still likely to be impacted. So far the company are saying that higher costs are absorbing the benefit of stronger than expected demand. But with demand set to come under increasing pressure as consumers struggle with higher bills, the outlook is becoming less certain.
The average cost of a property has jumped almost £30,000 since the start of the pandemic.
New data from Nationwide has found property prices to hit record highs and the cost of an average home now costs over £250,000 for the first time.
Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s chief economist, commented: “Combined with a lack of homes on the market, this helps to explain why price growth has remained robust.”
“Even if wider economic conditions continue to improve, rising interest rates may exert a cooling influence on the market, though the impact on existing borrowers is likely to be modest.”
“For example, on the average mortgage, an interest rate increase of 0.4 per cent would raise monthly payments by £28 to £625 (or around £335 extra per year), though a rise of bank rate to 1 per cent would see typical payments go up by a more substantial £64 to £660 (more than £760 per year approximately).”
“It’s important to note that a small proportion of households already have a relatively high debt service burden,” he added.
Morgan Sindall has said that it expects a strong full-year performance thanks to the full lineup of work it has scheduled for the rest of the year.
“Trading remains strong across the Group and our high-quality and growing workload leaves us well set for the future,” commented the chief executive, John Morgan.
“Inflation in the supply chain remains manageable and based upon our current performance and the visibility we have for the rest of the year, we expect to deliver a full year performance which is slightly above our previous expectations.”
The group expects a full-year operating margin of approximately 3% and the average daily net cash is expected to be around £290m for the full year.
Trainline has reported a 151% increase in revenues for the first six months of FY22.
Net ticket sales jumped 79% to £1bn whilst revenues reached £78m. This is the strongest results since the pandemic, suggesting a good recovery for the group.
Last year, the group had a loss of £16m compared to this year’s profits of £15m.
Trainline’s chief executive Jody Ford said: “Our consumer business returned to growth in August versus pre-Covid levels, with train travellers increasingly opting for digital tickets.”
“Encouragingly our customers are now using Trainline even more frequently, drawn to new features such as our new 2-click commuter experience and digital railcards. Beyond the UK, we see significant growth opportunity in Europe. With new entrant train companies driving more journey options and lower prices in our key markets, customers are increasingly turning to Trainline to help them easily find the best fares and support them as they travel.”
Parcel delivery businesses did well during lockdown, and this has boosted their profitability. One delivery and logistics company returned to profit during 2020 and profitability is set to accelerate.
The share price has soared in the past three years, although it has drifted downwards in recent weeks as a major shareholder trims its stake.
Delayed results can be a concern to investors, but these days auditors can find it difficult to complete audits on time, so it should not be a worry for this company. finnCap upgraded its forecasts during July following a trading update.
Turning round the b...
ProCook Group has launched a PrimaryBid offer ahead of its flotation on the Main Market. There is no fixed share price and indicative range is a wide one. The market capitalisation of the direct-to-consumer kitchenware products company could be between £150m and £200m.
The offer is open until 9 November. The company is not raising any new cash and existing shareholders could raise up to £68.5m after expenses.
The UK is the core market, and the plan is to expand sales in European markets. There is a range of 16,000 products. There is an active customer base of 655,000 people.
A minimum 27 milli...
Hostmore has been spun out of Electra Private Equity and introduced to the premium list. The company’s brands are US-focused restaurants Friday’s, formerly TGI Friday’s and 63rd+1st, which is a cocktail-focused bar and restaurant. There are 87 restaurants in total with a new one due to open in Harrogate before the end of the year. The spend per site was £49,000 in 2019
Recent trading has been tough, but Hostmore has taken advantage of opportunities to new sites that will cost less to fit-out and open. A new menu has been launched at Friday’s and click and collect services are being offered. Ho...
The Web Summit is back for the first in-person event in two years, welcoming attendees from 128 countries.
It is the biggest event in tech since the pandemic, with 42,751 attendees. Whilst it’s lower than 2019’s event with 70,469 people in attendance, the event has been scaled down in regulation with Covid restrictions.
Over just four days, 748 speakers will deliver 1,333 talks, with some of the biggest names in tech including Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.
This year, the Web Summit is making history by hosting more women attendees than men for the first-ever time. Representation of women has steadily grown from 46.3% in 2019 to 50.5% this year.
This year, there will be 1,519 startups participating in the event and 70 Unicorns.
UK Investor Magazine is present at the Web Summit – keep an eye out for editorial coverage and interviews with speakers, startups and more.
