Latest Economic and Market News

Brake disc manufacturer Surface Transforms has appointed Matthew Taylor and Julia Woodhouse to its board as non-executive directors as it plans expansion. Taylor retired from his role as CEO of...

Energy saving technology group Sabien Technology has appointed Edward Sutcliffe as chief financial officer and an executive director as it 'gears up for growth'. Sutcliffe, who has worked as...

Mining group Phoenix Copper has raised £16.45 million through a placing and subscription to fund the development of its Empire Mine, with an open offer set to raise a further £1.95 million. The...

Exploration and resource development company Caerus Mineral Resources said it intended to list on the London Stock Exchange on 19 March. 'Caerus will provide the market with access to the...

Textile services group Xeros Technology has announced a placing to raise £8 million by way of an accelerated bookbuild and an open offer to raise an additional £1 million to fund the...

Drum Income Plus REIT said it was considering its future, including the sale of assets, citing a lack of liquidity and the ongoing challenges owing to the pandemic. Despite the recent optimism...

Mineral exploration and development company Kodal Minerals said it had revised the $2.5 million funding proposal with Riverfort Global Capital as it seeks to wrap up funding needed to advance its...

MENA-focused oil and gas company SDX Energy has received approval for a 10-year extension to its West Gharib production services agreement. It said the Egyptian authorities gave final approval to...

Russian gold producer Trans-Siberian Gold has received full permitting approvals to restart mining operations at Vein 25 in the East Zone of the Asacha Gold Mine following an accident and said it...

Professional services group RBG has said its specialist sell-side corporate finance boutique Convex Capital has completed its fourth transaction since 1 January 2021. The group said that since its...

Oil company Rockhopper Exploration has announced that an extension of its North Falkland Basin Petroleum Licences has been agreed. The company said that following discussions between the joint...

Natural resource development company Contango said it had acquired the Ntiela gold project in Mali, for about £750,000. The acquisition consolidates Contango's existing mineralised footprint in...

Agricultural services group Origin Enterprises has acquired UK-based landscape, forestry and grounds maintenance equipment provider Green-tech. The acquisition, for an undisclosed amount, is...

Technology company Spirent Communications has acquired US-based technology company octoScope in a deal that will establish it as the 'wi-fi test leader'. The company has bought octoScope for an...

Home repairs and improvements business Homeserve confirmed that Ross Clemmow will take the helm as chief executive, EMEA, on 22 March 2021. He would be appointed as a Director of HomeServe on the...

Student accommodation provider Unite has announced an additional three-week extension to its 50% rental discount, taking the total discount period for students to 10 weeks to coincide with the end...

Africa-focused fuel retailer Vivo Energy has confirmed that Douglas Lafferty, chief financial officer designate, has now taken on the role of chief financial officer as Johan Depraetere steps down...

Automotive services provider AB Dynamics completed the acquisition of Vadotech and Zynit, part of the Vadotech group, for up to €26.0 million. The acquisition provided a 'significantly larger...

Ediston Property Investment Company said it had sold the Tesco Superstore, which forms part of Prestatyn Shopping Park, to Supermarket Income REIT, for £26.5 million. The company will retain the...

Liquid biopsy company Angle said it was likely that US clearance for Parsortix would occur later than initially expected after the company received a request to supply further information from the...

Galileo Resources said it had entered a conditional agreement with Siege Mining to sell its stake in the Star zinc project for US$750,000. Galileo would also be paid a royalty based on future...

The FTSE 100 opened down slightly, falling 43.61 points to 6,631.86 as a raft of companies report lacklustre figures for 2020. Insurance company Aviva reported a fall in annual profit owing to...

Pharmaceutical company Futura Medical said it had entered into a licensing agreement with Pride Century Ventures to allow the latter to exclusively develop and commercialise the company's gel-based...

Insurance company Admiral reported that annual profit rose by a fifth as claims frequency fell as people drove less during lockdowns. For 2020, pre-tax profit rose to £637.6 million from £522.6...

Sports-betting group Entain swung to an annual profit as online growth and lower costs offset the impact of shuttered betting shops owing to the pandemic. For the year ended 31 December 2020,...

Insurance company Aviva reported a fall in annual profit owing to the impact of Covid-19 and a fall in gross written premiums. For the year ended 31 December 2020, pre-tax profit fell to £2.57...

Oil company Nostra Terra said it was planning to drill a second well with partner Cypress Minerals at the Pine Mills project in East Texas. The well, following one that was put into production in...

Energy consulting company Inspired Energy said it had completed the acquisitions of Businesswise Solutions, and General Energy Management to boost its market share for energy assurance services,...

Meter installer Smart Metering Systems said it had agreed to acquire around 15,000 I&C large power electricity meters for £8.3 million. The assets had an average life of 4.6 years and would...

Materials and textile group HeiQ said it had signed an agreement to acquire 51% of Belgium-based Chrisal N.V., an industrial biotechnology company, for €7.5 million in a cash and shares deal....

Saint-Gobain said it invested €40 million to construct a new plasterboard manufacturing line in its Quinto plant near Zaragoza , Spain. This line will be operational in 2022 and lead to a...

International Personal Finance swung to an annual loss on pandemic-led weakness in its home credit business. For the year ended 31 December 2020, the pre-tax loss was £40.7 million compared with...

Computing and power product manufacturer Solid State said it had acquired electro-mechanical product manufacturer Willow Technologies for up to £9 million. The initial purchase price was £10.0...

Logistics property investor Urban Logistics REIT said it was providing £23.0 million of forward funding for two development sites. Contracts had been exchanged with Wilson Bowden Development,...

Automotive company Cambria Automobiles said the various lockdown and tiering strategies to curb Covid-19 infections through the important plate change month of March, would have a material impact...

Insurance company Beazley said chief executive officer Andrew Horton is set to depart to become the CEO of QBE Insurance in Australia. Adrian Cox has been appointed to replace Horton as CEO...

Insurance company Hiscox swung to an annual loss, driven by the impact of event cancellation and business interruption claims owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. For 2020, the company reported a...

Infrastructure fund JLEN said it had acquired Gigabox South Road, which held the development rights to construct the West Gourdie project, a 50MW lithium-ion battery energy storage plant based in...

Online gambling company 888 said Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, chair designate, would take up the role of chair on 31st March 2021. Brian Mattingley would remain a member of the board and chair until...

Gambling software group Playtech said it had appointed Brian Mattingley as its chairman. Mattingley was currently chairman of rival gambling group 888 and would take up his new role at Playtech on...

Enterprise software company Micro Focus International said it had signed a commercial agreement with Amazon's web services business. The agreement would see the companies 'accelerate the...

Recruitment company Page booked an 89% slump in annual profit after the pandemic hit job markets. Pre-tax profit for the year through December tumbled to £15.5 million, down from £144.2 million...

Advertising company WPP said it had acquired commerce services group for retailers NN4M, for an undisclosed sum. Edinburgh-based NN4M employed 50 people and worked with brands including...

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said a US court had ruled in its favour in a legal case against Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Kindeva Drug Delivery, determining that three of the company's patents...

Mining titan Rio Tinto said chairman Simon Thompson would stand down next year, joining other leaders that have departed the company after it blasted ancient Australian cave sites last year. The...

Oil and gas company Hurricane Energy said it plans to drill a second production well at the Lancaster development programme was thrown into doubt as the proposed side-track appeared to be more...

Shares of Lookers jumped after the UK motor retail and aftersales service company said the UK financial regulator had closed its investigation into the alleged mis-selling of regulated products....

Data solutions provider D4t4 Solutions said it had appointed Nitil Patel as interim chief financial officer. Patel was previously CFO at Dods Group and Ten Alps (now Zinc Media Group). At...

Estate agency Foxtons said it had acquired Douglas & Gordon Estate Agents for £14.25 million. The acquisition was in line with Foxtons stated strategy of acquiring high quality businesses...