Revealed: The wealthiest Brits in tech
The UK’s tech industry reached $1 trillion in value last year, making it only the third country ever to hit this milestone after the US and China.
London on its own has created more than 20 unicorns — firms worth more than $1 billion — since 2021. That has been helped on by a string of IPOs over the past two years, including the likes of takeaway app Deliveroo and payments firm Wise.
In fintech, the capital’s speciality, London has even been able to overtake New York and San Francisco in funding, attracting around £8 billion in investment last year alone.
Those successes have built extraordinary wealth for many of the firms’ founders, as the Standard today reveals in its inaugural tech rich list.
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FTSE rallies to close at 7870
The FTSE 100 closed at 7870, up 0.5% from opening and more than 1% from the low it reached in the mid-morning.
While shares fell initially amid weaker-than-expected German GDP and a disappointing outlook from NatWest, they picked up after EU-wide GDP and inflation figures were published.
The top risers of the day were Prudential and Pearson, whch both published results today, while NetWest was joined by Diageo and Antofagasta on the fallers board.
Nearly half of Pearson shareholders vote against new bumper pay policy
Pearson shareholders came close to rejecting a pay policy on Friday which could make the publisher’s chief executive nearly as well paid as the boss of oil giant BP.
Nearly half (46.37%) of shareholder votes were cast against the new policy, which the board says brings Pearson in line with what US companies pay their top leaders.
Under the new plan Andy Bird, who earned 8.5 million dollars in 2022 (£6.8 million), could earn more than 11 million dollars (£8.8 million) in future years.
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Aldermore reason to believe in the City
Aldermore Bank has inked a deal for a larger London headquarters in the City, in a move set to encourage more staff into the office post-pandemic.
The lender will take the 24th floor, comprising just over 13,100 square feet, at property giant British Land’s Broadgate Tower next to Liverpool Street station.
The specially designed workspace will also feature a business lounge and gym. Aldermore considers the space, which will open to team members in mid-May, a high-quality area suitable for better project collaboration.
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PCE inflation increases Fed hike fears
The US Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge came in ashead of expectations at 4.6% in March, increasing the chances of more interest rate hikes.
The Core Personal Consumption Expenditures Index was up 4.6% year-on-year – ahead of the expected 4.5% – and 0.3% month-on-month.
US shares rally
US shares bounced back after opening lower today.
The S&P 500 is up 0.4% to 4153.06 while the Dow Jones is also up 0.4%, to 33,955.74. The Nasdaq gained 0.3% to 12179.87.
The biggest riser of the day was Intel, despite the chip maker posting a record loss.
Heathrow calls on Khan to cut Elizabeth Line fares for its staff
Heathrow bosses have appealed to Sadiq Khan to slash fares for its workers on Elizabeth Line services to the airport.
Chief executive John Holland-Kaye told the Standard that the £12.80 fare for a journey to or from Heathrow Airport that starts in, ends in or goes through Zone 1, is deterring staff from using the line.
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City voices: The UK is on the cusp of being a crypto hub — but only if it’s regulated properly
Britain is on the cusp of becoming a global crypto hub. Since becoming Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak has committed to make the UK a global science and tech superpower.
Recently, he announced £100 million of investment to put together an expert taskforce to help the UK build the next generation of safe AI, alongside a White Paper to guide the use of artificial intelligence in the UK.
The Government now has a huge opportunity to make crypto a part of this initiative and must not let it slip. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make Britain the best – and safest – place to run a cryptoasset business, in turn benefiting and protecting the millions of British people that invest in these assets.
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US shares set decline
US shares are set to dip this morning, with Amazon among the fallers.
According to futures markets, the Dow Jones is set t fall by 0.4%, while the S&P 500 is projected to decline by 0.3% and the Nasdaq by 0.1%.
Amazon looks set to be among the fallers, with shares set to decline by about 2% after its results last night. Though its shares initially rocketed post-close on strong earnings figures, they fell back down to earth as investors panicked at the outlook for its AWS cloud computing division.
More City mergers to come?
Joshua Maxey, co-founder of Third Bridge, believes that more acquisitions could be on the way after Deutsche Bank snapped up Numis.
“In the last week, we’ve seen two big moves in the sell-side research space,” he said, noting the merger of Redburn and Atlantic Equities. “These are signs we can expect more consolidation over the course of this year.
“These deals underline the tremendous pressure that cash equities is under at the moment, exacerbating the pain felt on the banks’ balance sheet given the dearth of deal activity.
“It would be no great surprise if we saw further consolidation outside of the big seven investment banks and for the exodus of research talent to accelerate.
“While PE and M&A activity remains slow we may see some of the smaller European research shops closing down altogether, and others snapped up by US entities responding to the expiry of the SEC’s no-action letter.”
