BUSINESS CLOSE: HL and AJ Bell assets soar; Hipgnosis strategic review; Fund firms struggle for inflows

Just before close, the FTSE 100 was 1.08% down at 7,506.36.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 0.82% lower at 17,260.39.

(PA) – London red bus operator Arriva is to be snapped up by US infrastructure investor I Squared.

German owner Deutsche Bahn secured the sale, understood to be worth around €1.6billion (£1.4billion), after lengthy efforts to offload the firm to reduce its debt.

Sunderland-based Arriva is one of the UK’s largest train and bus operators, which includes the largest fleet of London’s famous red double-decker buses.

The company, which also runs the London Overground rail network and the Chiltern and CrossCountry rail franchises, employs around 34,000 people across 10 European countries.

The takeover deal is expected to complete next year, subject to “customary closing conditions and approvals”.

I Squared, which last year attempted to buy London-listed rival transport firm FirstGroup, committed to significant investment in Arriva following the deal.

Arriva Group chief executive Mike Cooper said: “This is a great opportunity for Arriva and the start of an important new chapter for our business.

“I know that the team at I Squared share our belief in providing sustainable transport services that cater for the needs of tomorrow, as well as the pressures of today.

“I Squared’s investment in our business will help to unlock new opportunities and create value for everyone who is important to Arriva – our people, the planet, and above all the passengers we are privileged to transport every day.”

London Stock Exchange Group is on track to meet the upper end of its growth targets this year, after strength in its capital markets division made up for a slight dip in data income.

Total income jumped 8 per cent in the third quarter and LSEG said it was now on track to deliver full-year growth towards the upped end of its 6 per cent to 8 per cent guidance.

A House of Lords inquiry is set to investigate the relationship between the Government and UK regulators amid independence and accountability concerns.

The cross-party Industry and Regulators Committee, chaired by former media mogul Lord Hollick, is calling for evidence ahead of a probe into some of the country’s most powerful regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority, Ofwat and Ofgem.

Amazon will start delivering packages by drone in just under an hour around the UK next year.

The technology giant said the service would begin from one of its UK same-day delivery sites, but is keeping the location secret for now. It is set to be revealed at the end of 2024.

Rentokil Initial shares tumbled on Thursday morning after the company warned its performance in North America would miss annual forecasts.

The Crawley-based pest control group revealed organic turnover across the region, its largest market, increased by just 2.2 per cent in the third quarter, compared to 9.5 per cent growth in Europe.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies shares rose sharply on Thursday after the firm revealed details of a multi-million pound investment.

The London-listed biotech group, which spun out of Oxford University in 2005, told investors it had secured a £70million investment from French in-vitro diagnostics group bioMérieux.

There comes a point at which stealth tax stops being stealthy.

By my reckoning we reached that on the supposed ‘stealth tax’ measure of freezing tax thresholds last autumn, when Jeremy Hunt faced a backlash his predecessors dodged.

The number of people paying higher-rate income taxes will double to nearly nine million under the Government’s £52billion stealth tax raid, analysis shows.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found that 8.9million will be subject to higher-rate taxes by the 2027/28 financial year – or one in six of the adult population.

Nokia plans to cut up to 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026 in a bid to sharply reduce costs.

The Finnish technology group said on Thursday the move is part of efforts to save up to £1.04billion over the three-year period.

OnTheMarket shares surged by more than half on Thursday after the group revealed it had agreed to be taken over by US commercial real estate information group CoStar in a £99million deal.

OnTheMarket shares rose 53.19 per cent or 37.50p to 108.00p early trading on the back of the 110p per share offer – a 56 per cent premium to Wednesday’s closing price.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Britain are struggling to compete for talent, with the cost of recruitment soaring, a new study suggests.

The study of 514 small businesses found 89 per cent are struggling to match salaries offered by bigger organisations in the UK, while multinationals present a threat to 69 per cent of firms, according to recruitment platform Employment Hero.

Asset managers are facing pressure from choppy market conditions and weak investor sentiment, with inflows of client cash drying up.

Schroders posted a dip in assets under management for the third quarter to £724.3billion on Thursday, despite the firm’s wealth assets growing from £102.6billion to £104.2billion in the three months to 30 September.

Two of Britain’s biggest online trading platforms reported solid asset and customer growth, despite choppy markets and weak investor sentiment.

AJ Bell client numbers increased by over 50,000 to 476,532 during the 12 months ending September, with around two-thirds of this growth coming from its direct-to-consumer segment.

Netflix has announced price hikes for tens of millions of customers – with its premium plan hitting £17.99 per month – as it revealed better than expected growth in subscriber numbers after clamping down on password sharing.

The streaming giant is putting up fees in the US, Britain and France. It has different pricing plans allowing for different numbers of streams or ad-free viewing.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has launched a strategic review which could alter terms of its management agreement amid tension with shareholders over plans to offload parts of its portfolio.

The music rights investment trust said it the review would enable it to ‘consider and to identify changes that will focus on recovering and delivering improved shareholder value’. It does not envisage a sale of the company in the process.

ree days after one of Hipgnosis’ shareholders attempted to derail the London-listed firm’s $465million (£384million) deal to sell some of its music catalogues to a group backed by private equity firm Blackstone.

(PA) – Telecoms giant Nokia has said it plans to cut up to 14,000 jobs by the end of 2026 in a bid to sharply reduce costs.

The Finnish technology firm said the move is part of efforts to save up to 1.2 billion euros (£1.04billion) over the three-year period.

It will reduce its workforce from the current 86,000 to between 72,000 and 77,000.

Nokia, which has UK offices in Bristol, Cambridge and Reading, has not disclosed where the staff cuts will be made.

The announcement came as the business also reported that sales slumped by a fifth over the quarter to September.

The company had hoped the recent introduction of 5G networks would boost trading but on Thursday it blamed a slowdown in demand for the technology in some markets, such as North America.

It comes after Swedish rival Ericsson, which has also launched a recent restructuring move, revealed its own sales slump last week.

Nokia president and chief executive Pekka Lundmark said: “The most difficult business decisions to make are the ones that impact our people.

“We have immensely talented employees at Nokia and we will support everyone that is affected by this process.”

Kin and Carta, which advises businesses on technology strategies, is the latest company to be targeted by private equity predators

Private equity has swooped on yet another London-listed company, dealing a fresh blow to the stock market.

Man Group and Schroders have followed Liontrust with reports of weak or negative changes to their asset under management, as the fund management sector battles weaker sentiment and choppy market conditions.

Man Group has posted $700million in new investor inflows in the three months to the end of the September, short of analyst expectations of $800million but taking AUM to $161.2billion.

Meanwhile Schroders posted a fall in AUM for the third quarter, pulled down by weak investor sentiment amid volatile market conditions.

Schroders’ AUM fell to £724.3billion in the period, from £726.1billion at the end of June.

Music investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund will start a strategic review to ‘consider and to identify changes that will focus on recovering and delivering improved shareholder value’.

The decision comes three days after one of Hipgnosis’ shareholders aimed to scuttle the London-listed firm’s $465million deal to sell some of its music catalogues to a group backed by private equity firm Blackstone.

The investment trust told investors this morning:

‘The Strategic Review will look at all options to be considered for the future of the Company with the aim of maximising value for shareholders including, among other things, a review of the future management arrangements of the Company.

‘The Board continues to recommend voting in favour of the Continuation Resolution, believing it is in shareholders’ interest to have a Strategic Review with the widest array of options for the Company to consider and to identify changes that will focus on recovering and delivering improved shareholder value.’

AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown have seen assets under management surge this year, as weaker market sentiment fails to derail the growth of the trading platform.

HL won 8,000 net new clients for the first quarter on Thursday, down on the previous three months owing to falling investor confidence, and £600million in new assets. It now has net client assets of £134.8billion.

Meanwhile AJ Bell assets have skyrocketed 68 per cent over the last year on the back of strong client inflows and investment performance.

Michael Summersgill, chief executive at AJ Bell, said: ‘I am pleased to report another year of continued organic growth for AJ Bell, with the number of customers using our platform increasing by over 50,000 thanks to our quality of service, exceptional value and easy-to-use products.

‘Our dual-channel model, which serves the needs of both advised and DIY investors, once again demonstrated its strength as we delivered over £4 billion of net inflows onto our investment platform. This contributed to an 11% increase in platform assets under administration which ended the year at a record £70.9billion.’