BUSINESS LIVE: Bitcoin soars through $70,000; Elliott drops out of Currys takeover; Marston's chair joins British Land

Several of the UK’s largest mortgage lenders have announced plans to hike their rates this week, as interest on home loans continues to move upwards.

Santander, NatWest, the Co-op Bank and Principality Building Society have all announced they will be increasing rates.

Just before close, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,661.15.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 0.40% down at 19,524.35.

The Bradford-based firm expects an adjusted return on tangible equity – net earnings divided by shareholders’ equity – in the low single digits for the current financial year.

Hornby has bought the intellectual property, brand and trade of Corgi Model Club from Blue 14, an investment vehicle majority-owned by entrepreneur Jim Lewcock.

The deal will value Corgi Model Club, which sells re-issued models of toy car and was set up as a third-party partnership with Hornby in 2021, at up to £600,000.

Octopus Energy has bought Shell Energy’s household gas and electricity business, making it the second-largest energy firm in the country after British Gas.

The deal means around 1.3million customers are being switched over from Shell to Octopus in a process that is still ongoing – but will be finalised in the coming months.

Ankur Ghosh uses the example of the bamboo tree to explain the rapid progress of SSV Capital PLC in recent months as it hit a series of milestones that count down to a key inflexion point over the summer.

‘For the first three years there is no visible activity to show the plant is growing,’ Ghosh explains. ‘Then suddenly, in year four it shoots up to 80 feet tall.’

Britain’s financial watchdog has given the greed light for UK exchanges to offer investors crypto-backed exchange-traded notes (ETNs).

The Financial Conduct Authority said on Monday that ETNs would only be available for professional investors, such as investment firms and credit institutions.

Apax Partners is out of the race to buy Kin & Carta after a rival put forward a higher bid for the digital technology consultancy.

President Joe Biden‘s budget proposal includes a 25% tax hike on billionaires, tax breaks for families, new social programs, and lower health care costs – all designed to appeal to voters as he seeks a second term.

His plan, released on Monday, will serve as important message to voters as he seeks to reassure them about his stewardship of the economy and his plans to lower the deficit.

It is no secret that Labour is planning a VAT raid on private school fees if the party comes to power.

At present, independent schools can register as charities in return for acts that benefit the local community, such as sharing their facilities with state schools.

Online car seller Cazoo is selling off used car stock and will transition into a car marketplace, it told investors last week.

In an ‘adoption of a marketplace model’ Cazoo aims to take on Auto Trader, Motors and AA Cars.

Covid hand sanitisers and Guinness have been pulled from the inflation tracker in the first sign of how the cost of living crisis and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic fading has changed Britain’s shopping habits.

Meanwhile people flocking to buy trendy air fryers in a bid to cut their energy bills has seen the gadget added to The Office of National Statistics’ (ONS) ‘basket’ of goods.

Marston’s chair William Ruckes is stepping down to join British Land after five years with the pub group.

Rucker will replace Tim Score as chair designate at British Land, after the property firm’s annual general meeting on 9 July.

Elliott Advisors will not make another offer to buy Currys after the electronics retailer rejected two previous proposals.

The US private equity giant, owner of bookshop chain Waterstones, said it would not put forward a higher bid following ‘multiple attempts’ to engage with Currys’ board.

Bitcoin continued its recent strength to reach a fresh record high nearing the $72,000 mark on Monday morning, buoyed by market hopes of looming Federal Reserve interest rate cuts.

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was trading at $71,700 by mid-morning, up 3.1 per cent for the day and more than 60 per cent since the start of the year.

London-listed stocks are trding lower this morning, with the FTSE 100 weighed down by losses in base metal miners, while traders refrain from placing big bets ahead of a key US inflation print.

The FTSE 100 is down 0.1 per cent, pulled down by a 1.6 per cent drop in industrial metal miners as iron ore prices extended their declines.

Market focus for this week is on the US consumer prices reading and domestic labour market data, both due on Tuesday and will guide interest rate expectations from the central banks.

In some relief to the Bank of England, a survey showed Britain’s labour market slowed sharply in February as recruitment firms reported the biggest drop in demand for staff from employers since early 2021.

Money markets are currently pricing in about 67 basis points of interest rate cuts from the BoE this year.

(PA) – Specialist lender Vanquis has warned over a hit to full-year profits after seeing a surge in claims over motor finance deals.

The group said that while it is not part of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigations in motor financing, it has seen “significant levels of third-party complaint submissions”.

It cautioned that even though the “vast majority” of complaints are not upheld, rising costs of reviewing them will “materially” impact profits.

Vanquis added that income is also being knocked by moves to overhaul its products and pricing and will be “materially lower” than the £583.3million predicted in the market.

It said that, as a result of the claims costs and lower income, underlying pre-tax profits for 2024 are set to be “substantially lower” than the £75.1million expected.

Ian McLaughlin, chief executive of Vanquis, said: “We have short-term challenges to address but remain confident that the group’s new strategy will deliver good outcomes for our customers and attractive and sustainable returns for our shareholders.”

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor:

‘The more bearish sentiment washed on to UK shores in early trade, with ongoing questions over demand from China weighing on mining shares.

‘Indeed, there was some mild weakness in companies with a strong notable exposure to China, such as Prudential and Burberry, although some buying interest in the pharma sector mitigated some of the initial broad-based markdowns.

‘Even so, the FTSE100 remains unable to recover its losses for the year on anything like a sustainable basis, remaining down overall by 1.1%, with the more recent mild strength of sterling providing another headwind given the overseas earnings exposure which most of the constituents operate under.

‘The FTSE250 has had a modest recovery over recent trading days, although remaining down by 0.7% in the year to date.

‘The resurgence of Merger and Acquisition activity, particularly aimed at some of the mid-cap UK names which have been trading on low historical valuations, has seemingly alerted some foreign buyers to the fact that there could well be some bargains available amid the current backdrop.’

The internet has been in meltdown for the past two weeks, after visitors to an immersive Willy Wonka experience in Glasgow found themselves in a run-down warehouse bedecked with half-hearted decorations and embarrassed actors in ‘pound-shop’ costumes.

It is easy to see the funny side, but attendees had shelled out £35 per head to attend, only to find that what had been billed as a ‘chocolate fantasy’, saw some of their kids handed just one jellybean and a third of a cup of lemonade.

Scrapping the ‘pernicious’ tax on buying shares would help revive Britain’s flailing stock market, according to leading figures in the City.

Investors currently pay 0.5 per cent in stamp duty on the price of London-listed shares they buy – or £5 for every £1,000 invested in a UK company.

The tax is set to raise £3.2billion this year and £23.7billion between now and 2028-29, analysis of Budget documents shows.

The chair of Marston’s is stepping down from the brewer’s board to take the top job on the board of commercial property firm British Land.

Banking veteran William Rucker has been named as British Land’s chair-designate, replacing Tim Score who will step down after five years in the role.

Rucker, 60, the current chairman of asset manager Intermediate Capital Group, had held the role at housebuilder Crest Nicholson as well for more than seven years till 2018.

Separately, pub group Marston’s said Rucker would step down as chair of the group after more than five years in the role.

Rucker, who was also the former CEO and chairman at investment bank Lazard, will join the British Land board as a non-executive director and take up the role after the property firm’s annual general meeting on 9 July.

US hedge fund giant Elliott Advisors has announced it does not intend to make an offer for Currys.

The electricals retailer had rejected a second indicative bid from Elliott last month, while China-based online giant JD.com has also said it is considering an offer.

Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman has dismissed the Bank of England’s aggressive interest rate hikes as ‘totally ineffective’.

The most intense cycle of rate rises since the late 1980s didn’t do ‘very much’ to cool price increases, he argued.

Bitcoin has rallied to a new record high above $70,400, as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency’s momentum continues to be driven by flows into US spot ETFs and hopes of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut.

It is currently trading at $71,153.50, up 3.5 per cent for the day and more than 61 per cent since the start of the year.

Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman has dismissed the Bank of England’s aggressive interest rate hikes as ‘totally ineffective’.

The most intense cycle of rate rises since the late 1980s didn’t do ‘very much’ to cool price increases, he argued.