As Boris Johnson and pals assess whether to lift all Covid restrictions on June 21, banking regulators have their own crucial call to make.
Late last year, the Bank of England s Prudential Regulation Authority relaxed its request for banks to suspend dividends to shareholders during the pandemic.
However, temporary guardrail restrictions were left in place. These put limits on payouts based on previous quarterly profits.
Decision time: The Prudential Regulation Authority relaxed its request for banks to suspend dividends to shareholders during the pandemic, but guardrail restrictions were left in place
The PRA vowed to transition back to normality for dividends this year and banks appear to believe the time is right to ramp up shareholder payouts.
Crispin Odey s hedge fund firm has bucked the green investing trend by backing a Norwegian oil company – and betting against a renewable energy stock.
One of the City Brexiteer s top fund managers, James Hanbury, has put investors money into £7.9billion firm Aker BP.
According to documents seen by The Mail on Sunday, Hanbury bought the stock because of its low price, high quality management team and potential for cost-cutting. Meanwhile, Hanbury has bet that the share price of Ballard Power will fall. Ballard is a Canadian firm that develops fuel cells for electric cars and machinery.
Something to shout about: Crispin Odey s hedge fund firm is backing a Norwegian oil company – and betting against a renewable energy stock
Experts are warning motorists to shop around for petrol as prices are set to rise sharply this month.
According to the RAC, the average price of unleaded petrol now stands at £1.29 a litre and for diesel it is £1.32 a litre. These prices are some 20 per cent higher than a year ago, when the country was in the grip of the pandemic.
Simon Williams, a press officer at the motoring organisation, says: Oil supply was dramatically cut at the start of the pandemic last year and while demand is now rising as more cars get back on the road we still face a lag in supply – which helps explain the price hike.
Launch: Simon Nicholson has guided Organon s $9.4billion float
The opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange is still ringing in the ears of Simon Nicholson after last week s blockbuster float. His newly-branded $9.4billion (£6.6billion) pharmaceutical giant, Organon, was on Thursday spun out of its parent company, the $190billion industry stalwart Merck.
And Nicholson – something of a rarity as a British man running a large international division of a US firm that specialises in medicines aimed at women – was watching proceedings from a video link in London. We re launching a company that the world hasn t seen before, he says, clearly still energised by the stock market debut of Organon which has been created to operate in a market estimated to be worth $41billion by 2027.
Going ahead, improvement in the scenario on the coronavirus front in the country and pick-up in the vaccination drive may attract higher FPIs investments, Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director - Manager Research, Morningstar India, said.