Indholdsfortegnelse for 1214 i MoneyWeek

“How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?” Charles de Gaulle famously wondered. Not, perhaps, with the Fifth Republic he helped design. The upheaval in France (see pages 4 and 10) has prompted another spate of articles about a Sixth Republic in France, especially in the German press. This is partly schadenfreude. When all you read about is how your country is the sick man of Europe, a potential constitutional crisis next door makes a pleasant change. But it is also because ructions in the French bond market, and a possible new outbreak of the euro crisis, rapidly become Berlin’s problem. Consider how this might play out. The centre has been squeezed mercilessly between the far right (RN) and a far left bloc. As The Economist points…

“There is something inherently distasteful about fast-fashion... An entire generation of young people are being taught... that it’s fine to wear something for a few weeks then chuck it... because it only costs a couple of quid.... The idea that [ultra-fast fashion operator Shein’s] decision to shun New York and seek a stockmarket float in London is a major coup for Britain is nonsense. The Square Mile may be in need of a serious boost, but surely it’s not... that desperate?... Shein’s cheerleaders seem to be wilfully overlooking... [the fact that] management wants to come to the UK... not because London is... more attractive as a place to raise capital, but because of the questions and criticism that it has faced in America... If a company finds real scrutiny so…

Shares in YouGov almost halved last week after the research and data analytics company issued a warning that sales bookings had been unexpectedly low in the past three months, says Julia Kollewe in The Guardian. Demand was slow in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. As a result, the polling firm now expects this year’s sales to total between £324m and £327m, while adjusted operating profit is set to reach between £41m and £44m. Analysts had forecasting revenue of £341m and profits of £67m. In theory, you might assume that YouGov would enjoy a “bumper time” given the demand for polls in the run up to the upcoming general election, says AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. But its polling operation only makes a small contribution to group revenue. The data analytics…

Switzerland-based luxury-goods behemoth Richemont is sitting pretty, says WirtschaftsWoche. Its global reach is such that a slowdown in one key market can be compensated for by a robust performance elsewhere. There has been a slowdown in China, which has been the group’s fastest-growing market over the past few years. But solid expansion elsewhere helped boost sales by 3% in the year to 31 March 2024 to €20.6bn, while operating profits reached €4.8bn. The jewellery division, which contains brands including Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels, and comprises 70% of revenue, saw sales growth of 6%. The group is sitting on €7.4bn of cash and yields 2.2%.…

With French voters just days away from going to the polls in the first round of the French elections, president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to call a snap poll looks more and more like a “grievous mistake”, says The Guardian. Far from catching up with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally, which may end up “within striking distance” of an overall majority in the National Assembly, Macron’s centrist Together movement “languishes in a distant third place”. He and his allies have now been overtaken by the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF), an alliance of left-wing and progressive parties that looks set to be the main challenger to Le Pen in numerous second-round contests. The French left was until recently widely regarded as a “spent force”, says Yasmeen Serhan in Time, but…

● “Shareholders should be wary” of Berkeley’s plan to create its own build-to-rent business, says Lex in the Financial Times. Although the “rationale for rental looks sound”, with demand for rental property outstripping supply, and Berkeley having already made about 1,000 build-to-rent sales, establishing a rental platform is a different business from house building. Housing sales are one-offs, and tenants have the option to walk if they are not kept happy. A third party to manage the early stages of the project would eat into Berkeley’s returns, so an in-house platform would be needed, especially if it plans to sell the division. Also, Berkeley sells its expensive London dwellings to private foreign investors, and a Labour government could hit this source of demand with higher stamp duty for foreign property…

High-quality infrastructure stocks offer “fantastic prospective returns with relatively low risk”, says Peter Spiller, the veteran investor who has managed the Capital Gearing Trust for more than 40 years. UK-listed specialist infrastructure trusts performed poorly last year and now trade at wide discounts to net asset value (NAV), yet this cannot be explained by fears that their NAVs are overstated since they have reported “extensive sales of assets at or above book value”. Instead, the discounts reflect “technical dislocations”, say Spiller and his co-managers in Capital Gearing’s recent annual report. With short-dated government bonds offering reasonable yields for the first time in a decade, demand for other sources of income is weaker and so shares in listed income trusts have slumped. With these stocks offering compelling value, Capital Gearing has…

economicsobservatory.com London is the only large city in the UK with a world-leading economy. It is also the only one with a world-leading and high productivity transport system. That is not a coincidence, says Tom Forth. Manchester and Sheffield are the largest neighbouring cities in Europe without a motorway connecting them. Leeds is the largest city in Europe or the US with neither a tram nor a metro system. Why? Investment in transport within and between England’s big cities has been too low for too long. And high construction costs mean the money invested has not gone far enough. Beyond investment, national policy has been poor and basic innovations not pursued. Productivity in the sector is low. This matters. In Birmingham, for example, studies have shown that poor transport is…

■ Artemis Income, Liontrust UK Growth, and Royal London UK Smaller Companies are the UK funds investors should opt for to exploit the fact that Britain’s in the bargain basement, according to analysts at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL). The FTSE 100 trades at a 45% discount to the S&P 500. The investment platform has also released the top-ten funds favoured by its customers. Artemis Income is the top choice for clients too, thanks to its experienced manager and emphasis on dividend-paying companies. Four of the top ten funds picked by HL’s clients have an income bias, reflecting the UK’s dividend potential. Invesco UK Equity High Income, Jupiter Income, and Marlborough Multi Cap Income are also popular choices. The list includes three passive funds, highlighting the popularity of low-cost passive funds in…

More than one in nine Britons now works beyond their 65th birthday, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), roughly twice as many as 20 years ago. Some are doing so out of choice; others by necessity given their financial situation. But either way, if you’ve still got income coming in at the point when you can start claiming your state pension, it may make sense to wait. Under the current rules, men and women alike are entitled to start receiving their state pension once they turn 66, though this will go up to 67 between 2026 and 2028. However, you don’t have to take the money straight away. And if you choose to defer drawing your state pension, you’ll be entitled to more money once you…

The past four years has radically changed the landscape of the US property market. The residential market has surged, with the average house price now nearly 50% higher than in January 2020. However, it has been a very different story for the commercial-property market due to remote working. Despite the best efforts of some prominent technology companies, all the evidence suggests that the return to the office in the US has stalled. Office vacancy rates have continued to increase as firms decide to save money by not renewing their leases, or selling their offices. Around 15% of office space in the United States is vacant (double the pre-Covid figure), but the rates are even higher in the major cities, such as Los Angeles and Chicago. In San Francisco, more than…

Most economists and analysts were wrong-footed by macroeconomic developments in 2023, with many expecting a recession that didn’t materialise. This highlights the difficulty of basing an investment strategy on predictions of top-down factors such as GDP growth, interest rates or foreign exchange rates. It is far better to focus on analysing the fortunes of individual companies. However volatile the macroeconomoic environment, it should pay to look to the long-term fundamental strengths of businesses and build diversification into a portfolio through different ideas that pay off at different times. “Around 80% of the world’s population have yet to set foot on a plane” Air travel will keep taking off Andy Headley at Veritas (top picture) highlights European giant Airbus (Paris: AIR), one of two key manufacturers of airframes, operating in a…

The impact of extreme heat on workers’ productivity is increasing as heat waves become more frequent and intense, say Alicia Clanton and Brian Delk in Bloomberg. Diminished cognitive performance, poor sleep, and weather-related disruptions to commutes contribute to heat-related productivity losses. According to the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Centre, extreme heat costs the US $100bn annually in lost labour productivity, and this figure could double by 2030. Heat stress caused more than 800 fatalities and over 70,000 injuries among US workers between 1992 and 2017. Outdoor industries such as construction, mining and agriculture experience the most impact. Some countries, like China, have clear guidelines for protecting workers from heat-related illnesses. Chinese workplaces that can’t keep temperatures below 35°C outdoors and 33°C indoors must pay workers subsidies between $1.24 and $30.90…

Singapore is booming, but the resulting influx of money could be proving “too hot to handle”, says Shuli Ren on Bloomberg. Since the 2008 financial crisis, wealth management has emerged as the most profitable division in banking, and much of the industry is setting up shop in Singapore. East-West tensions have helped Singapore emerge as a major hub for wealth management (some of the “shine” has come off former top dog Switzerland since it joined in Western sanctions on Russia). Chinese firms, such as clothing retailer Shein (see below), have also been moving their headquarters to the city-state in an effort to remain palatable to both geopolitical blocs. Now scandals are putting a question mark over the city’s clean reputation. Singaporeans have been gripped by a “sensational” £1.8bn money-laundering case…

Because of quantitative easing (QE), the stock of assets in the Bank of England’s Asset Purchase Facility (APF) peaked at £895bn in 2021, mostly comprising £875bn of government gilts (see chart). The Bank started reversing QE in 2022, in a process known as quantitative tightening (QT) – selling off assets and erasing the proceeds from the banking system. APF gilt holdings are thus down £177bn from the peak, a 20% reduction, says Sanjay Raja of Deutsche Bank. Some economists thought the Bank might slow the pace of QT to support the economy. Yet recent statements from the central bankers suggest they are inclined to press ahead with QT, which seems to be having less impact on the real economy than many feared.…

The new CEO of NatWest has made his “first big strategic bet”, says Ben Martin in The Times, with NatWest set to acquire most of Sainsbury’s banking operations. As well as receiving £125m from the supermarket to take the bank off its hands, the move swells the high street lender’s assets by £2.5bn, the biggest increase since the 2008 financial crisis, when NatWest almost collapsed. Sainsbury’s will retain its commission-income businesses, such as insurance, ATMs and travel money, as well as Argos Financial Services. Analysts described the tie-up as “smart”. The fact that Sainsbury’s is paying NatWest £125m suggests this is a “bad deal” for the supermarket, especially when you consider that Tesco received £700m from Barclays for its bank, says AJ Bell’s Russ Mould. But Sainsbury’s will end up…

Luxembourg-based private-equity firm CVC Capital Partners is planning an initial public offering (IPO) of Zabka Polska, valuing Poland’s largest convenience-store chain at between $7.5bn and $8bn, says Bloomberg. Zabaka is expected to list in Warsaw in September, raising between $1bn and $1.5bn. This is set to be Poland’s largest flotation since e-commerce operator Allegro’s $2.8bn float in 2020. CVC bought Zabka from MidEuropa Partners, a central European private-equity outfit, in 2017, in what was then the biggest deal in Poland’s food-retail sector. Zabka operates more than 10,000 shops, mostly run by franchisees, and recently expanded into Romania.…

There is little respite for the Conservatives in the betting markets. With £8.3m matched on Betfair, the odds on Labour getting the most seats has shortened to 1.01 (99%), while the odds on the Tories have lengthened further to 160 (0.06%). Similarly, the odds on an overall Labour majority have lengthened to 1.04 (96.2%). The only shred of good news for the Tories is that the number of seats that they are expected to get on Spreadex has increased slightly to 114-120. Spread-betting aside, there are still a few pockets of value on the betting markets. Firstly, I think Nigel Farage’s views on Putin (see left) have damaged Reform, especially with voters in towns and villages where the Ukrainian flag flies above the village hall, and at the very least…

What’s happened? If Labour wins the election next week, it plans to toughen the rules on non-doms further, and there’s widespread speculation about higher capital-gains tax. In March, chancellor Jeremy Hunt pinched one of Labour’s long-standing flagship policies by announcing the effective abolition of the UK’s “non-dom” regime. Under the rules, which date back to the 19th century, foreign citizens living in the UK, but whose permanent home (“domicile”) is overseas, can avoid paying UK tax on their foreign income and gains for up to 15 years provided they do not bring income or capital gains back into the country. Hunt’s March budget slashed the amount of time people can benefit from that status from 15 years to four, effective from April 2025. What will Labour do? If elected, Labour…

Look back over many decades and you can spot a handful of big themes that dominated markets for five or ten years at a stretch. They were rarely the only way to make money, but latching onto one of them at the right time was a huge help. We are clearly in a different economic regime to a few years ago, so it’s worth considering what will be the defining theme of this era. That’s easier said that done – but one starting point is to identify the top themes of the past 50 or 75 years. For the past decade, the answer was tech. You could make outsized returns in other sectors (eg, luxury), but tech has dominated the discussion. Rock-bottom interest rates were the key characteristic of our…

Why the rich like Trump Janan Ganesh Financial Times Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone, is supporting Donald Trump, says Janan Ganesh. Other billionaires and entrepreneurs will follow suit. Why? “Don’t always look for the material motive. There is such a thing as sincere wrongness.” The first reason is they “struggle to understand fanaticism”. In commercial life, “all actors are negotiable, even if their price is high”. They might never come across someone totally committed to an abstract doctrine (socialism), or a cause or individual (Trump). This “blind spot for zeal is why corporations were such sitting ducks for woke” and why oligarchs once thought Putin was their “pliable instrument”. The second is that the self-made rich overrate contrarianism. Dissent is core to financial success: you wouldn’t buy an asset…

bloomberg.com/opinion It has somehow become conventional wisdom that neoliberalism was a failure. That is wrong, says Allison Schrager. Whatever the precise policy mix, neoliberalism represented a general acceptance that market prices convey valuable information, that people respond to incentives, that resources are limited and, above all, that policies involve trade-offs. In other words, that in most situations market-oriented solutions are better than the alternatives. This remains true. Do neoliberal policies, including lower marginal tax rates, free-trade deals, easier flows of international capital and lower debt and regulation, always go perfectly smoothly and leave everyone better off? No. Perfection is not to be expected. But the last 40 years have been some of the most prosperous in world history. Between 1990 and 2015, the share of people living in extreme poverty…

Deciding when to sell a holding that has been in a portfolio for a long time can lead to crippling indecision. But investors need to sell, both to realise profit if the investment has done well, and to exit a poorly performing holding (if buying was the wrong decision in the first place). The idea that one can buy and hold an investment forever is fiction (unless you’re content to hold an index fund for life). Moreover, it is vital for investors continually to review and revaluate their positions to determine whether or not they fit their original investment criteria. That’s why the process of selling is, in my opinion, the most important skill for investors to master. Fleeing struggling funds There are many struggling funds out there, and investors…

Amid all the despondency about the economic prospects of “the West,” it’s refreshing to find an optimist with a coherent argument. Chris Watling of Longview Economics believes that the West is on the threshold of an economic boom.“It is anathema to talk about it given recent experience,” he admits. But he points out that inflation, although sticky, is dissipating. Interest-rate cuts have already started and will spread to the US and UK. The US economy has performed well, helped by productivity growth, and now faces a soft landing rather than a recession, which will be followed by renewed growth. The eurozone has been stagnating as it deleverages, but growth is now set to quicken, led by southern Europe, while the UK will benefit from real growth in wages, rising corporate…

Around 22 mobile phones are stolen every hour. The Office for National Statistics recorded 196,000 phone thefts across England and Wales in the year to March 2023. The chances are, then, that it will happen to you or someone you know at some stage. Your first concern should be your own safety, reporting the crime, and working out how you will replace your phone. But in the digital age there is a lot more you need to think about. An investigation by The Sunday Times has found that “many phones stolen on the streets of the UK ended up on a market in Shenzhen, southern China”, says Louise Eccles in The Sunday Times. “Losing your phone.. puts your personal data and finances at risk.” If you have a smartphone there…

Labour appears to have dropped plans to reintroduce the lifetime allowance (LTA) on pension savings, which was abolished last year. While Labour had previously promised to reverse that decision, the party’s general election manifesto made no mention of the LTA. This reprieve allows savers with large pensions to breathe a little easier. Under the LTA, any pension pot above a certain level – £1,073,100 in the 2022-2023 tax year – was subject to tax charges of up to 55%. In the short term at least, no one will now face this levy. Still, it is worth pointing out that Labour has not formally ruled out bringing back the LTA, and could choose to do so in the future if it wins next week’s election. The party has already said that…

From time to time companies change their names. The move sometimes falls flat. Asset manager Standard Life Aberdeen received so much ridicule after it became “Abrdn” that it complained about “corporate bullying”; the shares have fallen by 50% since April 2021. Yet name changes aren’t uncommon, especially in the US. Nearly a third of firms on the S&P 500 having changed their name at least once. Rebranding in this way can temporarily boost a company’s share price by helping it jump on an emerging trend. A 2001 study by the Purdue University’s Krannert School of Management found that during the dotcom era of the late 1990s, companies switching their names to include the term “.com” vastly outperformed the market in the next ten days. This included firms whose core business…

2022 Gallina de Piel, ikigall, Penedès, Spain £17.35, nywines.co.uk; £17.50, vinogusto.co.uk, latitudewine.co.uk Some wines require you to work hard to unlock their mysteries. I love the challenge of working to find the combination, like a safe cracker on every sip. But these wines are technical creations, not always built for pleasure, but assembled to provoke comments, and they are usually unconcerned if the thumb goes up or down from the drinker, preferring to have been the subject of debate and often frustration. Others solely concentrate on the art of offering pure and simple hedonism, welcoming the taster eagerly, rewarding the palate with gentle caresses of ripe, carefree, melodious fruit, and you find yourself metaphorically humming along within moments. Winemaker David Seijas left his job as one of the world’s most…

Shares in chip designer Nvidia, the darling of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, have soared 160% so far this year. However, they entered a correction on Monday (defined as a 10% fall from a recent peak), tumbling more than 12% over three trading days to wipe more than $400bn off the market valuation, says Alvin Cabral in The National, an Emirati newspaper. The sell-off has seen Nvidia cede the title of the US’s biggest company back to Microsoft, after briefly surpassing the software giant last week. Nvidia “has run very hot and priced a scenario that even many in the industry would never have felt possible at this stage in the cycle”, says Chris Weston of broker Pepperstone. Still, “AI has far further to go… [and] Nvidia remains the epicentre”…

Tate & Lyle’s shares fell by 9% after it confirmed that it will focus on healthy food products by buying ingredients-supplier CP Kelco for $1.8bn, say Helen Cahill and Isabella Fish in The Times. Tate & Lyle says the deal will help it meet a target of annual revenue growth of between 4% and 6% by capitalising on mounting demand for healthier foods. It also hopes that buying CP Kelco will expand the group’s range of products that can help “sweeten foods, provide the right texture and improve fibre content”. The deal comes amid intensifying scrutiny of ultra-processed foods such as flavoured yoghurts and sweet snacks, with research increasingly linking them to diseases including cancer and Type 2 diabetes, says Eri Sugiura in the Financial Times. Tate and Lyle says…

Five to buy GSK The Times GSK’s market value has fallen sharply recently owing to legal battles over its heartburn drug Zantac, which has been hit by fears that it increases the risk of cancer. The pharmaceutical giant has also faced criticism for its handling of mergers and Covid-vaccine development. However, GSK has been steadily improving its drug pipeline, increasing research and development (R&D) spending, “fattening up” its margins, and has a “chunky dividend yield to boot”. Possible litigation costs are “already priced in.” 1,615p Oxford Instruments The Telegraph Oxford Instruments, which manufactures equipment used to analyse matter at an atomic and molecular level, has risen by 20% in 18 months. Despite a decline in its operating profit margin owing to investments, its return on equity is 18%, and it…

Arlington Boeing buys back supplier: Boeing is closing in on a $4bn deal to reacquire Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier who built the 737 Max 9 fuselage that lost a panel in mid-air in January, says The Wall Street Journal. Boeing believes buying back Spirit will improve the safety and quality of its manufacturing and that spinning off Spirit in 2005 may have hit quality control. When Spirit’s fuselages fell behind schedule, unfinished parts were transported to Boeing facilities. An investigation found that the mid-air blowout was caused by forgotten key bolts during one of these transfers, says Melvin Backman in Quartz. As part of the deal, Spirit will separate operations that make parts for Boeing’s rival Airbus, which accounts for about a fifth of Spirit’s revenue. Meanwhile, the US Department…

The fate of Britvic, the soft-drinks maker, hangs in the balance. The company has firmly rebuffed three offers from the brewing giant Carlsberg, and its share price, perhaps not surprisingly, is already up by almost 40% since the start of this year. Earlier this week, Pepsi said it would not stand in the way of a change of control, a significant concession as Britvic distributes its products in the UK. Carlsberg may well come back with a higher offer, perhaps as early as this week. The important point, however, is this. Britvic did not simply accept the firs, or indeed the second offer, that came along. It has been holding out for a higher price, and arguing the case for an independent future. We have been seeing more and more…

A “real” interest rate is simply an interest rate that has been adjusted to take inflation into account. (A “nominal” interest rate is one that has not been adjusted for inflation.) Real rates matters because inflation reduces the value of any future stream of income. Take a bank account into which you plan to place £1,000. If inflation is running at 1% then a 2% nominal interest rate looks respectable – your savings will have more purchasing power a year from now. However, if inflation is running at 3%, your savings will have less purchasing power when you withdraw them in a year’s time, even though the £1,000 will have grown (in nominal terms) to £1,020. Of course, the advertised rate on a savings account will be the nominal one,…

“In my father’s era you were brought up, if you were rich, to give money to many things. You gave to the opera house, orchestras, cancer charities, lifeboats, dogs for the blind. Young philanthropists aren’t interested in spreading their giving. They want their pet causes. And how many young philanthropists do you know who are interested in the arts? Not many. That’s going to be a big problem.” Philanthropist Vivien Duffield (pictured) on Britain’s new super-rich, quoted in The Sunday Times “I have a big money bin and I go swimming in it. You gotta get exercise somehow.” Tesla’s boss Elon Musk on what he does with his money, quoted on X “I wasn’t paid as much. I wasn’t given the same opportunities. Some people are like: ‘So why are…

nature.com The Covid pandemic “upended lives around the world”, says Nature. For mainly higher-skilled, higher-earning office workers in sectors such as computing, marketing, accounting and finance in particular, it meant an almost overnight change in working practices. Working from home, previously seen as an “oddity or a perk”, became the norm. Many employers want to roll those changes back, fearful that it harms productivity, creativity and collaboration. Some have mandated a return to the office, provoking staff revolts. But a new study by Nicholas Bloom and co-authors, published by Nature, shows that employers have little to fear. More than 1,600 graduate employees in the study were randomly assigned to one of two groups for a six month period – one working five days a week in the office, the other…

Elliott Investment Management has revealed an 11% stake in Southwest Airlines, worth $1.9bn, and called for new leadership at the US low-cost carrier, says CNN. The shares rose by 6% on the news. The activist investor criticised Southwest’s “poor execution” and failure to update its strategy. The shares have halved since 2021 and now trade below pre-Covid levels. The airline’s struggles have been exacerbated by delays in receiving Boeing 737 jets owing to safety and production difficulties, resulting in a freeze on hiring pilots. Elliott called for “increased customer choice, improved cost execution, and updating outdated IT systems”. Southwest is the only airline lacking seat reservations for passengers, a policy it has hinted it may change.…

● It’s time for savers to lock in a good interest rate ahead of expected rate cuts, says Charlotte Gifford in The Telegraph. At present, fixed-rate bonds are paying lower interest rates than many easy-access accounts. This is because banks are anticipating a rate cut. But taking a slightly lower long-term rate now will pay off when the rate cuts appear. Easy- access accounts tend to have variable rates so these can be slashed as soon as the Bank of England has announced a cut. Vanquis Bank’s three-year bond paying 4.8% seems worth a look, as does RCI Bank’s two-year bond paying 5% If you haven’t used up your individual savings account (Isa) allowance for 2024-2025, consider United Trust Bank’s three-year cash Isa paying 4.55%, or their five-year Isa offering…

● Not everyone will be pleased to see inflation fall back to 2%. The reduction is likely to mean lower annuity rates for pension savers seeking to buy a guaranteed lifetime income when they retire. This is because insurers price annuities with reference to gilt yields; these rise and fall in line with interest rate expectations, and therefore in line with inflation. Sharing Pensions, a specialist in this area, expects annuity rates to fall by 1.4% in the coming weeks, given the impact so far of lower inflation on gilt yields. ● Are you looking after your grandchildren over the summer holidays? If so, and you have not yet reached retirement age, your hard work could help you secure additional state pension income. This is because carers for grandchildren under…

It has not been a successful fortnight for my ten long tips, with six falling and only four appreciating. Investment and share-trading platform IG Group rose from 788p to 829p, while General Motors accelerated from $47.57 to $48.11. Rolls-Royce Holdings climbed from 456p to 471p and high-street clothing retailer Next increased from 9,208p to 9,292p. However, cruise-ship operator Royal Caribbean fell from $155 to $154, concession owner SSP dropped from 163p to 151p, while easyJet hit turbulence, diving to 450p. US building-materials supplier Builders FirstSource fell from $146 to $142 and Hollywood Bowl slipped from 319p to 315p. My long tips are now making overall profits of £471 compared with £763 two weeks ago. My two short tips also put in a mixed performance, with one rising and the other…

Charlie Mullins’ father worked in a toy-car factory. His mother cleaned homes. Today, Mullins (pictured), 71, lives in a £10m London penthouse with a view of the Thames, say Sabah Meddings and Michael Sasso on Bloomberg. He can credit his “dazzling rise to the unlikely intersection of high finance and blue-collar labour”. Mullins left school at 15 with no qualifications and became an apprentice to a plumber. Over four decades, he built a successful firm, Pimlico Plumbers, that sought to improve the industry’s reputation for poor service. Smartly dressed workers in clean vans would turn up promptly, for a premium price. In the year ending May 2021, Pimlico reported £49.2m in revenue, distributing £3.2m to Mullins in dividends. He sold out at the end of 2021 to Wall Street giant KKR…