Lloyds Income Boosted as Homebuyers Rushed to Beat Stamp Duty
The British bank posted pretax profit of £1.5 billion ($2 billion), compared to the average of analyst estimates of £1.54 billion, according to a statement on Thursday. Mortgage balances grew by nearly £5 billion as homeowners rushed to beat an increase in stamp duty.
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NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
One of England's oldest soccer clubs is in crisis — fans are worried it could disappear
LONDON — One of the world's oldest soccer teams is in big trouble. When Sheffield Wednesday FC kicks off the new season on Sunday — away at Leicester City in the Championship, the second tier of British soccer — more than 3,000 traveling fans will not take their seats to cheer on their beloved team, known as the Owls. Instead, they will hold a five-minute protest outside Leicester's King Power Stadium against one man: Thai businessman Dejphon Chansiri, Wednesday's owner and the focal point of a growing crisis that may threaten its very existence. The team's financial problems are mounting, and unsuccessful attempts to sell it have dominated local sports media and online forums for months — and the crisis has much wider implications for the health of English soccer away from the glitzy riches of Liverpool and Manchester City. The problem is so acute that the British government has passed a new law that will launch a football regulator to police the buying and selling of teams and make sure owners are 'fit and proper.' For Wednesday, founded in 1867, that could be too little, too late. Some teams have bad offseasons, but this summer has seen Wednesday set new levels of chaos: Players and staff have not been paid on time in four of the last five months. As a result, there's a transfer embargo banning the club from buying new players until January 2027 — even if it could afford them. At least 15 players have left on free transfers or for a fraction of their market value this summer, leaving barely enough players to fill a match day squad of 11 starters and up to nine substitutes. 'It's becoming a soap opera,' said Dan Fudge, who co-hosts the popular podcast 'The Wednesday Week.' 'Usually, as podcasters, we're scratching for content to talk about during the summer,' Fudge said, 'but we seem to have had a new timeline of terror every single week to talk about.' The list of mishaps goes on. Talented young head coach Danny Rohl, a charismatic and cerebral German touted for big success in major European leagues, left by mutual agreement. The famous old Hillsborough Stadium is literally falling apart — Sheffield City Council refused to grant a safety license for the vast 9,000-seat North Stand due to concerns of uncovering wiring and cracks in the terrace. The club said in a statement this week it was working to fix this and would seek to place season ticket holders elsewhere if it was still shut by the first home game on Aug. 16. A disabled fan whose accessible seat is in the North Stand broke down in tears this week when telling the BBC what effect the crisis is having on him. Chansiri says he wants to sell, but no one so far has met his valuation for the club, which football finance experts say is too high. The owner is widely reported to have offered the club for 100 million pounds ($134 million). Kieran Maguire, a leading British football finance expert and commentator, puts the real value at 40 million pounds ($53 million), but Chansiri said in June that he rejected an offer at this price from a U.S.-based consortium. Maguire said it was unlikely Wednesday would go bust entirely, but he said that in any case the team would almost certainly be relegated to the league below and face a very tough season. 'He's not malicious in the sense that he doesn't want to destroy the football club, but he's very naive, has no knowledge of the industry,' Maguire said. English football culture is one of spending. This summer alone, the 20 Premier League teams have spent around 1.8 billion pounds ($2.4 billion) on transfer fees, with reigning champions Liverpool splashing out 252 million pounds ($335 million). And the contrast between the top and the rest of the football pyramid system is stark. Between them, the Premier League clubs made more than 6 billion pounds ($8 billion) in revenue in the 2024-25 season, an increase of 36% from the previous year, according to consultancy firm Deloitte. Meanwhile, every single team in the Championship, the fifth-most attended league in Europe, made an operating loss in the same period for the second season in a row. There is money from TV, sponsorship, player sales and match day revenue, but with huge wage bills, clubs are left to rely on player sales and, if they're lucky, wealthy benefactors to inject cash. The English Football League said Wednesday it was in 'advanced discussions' with Chansiri's lawyers on how he will sell his stake in the club. The league, criticized by some fans for not acting sooner, warned the Thai magnate that the club needed to 'meet its obligations or make good on his commitment to sell to a well-funded party, for fair market value.' Could things even get worse? Probably. This week, Morecambe FC, a team in the northwest seaside town of the same name, was suspended from the National League, the fifth tier of English football's sprawling pyramid-shaped league system, with the elite clubs at the top and smaller, more parochial clubs toward the bottom. Morecambe failed to meet its financial obligations, and if a new buyer who can support it can't be found, it could disappear for good. This happened to Macclesfield Town, Bury, Hereford and a handful of other teams whose owners couldn't support them and whose liabilities were too great. 'There's a sense of foreboding about the club. We've seen other clubs do it, and normally at the eleventh hour someone comes in and [stages] a takeover,' Fudge said. 'Then, over recent years, you look at teams like Bury and what's recently happened to Morecambe, and they've not had that white knight step in, and all of a sudden we're thinking, 'Oh hang on a minute, we could be the big scalp.'' Like many fans, Fudge has no doubt who is to blame. 'Pure ineptitude is how we've got here, regardless of the warning signs around Chansiri since about 2018.' Fans warmly remember the 1990s, when players such as Chris Waddle, David Hirst and Des Walker — all England internationals — lined up alongside some of the then-hottest talent in Europe, helping the club reach seventh place in the Premier League during the 1996-97 season. Fans were optimistic when Chansiri — a scion of Thai Union Group, a seafood conglomerate that owns the Chicken of the Sea canned tuna brand in the U.S. — took over in 2015. He promised and delivered some success, taking the team to the 2016 Championship playoff final, just 90 minutes away from a return to the Premier League. All this feels like a long, long time ago, with fans wondering what shape the new football regulator will take and whether it will make any difference. David Blunkett, a senior minister during Tony Blair's government in the 1990s and 2000s and now a member of the House of Lords, is a lifelong Wednesday fan and attended an online meeting with the football league on Thursday. He said it was 'vital' that the crisis at Wednesday is addressed before the regulator is set up. 'Parliamentarians, including those representing the city, the Supporters' Trust and other fans will clearly continue to pressurize for an immediate resolution of the crisis at Hillsborough,' he told NBC News. Hailing from the north side of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, a city famous for its steel, Wednesday became an early member of the Football Association (the term 'soccer' is an abbreviation of 'association'), as the football craze swept through working-class communities across the North and the Midlands. The team got its unique name from cricket: In the mid-19th century, there were multiple teams in Sheffield playing this game, and the one that played on Wednesdays started a football team. The name stuck. On Sunday, fans will raise banners and shout slogans in an attempt to preserve that history. Even if some would rather just watch the game. 'There's a lot of people that are very much in the camp of 'Let's protest, let's get this message out as much as we can,' which I completely agree with, but it's not everybody's bag, because a lot of people use the football to spend time with their family and their friends,' Fudge said. Despite the turmoil at the club, Wednesday sold out its allocation of 3,287 away tickets for Sunday's game. It's not immediately clear how many more Wednesday games there will be.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
How much do you need to invest in the stock market each month to aim for £1m
Becoming a stock market millionaire is an investment objective shared by many investors. After all, who doesn't love the idea of having a seven-figure portfolio and the financial freedom it provides? Obviously, joining the top-5% of British wealth owners is no easy task. But it's not as impossible as many might think. And following a strategy as simple as investing consistently in high-quality companies each month might be all that it takes for patient individuals. The journey to £1m Sticking with low-cost index funds is arguably one of the best ways to start putting money to work. These clever investing vehicles automatically diversify a portfolio and match the performance of the stock market with next to no effort. Historically, that's translated into an average annual return of around 8% a year. So, providing this continues to be the case moving forward, consistently investing £500 each month will allow investors to enter millionaire territory within around 34 years when starting from scratch. Starting Capital Time To £1m With £500 Per Month At 8% £0 33.5 Years £10,000 32 Years £20,000 30.5 Years £50,000 27 Years £100,000 23 Years Even when starting off with a chunky lump sum, the journey towards a seven-figure portfolio is a lengthy one. And it may take even longer than expected should the stock market decide to throw a tantrum along the way. After all, 30 years is more than enough time for multiple crashes and corrections to materialise. So one way to speed things up is by simply investing more each month. But for those unable to spare any additional funds, stock-picking could be the silver bullet to accelerating the wealth-building process. The power of stock picking By allocating capital exclusively to individual businesses with wide competitive moats and ample long-term growth prospects, a portfolio can go on to vastly outperform. A perfect example of this over the last 15 years is Rightmove (LSE:RMV). Today, Rightmove is the largest online property portal used by home buyers and sellers across the country. But that wasn't the case back in 2010. And investors who spotted the potential for such a service have reaped an annualised return of 18.4%. To put this into perspective, investing £500 each month at this rate cuts the journey to reaching £1m down to just 19 years when starting from scratch. Starting Capital Time To £1m With £500 Per Month At 18.4% £0 19 Years £10,000 18 Years £20,000 16.5 Years £50,000 14 Years £100,000 11.5 Years Still worth considering in 2025? Rightmove controls more than 80% of the online property marketplace. And even with fierce competition emerging, the power of its network effect has so far prevented it from being disrupted. Pairing that with growing demand and chunky profit margins suggests that Rightmove's days of delivering market-beating returns aren't over. Of course, there are never any guarantees. Rightmove is highly sensitive to the cyclical property market. During downturns, the group may be forced to slash the price of its marketing packages. This could impair both growth and earnings, sending shares firmly in the wrong direction – an opportunity that its growing list of competitors may take advantage of. Having grown substantially, it's unlikely that Rightmove will continue generating an 18.4% annualised return indefinitely. So, investors hunting these sorts of gains will have to search for other promising stocks that have yet to take off. However, Rightmove's growth story isn't over yet, that's why I think its still worthy of a closer look. The post How much do you need to invest in the stock market each month to aim for £1m appeared first on The Motley Fool UK. More reading 5 Stocks For Trying To Build Wealth After 50 One Top Growth Stock from the Motley Fool Zaven Boyrazian has no position in any of the shares mentioned. The Motley Fool UK has recommended Rightmove Plc. Views expressed on the companies mentioned in this article are those of the writer and therefore may differ from the official recommendations we make in our subscription services such as Share Advisor, Hidden Winners and Pro. Here at The Motley Fool we believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Motley Fool UK 2025 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
14 hours ago
- Business Insider
Netflix Stock (NFLX) Switches on as Penny Pinching Brits Sign-Up for Ads
Shares in streaming giant Netflix (NFLX) were brighter today after cost-conscious Brits helped its U.K. arm rake in record annual profits. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Ad Free Netflix said that pre-tax annual profits at Netflix Services U.K. came in at £63 million in 2024, up from the £60.6 million it achieved in 2023. Its revenues also leapt from £1.66 billion in 2023 to £1.84 billion. Netflix said the increase in its revenue was due to an 11% surge in the average number of paid memberships during the year. It said more than 55% of its new sign-ups had come through its advertising tier while membership on its advertising plan grew by almost 30% quarter over quarter. The number of subscribers has been boosted by the streaming service's crackdown on password sharing in the UK. But, the company is also seeing growth elsewhere in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. During the 12 months, the company also distributed an interim dividend of £50 million to its US parent. In August last year, it also loaned £375 million to Netflix Inc. U.K. Investment In a statement, Netflix said: 'Netflix is a significant contributor to the UK economy – investing $6bn over the last four years and working with over 50,000 cast and crew and 200+ producers to produce British content such as Adolescence, Baby Reindeer and Black Doves that is loved the world over. We're committed for the long term and invest more here than any other country except the US.' Netflix's results contradict previous studies on U.K. viewership. They have revealed how Brits are trying to enhance their viewing experience without the 'annoyance' of adverts during runs of their favourite shows. A recent report in the U.K. found that Brits are spending £5 billion a year just to avoid adverts on major streaming services. The Finder report found that over 31 million UK adults pay for premium, ad-free subscriptions across Netflix, Amazon (AMZN) Prime, Disney (DIS) + and Spotify (SPOT). Good news on the surface for streaming providers but perhaps storing up a problem over the long-term if advertisers begin to feel snubbed. Overall, however, Netflix feels optimistic about the future. In the group's Q2 earnings last month, it increased its full-year revenue guidance to $44.8 billion to $45.2 billion, up from the prior guide of $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion. This further bolstered the Netflix stock price – see above – which has soared over 30% this year. Is NFLX a Good Stock to Buy Now? On TipRanks, NFLX has a Moderate Buy consensus based on 25 Buy, 11 Hold and 1 Sell ratings. Its highest price target is $1,600. NFLX stock's consensus price target is $1,395.19, implying a 16.61% upside.
