Cevian Capital raised share stake in UBS Group by 9.9% in Q2
Cevian ended June with 48.1 million shares worth $1.63 billion in its portfolio. The fund first disclosed a stake in the Swiss bank in December 2023, betting on a recovery of UBS shares following its takeover of Credit Suisse.
At that time, Cevian managing partner Lars Forberg said the stock had the potential to roughly double its price to 50 francs. On Thursday, they were priced at 32 francs.
(This story has been refiled to delete extraneous words from the headline)
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The Independent
27 minutes ago
- The Independent
Economic uncertainty blamed for ‘lacklustre' retail performance last month
Analysists have blamed rising economic uncertainty for a 'lacklustre' July that saw Scottish retail sales fall in real terms compared with the same month last year. According to figures from the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) and KPMG, total sales in Scotland rose 0.1% last month compared with July 2024, when they had decreased by 0.9%. However when adjusted for inflation this represents a year-on-year fall of 0.5%. Food sales in Scotland were down 1.4% compared with July 2024, when they had decreased by just 0.3%. This was despite a strong opening to the month when hot weather led to a 'boost' in spending on barbecues and summer meals. Non-food sales on the other hand rose by 1.4% compared with the same period last year, with analysists saying phones and some furniture and toy ranges performed well. Adjusted for the effects of online sales, non-food sales increased 1.6% on July 2024, when they had decreased by 1.5%. Ewan MacDonald-Russell, deputy head of the SRC, said: 'July was a lacklustre month for Scottish retailers as sales again disappointed. 'When adjusted for inflation retail sales in Scotland fell by 0.5%. That's a slight improvement on June's figures, but demonstrates shoppers continue to cut back on shopping as economic uncertainty continues to rise. 'Within the general disappointment there were some bright spots. Food sales shone in the opening half of the month as Scots took advantage of the warm weather to cook barbeque and summer meals. 'Phone sales did well, as did some toys and furniture ranges. Against that televisions continue to disappoint, with few households investing in high-end entertainment despite the summer plethora of sporting events. 'Fashion ranges performed poorly, albeit the likelihood is shoppers did their summer wardrobe shopping earlier in the year when the sunshine emerged. 'The harsh truth is Scots are holding back spending as worries about the economy grow. 'That is leaving shops in the lurch – facing higher costs as a consequence of last year's UK Government budget without the growth needed to pay those bills. 'With little sight the economic weather will brighten, many retailers, especially those on the high street, face increasingly unpalatable choices in the coming months.' Linda Ellett, UK head of consumer, retail and leisure at KPMG, described the current trading environment as 'challenging' for retailers. 'The UK's fifth warmest July on Met Office record brought a boost to home appliance and food and drink sales,' she said. 'But rising inflation was also a driver of the latter and monthly non-food sales are only growing at around 1% on average at present. 'With employment costs having risen and inflation both a business and consumer side pressure, it remains a challenging trading environment for many retailers. 'While the majority of consumers that KPMG surveys are confident in their ability to balance their monthly household budgets, big ticket purchases are more considered in the context of rising essential costs and ongoing caution about the economy and labour market. 'Holidays are the priority for many this summer but those heading away have had to account for a higher cost of travel. 'Consequently, spending in some areas of the retail sector remains subdued and competition for consumer spend will remain fierce.' The figures were published in the SRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor for July.
BBC News
28 minutes ago
- BBC News
Data centres to be expanded across UK as concerns mount
The number of data centres in the UK is set to increase by almost a fifth, according to figures shared with BBC News. Data centres are giant warehouses full of powerful computers used to run digital services from movie streaming to online banking - there are currently an estimated 477 of them in the researchers Barbour have analysed planning documents and say that number is set to jump by almost 100, as the growth in artificial intelligence (AI) increases the need for processing majority are due to be built in the next five there are concerns about the huge amount of energy and water the new data centres will consume. Some experts have warned it could drive up prices paid by than half of the new data centres would be in London and neighbouring are privately funded by US tech giants such as Google and Microsoft and major investment firms.A further nine are planned in Wales, one in Scotland, five in Greater Manchester and a handful in other parts of the UK, the data the new data centres are mostly due for completion by 2030, the biggest single one planned would come later - a £10-billion AI data centre in Blyth, near Newcastle, for the American private investment and wealth management company Blackstone would involve building 10 giant buildings covering 540,000 square meters - the size of several large shopping centres - on the site of a former Blyth Power are set to begin in 2031 and last for more than three is planning four new data centres in the UK at a total cost of £330 million, with an estimated completion between 2027 and 2029 - two in the Leeds area, one near Newport in Wales, and a five-storey site in Acton, north west Google is building two data centres, totalling £450m, spread over 400,000 sq m in north east London in the Lee Valley water system. By some analyses, the UK is already the third-largest nation for data centres behind the US and government has made clear it believes data centres are central to the UK's economic future - designating them critical national there are concerns about their impact, including the potential knock-on effect on people's energy is not known what the energy consumption of the new centres will be as this data is not included in the planning applications, but US data suggests they are can be considerably more powerful than older Sasha Luccioni, AI and climate lead at machine learning firm Hugging Face, explains that in the US "average citizens in places like Ohio are seeing their monthly bills go up by $20 (£15) because of data centres".She said the timeline for the new data centres in the UK was "aggressive" and called for "mechanisms for companies to pay the price for extra energy to power data centres - not consumers".According to the National System Operator, NESO, the projected growth of data centres in Great Britain could "add up to 71 TWh of electricity demand" in the next 25 years, which it says redoubles the need for clean power - such as offshore wind. 'Fixated with sustainability' There are also growing concerns about the environmental impact of these enormous existing data centre plants require large quantities of water to prevent them from overheating - and most current owners do not share data about their water Hone, chief executive of industry body the Data Centre Alliance, says "ensuring there is enough water and electricity powering data centres isn't something the industry can solve on its own".But he insisted "data centres are fixated with becoming as sustainable as possible", such as through dry-cooling promises of future solutions have failed to appease some. In Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, residents are objecting to the construction of a £3.8bn cloud and AI centre on greenbelt land, describing the area as the "lungs" of their in Dublin there is currently a moratorium on the building of any new data centres because of the strain existing ones have placed on Ireland's national electricity 2023 they accounted for one fifth of the country's energy demand. Last month, Anglian Water objected to plans for a 435 acre data centre site in North Lincolnshire. The developer says it aims to deploy "closed loop" cooling systems which would not place a strain on the water planning documents suggest that 28 of the new data centres would be likely to be serviced by troubled Thames Water, including 14 more in Slough, which has already been described as having Europe's largest cluster of the BBC understands Thames Water was talking to the government earlier this year about the challenge of water demand in relation to data centres and how it can be UK, the trade body for all water firms, said it "desperately" wants to supply the centres but "planning hurdles" need to be cleared more quickly. Ten new reservoirs are being built in Lincolnshire, the West Midlands and south-east England.A spokesperson for the UK Government said data centres were "essential" and an AI Energy Council had been established to make sure supply can meet demand, alongside £104bn in water infrastructure reporting by Tommy Lumby Sign up for our Tech Decoded newsletter to follow the world's top tech stories and trends. Outside the UK? Sign up here.
Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
Activist Starboard buys more Salesforce stock after first demanding change in 2022
NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Activist Starboard Value, one of the first investors to publicly push Salesforce (CRM.N), opens new tab to make changes three years ago, increased its stake in the U.S. software company by almost 50% in the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday. The hedge fund reported owning 1.3 million shares in Salesforce on June 30, compared with 849,679 shares at the end of the first quarter when it boosted its stake by almost 52%. The move comes as the company's stock price has lost nearly 30% since January and is off nearly 9% over the last 12 months. Salesforce, which has a market value of $223 billion, came under intense pressure from a handful of activist investors in late 2022 and early 2023. But many who publicly pushed for changes cut their stakes or exited completely by the middle of 2023 after the company reported better results, added a new director to the board and made other changes. Now the pressure may be increasing again with Starboard, which is known to revisit earlier investments if the company is seen as backsliding on promises, loading up on the stock. While Salesforce's stock price gained nearly 100% in 2023, Starboard's chief executive, Jeffrey Smith, said late last year that the company still had room to become more efficient and profitable. A Starboard spokesperson could not be reached for comment on Thursday. The firm also increased its holding in drugmaker Pfizer (PFE.N), opens new tab by 10.5% to 8.5 million shares, less than a year after unveiling a $1 billion stake in the company and pushing it to improve performance. At Autodesk (ADSK.O), opens new tab, where the hedge fund settled its fight with the software design company in April, Starboard cut its stake by nearly 27%, the filing shows. While Thursday's filing is backward-looking, the so-called 13F filings, which detail what U.S. stocks a fund manager owned at the end of the previous quarter, are closely watched for possible investment trends.
