News & Insight • Weekly Newsletters

24 September 2021 | William Buckhurst

That Was The Week That Was

MACRO

• In the UK, the domestic energy market is in crisis. Seven energy firms have gone bust in the past few weeks and many more are thought to be at severe risk
• In the US, a small spike in Treasury yields as the Fed chair said bond purchases could end completely around the middle of next year, from $120bn a month today
• Norway became the first big western central bank to raise rates
• In China, heavily indebted property developer, Evergrande, failed to make an $84m interest payment on an offshore bond

STATISTIC OF THE WEEK

30% of all footwear in the world is produced in Vietnam. Nike is over exposed with 50% of their shoes made there which led to them announcing they had missed ten weeks of production as Covid wreaks havoc in the Asian country having managed to sidestep the first few waves

COMPANY NEWS

• Royal Dutch Shell shares closed the week higher as it announced it had agreed to sell its assets in the Permian Basin to ConocoPhillips
• Prudential closed down after confirming that it planned to raise up to $2.89bn via a new share placing in Hong Kong

SMALL-CAP NEWS

A cocktail of Covid winners and losers turning the tables as both Mitchells & Butlers and Fullers announced they were back to 97% and 86% of 2019 sales figures, with trading continuing to be stronger in suburban and food-led brands, particularly in the premium market for the younger demographic. On the flip side Venture Life, the consumer healthcare company, saw a reduction in sales in H1 to £13.9m (from £16.9m) as hand sanitiser sales fell

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

1873: The Times reported that “Wall Street was the liveliest place in New York” as the early days of what is known as the Financial Panic of 1873 took hold. The New York Stock Exchange was forced to suspend trading for the first time in its history and the crash precipitated a depression that lasted for six years

2015: Volkswagen admits it has 11m cars worldwide fitted with devices to fake emissions test. The shares fall 20%

RE-OPENING TIMES

The new cold war? With $15m in private funding, a company called Colossal is aiming to bring thousands of woolly mammoths back to Siberia, thousands of years after they became extinct. But some researchers remain deeply sceptical of the plan. And if the start-up is successful, it will face serious ethical questions. Is it humane to produce animals whose biology we know so little about? And who gets to decide whether they can be set loose, potentially to change the ecosystem in profound ways?

VERMEER PODCAST – The Art of Investment

Despite the political uncertainty from Prime Minister Suga's resignation and a slower recovery from the pandemic relative to other parts of the world, Paul and Tim discuss investing in Japan and why Tim has turned even more bullish on this market in recent weeks

https://vermeerllp.com/news-insights/podcasts/21-09-22-podcast-what-about-japan/

MARKET DATA

 As at 24^th September 2021. Source: Financial Express

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