NatWest hit a milestone last week when the Government’s stake in the bank fell below 30 per cent, meaning it is no longer a controlling shareholder.
It comes as the Treasury draws up plans to offer some of its remaining stake to individual investors over the summer – a far cry from when it bailed out the bank in the 2008 financial crash.
Whispers hears Whitehall is considering pulling out all the stops in a marketing blitz to spread the word to the investing public.
Large audience: Among the options said to be under consideration are advertising the sale on video sharing app TikTok
Among the options said to be under consideration are advertising the sale on video sharing app TikTok, which has a large audience of young people.
Whitehall has also hired crack ad agency M&C Saatchi to help market the sale, while a team from Barclays will aim to ensure any campaign does not fall foul of strict rules around financial promotions.
We eagerly await what the Mad Men of Whitehall will cook up.
THG upbeat
Matt Moulding took to LinkedIn to share some upbeat news for THG that was, for once, not authored by himself.
The Hut Group founder heaped praise on broker Peel Hunt’s ‘buy’ rating and target price of £1.41 for the e-commerce group – double its current price of 69p.
He also lashed out at other analysts and the media, which he said had branded him ‘some sort of charlatan, building a ‘bag of spanners’ company from Manchester’.
Rule Britannia over British Isa
The Chancellor is hoping his British Isa will boost London’s stock market. But it seems most investors don’t need convincing.
Investment platform eToro quizzed 1,000 UK-based personal investors and revealed last week that those holding British stocks was at its highest in a year, up 10 per cent on the last quarter of 2023. Four out of five held UK-listed stocks in their portfolio.
Even more surprisingly, it was younger investors backing Britain, with 39 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds expecting the UK market to outperform its peers over the next five years.
Just 9 per cent of investors aged over 55 thought the same. Rule Britannia!
Overbearing bosses, you’re on notice…
When recruiting a boss you would think organisational skills would be at the top of the wish list. But there may be such a thing as being too organised.
A new report from Durham University Business School found bosses who ‘prioritise planning and organisation’ can be a handicap if a firm must adapt to external shocks.
Being ‘more rigid in their practices’ made it ‘more difficult for them to change their ways’. Less surprisingly, those who are ‘anxious and stressed easily’ also did not fare so well.
As a result, the researchers recommended firms facing a volatile business environment would do better to seek a boss ‘who is less conscientious and neurotic’. Overbearing bosses, you’re on notice…
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