Shares in high street bank NatWest turned lower at the start of the week as shareholders digested news of the company’s latest acquisition. Wealth manager Evelyn Partners has been bought for an enterprise valuation of £2.7bn off just £69bn worth of AUM, a multiple in excess of 25 times. Whilst management were keen to stress the value the deal delivers in terms of tapping into a high margin business line, it’s still a punchy bid. A £750m share buyback was also launched today but if that was intended to soften the blow, there may be some disappointment. NatWest shares are down as much as 4% in early trade, wiping around £2bn off the company’s market cap.
Keeping with the finance sector and Plus500 issued full year results this morning, with the company announcing some strong financials landing ahead of expectations including a 3% uptick in revenues and a 10% jump in EPS. Management have also announced $187m worth of capital returns via a combination of dividend and share buybacks, whilst the outlook remains robust with FY2026 set to beat expectations too. The Plus500 share price was up almost 7% shortly after the open.
Shares in the small cap miner are trading lower on Monday following news of a funding round. There’s almost £14m coming in from a strategic investor, whilst a retail offer for £2m will also be run, offered at a 44% discount to Friday’s closing price. With that in mind, the fact that the stock is finding material support is worth noting – it takes the holding of the strategic investor to close on the maximum 30%, whilst also underlining the strength of assets under development. The Cora Gold share price opened down 30%, rallied back to par and then dipped lower once more to sit 12% off just after 8.30am.
Most read news on Investegate this morning
Changes to the Executive Management Team - - TBC Bank Group (TBCG)
Suspension of Executive Chairman and CFO - - Phoenix Copper Limited (PXC)
