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"The State Pension changed on 6 April 2016 for people who reach State Pension age from then onwards. This is men born on or after 6 April 1951 and women born on or after 6 April 1953.
The old rules (which include basic State Pension and Additional State Pension -SERPS) were complicated, making it difficult to know how much you’d get until you were close to State Pension age. With the new State Pension, people will know from a much younger age how much they’re likely to get, providing a solid base for their saving and retirement planning."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/your-new-state-pension-explained/your-state-pension-explained
Looks interesting.....
https://energypost.eu/whats-best-for-hydrogen-transport-ammonia-liquid-hydrogen-lohc-or-pipelines/
A UK high-power laser weapon could be sent to Ukraine to take down Russian drones, the defence secretary says.
According to Grant Shapps, the weapon could have "huge ramifications" for the conflict in Europe.
The DragonFire weapon is expected to be rolled out by 2027, but Mr Shapps said he wanted to "speed up" production and make it available sooner.
It follows a successful trial of the laser, carried out against an aerial target for the first time in January.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68795603
Down nearly 100 dollars.
https://www.bullionvault.com/gold-price-chart.do
at the top of the ftse 100 at midday friday were miners fresnillo, anto***asta, anglo american and glencore. they were up 5.2%, 4.3%, 4.1% and 3.7%, respectively.
"miners also helped to give the ftse 100 a lift as copper prices continued to climb thanks to the twin engines of supply fears and brighter demand prospects," explained aj bell's russ mould.
Paul’s opinion - I’ve followed IQE for years, and it’s always disappointed, but seemed to hold out the potential for great things in future, which fail to happen. Profits seemed to collapse in 2018-19, which suggests to me competitors have eaten its lunch since then.
It doesn’t seem to have any pricing power, or competitive advantage, but needs to spend continuously on heavy capex to make products that it doesn’t seem to be able to sell in sufficient quantity or margin to generate any cash overall. That’s why it doesn’t pay dividends.
It’s difficult to see why this company exists. Of course I have no idea what the future holds, but why IQE is valued at £274m, given its lamentable track record, eludes me. Maybe performance might improve in future? We're not predicting the future here remember, just reporting on the facts & figures as of today.
https://app.stockopedia.com/content/small-cap-value-report-fri-12-april-2024-epwn-chh-iqe-fum-994541?order=createdAt&sort=desc&mode=threaded
FTSE100 🔺 0.6%
https://www.ig.com/uk/indices/markets-indices/ftse-100
https://www.baha.com/europe-higher-in-premarket-between-ecb-s-decision/news/details/61842618?internal=1
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Thursday, while having a meeting with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, that the targeting of Ukrainian energy facilities is a "part of demilitarization."
"I want to emphasize that even for humanitarian reasons, we did not carry out any attacks in the winter. We did not want to leave social institutions, hospitals, and so on without a power supply," the head of state detailed. However, Putin claimed that now, Moscow was "forced" to attack energy facilities as Kiev was striking its energy sector as well.
Meanwhile, commenting on the Ukraine peace summit that will take place in Switzerland, in June, Lukashenko said that without Russia at the event, "it is only possible to agree on escalation." Putin asserted that Russia hasn't given up on finding a "peaceful resolution" to the war in Ukraine.
Baha Breaking News (BBN) / AY
Ever since Brexit, the City of London has been worried about its declining role in global finance. Those concerns were most conspicuously realized in the London Stock Exchange’s failure to win last year’s biggest initial public offering — by a British company, no less. But the more substantial risk involves the bourse’s current members.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-04-08/the-lse-losing-giants-like-shell-is-a-very-real-threat
The European Central Bank (ECB) announced on Thursday its decision to keep the key interest rate the same for the fifth consecutive time, maintaining the main refinancing operations one at 4.50%, the marginal lending facility one at 4.75%, and the deposit facility one at 4.00%.
The institution explained it based its decision on the recent data, which showed a decline in inflation, particularly relating to food and goods, weakened underlying risks to the figure, and a moderating rise in wages. Additionally, the ECB predicted consumer prices will go down to their target of 2% "in a timely manner."
"If the Governing Council's updated assessment of the inflation outlook, the dynamics of underlying inflation and the strength of monetary policy transmission were to further increase its confidence that inflation is converging to the target in a sustained manner, it would be appropriate to reduce the current level of monetary policy restriction," the ECB concluded.
Baha Breaking News (BBN) / JR
FTSE100 🔺 0.3%
https://www.ig.com/uk/indices/markets-indices/ftse-100
https://www.baha.com/Europe-mostly-up-in-premarket-ahead-of-ECBs-call/news/details/61835173?internal=1