CMC Markets appoints new CFO, Mitie buys JC Engineering

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Online trading platform CMC Markets said it had appointed Albert Soleiman as chief financial officer, replacing Euan Marshall, who has retired from the board. Soleiman first joined CMC in 2005 and became group head of tax in 2008. In 2019 he joined Bitfury UK as global tax director before rejoining CMC in 2020 to lead the launch of the CMC Invest business. Marshall will remain with the group for the next few months to "support the orderly transition" of the CFO role, the company said on Monday.

Engineering company Wood Group said it had struck a $330m services agreement with North Sea oil and gas producer Harbour Energy. Under the deal, Wood will provide engineering, procurement and construction and operations and maintenance services, including digital and decarbonisation solutions, for a number of Harbour's offshore assets. The partnership will run for an initial term of five years, with five one-year extension options covering Harbour's operated assets, including its J-Area, Greater Britannia Area, Solan and Armada, Everest, Lomond and Erskine hubs.

FTSE 250 facilities management group Mitie is spending £31.5m to buy Stevenage-based JC Engineering, a specialist in cooling systems for data centres. Mitie, which provides everything from commercial cleaning to engineering maintenance and landscaping, announced on Monday the acquisition prices comprises an initial payment of £21m and deferred payments of up to £10.5m over three years, linked to performance.

Newspaper round-up

About 7,000 businesses are likely to fail every quarter in 2024 as high interest rates cause financial strain and the UK economy enters recession, according to a think tank. The Centre for Economics and Business Research said debt taken on during the pandemic, higher borrowing costs and the cost of living crisis would drive an increasing number of businesses under, particularly in the retail and hospitality sectors. – Guardian

Officials are scrambling to secure extra electricity capacity for the likely home of Britain’s new sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) lab, amid fears the overloaded grid could undermine Rishi Sunak’s ambitions for the technology. The Prime Minister is understood to have become personally interested in efforts to secure extra grid capacity for a supercomputing lab in Bristol, which is the leading contender for a taxpayer-funded £100m “AI Research Resource”. – Telegraph

Drivers had to stomach one of the largest monthly fuel price rises in more than two decades in August, new data shows. The average price of petrol jumped up by 6.68p a litre last month to 145.57p, adding nearly £4 to the cost of a tank. Diesel shot up by 8p to 154.37p on average, adding nearly £4.50 to the cost of filling up. The increase for petrol was the fifth biggest monthly jump in 23 years, according to the RAC, while the rise in diesel was the sixth biggest monthly rise. – Telegraph

The boss of one of Britain’s biggest fund managers has called for a doubling of minimum pension contributions from 8 percent of pay to 16 per cent in what would amount to a huge change to the retirement saving rules. Stephen Bird, the chief executive of Abrdn, said millions of people were heading for an inadequate income in retirement because the present minimum 3 per cent contribution from employers and 5 per cent from employees was not nearly enough. – The Times

Millions of low-paid British workers should be given extra legal protections to boost their wages and job security, according to a leading think tank. The Resolution Foundation wants “good work agreements” between private sector companies and employees in industries that suffer from low pay and poor working conditions. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed in a mixed state on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33% at 34,837.71.

The S&P 500 added 0.18% to 4,515.77, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.02% to settle at 14,031.81.