Business news live: FTSE 100 climbs, mortgage lenders raise interest rates

Hargreaves Lansdown are to make it possible for those investing in SIPPs to access private markets for the first time.

Two Long-Term Asset Funds will be made available in partnership with Schroders so that investors can buy into the funds which focus on unlisted assets.

It should go live from mid-September and clients can invest if they have a minimum of £10,000 to put in.

SIPPs have significant tax relief advantages, while private market assets are typically less-liquid and can carry more risk for investors than some stock market-based assets.

Insurer Phoenix Group has revealed plans to change its name to Standard Life as it looks to “bring its most trusted brand to the forefront”.

The firm – which has around 12 million customers and manages over £295 billion in assets under administration – said it would rename the group in March next year.

It comes after Phoenix bought the Standard Life brand in May 2021 following its purchase of Standard Life Aberdeen’s insurance arm in 2018 for £3.28 billion.

It’s a tricky time if you’re looking for a good mortgage rate with several lenders changing the deals upwards as of today.

• Halifax is raising fixed rates for homemover and first-time buyers products by up to 0.15%
• BM Solutions is raising rates on buy to let products fixed rates by up to 0.09%.
• The Mortgage Works has increased some five-year fixed rate buy to let products by up to 0.19%.
• HSBC are upping rates on some of their selected products too.

If you’ve been due for a remortgage deal, might be time to look at locking one in now.

If you’ve been waiting to snap up a new mortgage deal (or complete on a house move) for improved rates, you might be disappointed.

Moneyfacts data shows mortgage deals were only on the market for an average of 17 days before being altered – and with swap rates now rising, the sub-4% battle looks to be over for now and some lenders have increased rates on their products already.

Affordability rules have been relaxed though so it’s worth checking in to see if your circumstances mean you can get a deal you couldn’t do previously, says Rachel Springall, finance expert at Moneyfacts.

“First-time buyers may feel it’s not quite the right time to get a mortgage if they are struggling with the cost of living. However, lenders have been relaxing their stress testing over recent weeks by boosting loan-to-income multiples, so some buyers might be surprised to find they could now get their first foot on to the property ladder. Affordable housing remains a key issue, so there is always more room to help first-time buyers, who remain the lifeblood of the mortgage market.”

Jaguar Land Rover could face at least another month of disruption as a result of the cyber hacks, one report states.

The Times write today that the company computer system is currently almost “useless” meaning that JLR are “without the ability to perform diagnostic tests”.

Services cannot be undertaken on cars therefore and the report says it will be “weeks” rather than days to fix matters.

£5m a day is the figure being put on the cost to profits while they fight the issue.

More than 2.6 million people have an outstanding UK student loan balance of over £50,000, according to data obtained from the Student Loans Company (SLC).

As of August 10 this year, the highest student loan balance on records was £299,645, according to figures obtained from the SLC following a freedom of information (FOI) request from Compare the Market.

Some 2,652,997 student loan customers had an outstanding balance of more than £50,000, the SLC said.

More market movement now and another gain expected for the main market on the London Stock Exchange.

Pan-African is a £1.4bn miner which is currently listed on the AIM, but now they intend to switch to the main. Their market cap would see them placed in the FTSE 250 – a similar size to Wizz Air or Curry’s, for example.

Cobus Loots, Pan African’s CEO, said:

“Our proposed listing on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange represents a natural continuation of Pan African’s growth. Over the last decade, we have consistently grown both organically and through acquisitions whilst returning capital to our loyal shareholders. We are currently benefitting from the strong gold price environment which we expect will enable us to be fully de-geared (from a net debt perspective) during the course of FY26. We believe the proposed move from AIM to the Main Market will enable us to access a deeper pool of capital and enhance liquidity for the group as we continue our ambitious growth strategy.”

Project Glow Topco Limited, the ultimate holding company of The Beauty Tech Group Limited, announced their intention to join the main market of the London Stock Exchange.

The firm owns a range of at-home self care products which are tech-led. Last year the group reported revenue of £101.1 million.

“There are significant opportunities ahead for us and an IPO on the London Stock Exchange will provide us with access to capital, and enable us to raise awareness and incentivise staff to take the business to the next level,” said Laurence Newman, Founder and CEO of The Beauty Tech Group.

“I am very excited to embark on this next chapter as we look to build on our position as a trusted and recognised leader in the market.”

Recruiters have observed the steepest increase in available job candidates in nearly five years, a new report reveals.

The figures have been driven by rising redundancies and fewer employment opportunities.

This surge coincides with starting salary growth easing to its slowest pace in four-and-a-half years.

The FTSE 100 has started the week in positive fashion, rising 0.2 per cent this morning.

Out in front first thing is Marks & Spencer, the retailer up more than 3 per cent in early trading.

In France, there has been a lot of discussion about the state of their economy recently – the CAC 40 is up 0.5 per cent in a move mirrored across most of Europe.

Germany’s DAX is up 0.7 per cent with the Euro Stoxx 50 up 0.55 per cent.