Stock prices in London closed mixed on Monday, after a day of quiet trading at the start of another holiday-shortened week, as FTSE 250 firm International Personal Finance agreed to a £543 million takeover.

The FTSE 100 index closed down 4.15 points at 9,866.53. The FTSE 250 index ended up 93.01 points, 0.4%, at 22,407.51, and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.09 points at 760.14.

In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 0.1%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt ended 0.1% higher.

The pound was quoted at 1.3491 dollars at the time of the London equities close on Monday, down from 1.3510 dollars at the time of the early London equities close on Wednesday. The euro was lower at 1.1757 dollars from 1.1790 dollars. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at 156.04 yen, up from 155.92 yen.

Late on Friday, around the time of the closing bell on the New York Stock Exchange, the pound traded at 1.3504 dollars, the euro at 1.1780 dollars, and the dollar bought 156.50 yen.

London’s financial markets opened on Monday for the first time since last Wednesday, after closing for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

The markets will close early this Wednesday, before the New Year’s Day holiday on Thursday. The market reopens on Friday for a full trading day.

This week’s global economic calendar has minutes from the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting on Tuesday, before a swathe of manufacturing PMI readings on Friday.

Stocks in New York were lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.5%, the S&P 500 index retreated 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.7%.

The yield on the US 10-year Treasury was quoted at 4.12%, narrowing from 4.16% on Wednesday. The yield on the US 30-year Treasury was quoted at 4.80%, slimmed from 4.82%.

Pending home sales in the US grew by more than expected in November.

According to the National Association of Realtors, pending home sales rose 3.3% on-month in November. This figure surpassed the FXStreet-cited consensus, which had projected a rise of 1.0% during the month.

On a year-over-year basis, pending home sales increased by 2.6%.

According to NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun, “homebuyer momentum is building. The data shows the strongest performance of the year after accounting for seasonal factors, and the best performance in nearly three years, dating back to February 2023”.

Brent oil was down at 61.48 dollars a barrel at the time of the London equities close on Monday from 62.58 dollars at the time of the early London equities close on Wednesday. However, it was up from 60.32 dollars at the time of the New York equities close on Friday.

Gold bought 4,336.60 dollars an ounce at Monday’s close, down from 4,492.58 dollars on Wednesday and from 4,528.06 dollars on Friday. Gold had hit a record high above 4,549 dollars an ounce on Friday.

In London, International Personal Finance led the way on the FTSE 250 index as its shares jumped 5.9%. The firm said it has agreed a G£543 million all-cash takeover by BasePoint Capital, with the acquisition expected to complete in the third quarter of 2026.

Under the terms of the offer, IPF shareholders will receive 235 pence in cash for each share, valuing the provider of credit products and insurance services at around £543 million. IPF shares closed at 220.00p on Wednesday.

The offer represents a premium of around 31% to IPF’s closing share price of 179.2 pence on July 29, the last trading day before the company entered an offer period.

The agreed offer follows a series of approaches from BasePoint earlier this year. In September, IPF said it had received an improved indicative proposal of 235p per share, raised from an initial 220p approach made in July, and indicated at the time that its board would be minded to recommend the offer if a firm bid were made.

IPF’s board has unanimously recommended the offer, and completion of the acquisition is subject to shareholder approval.

Chairman Stuart Sinclair said: “Whilst the board continues to believe in the strategy and long-term prospects of IPF on a standalone basis, we recognise that the acquisition allows IPF shareholders to monetise their entire investment for cash at a fair price.

“We believe that the business will benefit from BasePoint’s ownership and its commitment to fulfil IPF’s purpose of building a better world through financial inclusion.”

Elsewhere, Everyman Media shares closed flat after chief executive Alex Scrimgeour stepped down with immediate effect, as analysts said “time had run out” for the boss after a profit warning and the resignation of the finance director earlier this month.

Mr Scrimgeour’s departure follows finance director Will Worsdell’s resignation two weeks ago. He is leaving at the end of March.

The London-based premium cinema chain has appointed Farah Golant, currently non-executive director, as the interim chief executive.

“Farah has extensive experience across the global creative, entertainment and media industries, and a track record of accelerating growth and cultivating high performance, results-oriented organisations,” said Philip Jacobson, the company’s non-executive chairman.

“Everyman has now lost both its chief executive and its finance director over the past fortnight,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell. “That’s unfortunate timing and means the pressure is on to find a new leadership team fast.”

“The share price fell by 76% during his tenure and time had run out,” he added.

Mr Scrimgeour has stepped down after Everyman’s profit warning earlier this month, where it said it was “operating in a challenging economic environment” with recent UK box office performance “weaker than anticipated”.

“It’s fair to say that 2025 wasn’t a golden year for new film releases, making matters worse for Everyman. Its recent profit warning was blamed on a weak fourth quarter film state, and the release schedule for the next few months doesn’t instil much optimism,” said Mr Coatsworth.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo, up 82.0 pence at 3,282.0p, Glencore, up 8.3p at 402.6p, Convatec, up 5.0p at 243.0p, Anglo American, up 57.0p at 3,069.0p, and Entain, up 14.0p at 764.6p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Babcock International, down 33.0p at 1,227.0p, Hiscox, down 21.0p at 1,407.0p, British American Tobacco, down 60.0p at 4,155.0p, BT Group, down 2.5p at 182.3p, and Halma, down 43.8p at 3,524.2p.

On Friday’s economic calendar are minutes from the latest meeting of the US Federal Open Market Committee as well as house price index figures for the US.

There are no events scheduled on Tuesday’s local corporate calendar.

– Contributed by Alliance News

The boss of cinema chain Everyman has stepped down less than three weeks after the company warned trading had been weaker than expected.

Everyman Media Group said on Monday that Alex Scrimgeour was leaving with immediate effect and would be replaced on an interim basis by non-executive director Farah Golant.

His sudden departure comes after the firm issued a trading update on 10 December where it cut its forecasts for revenue and earnings, sending its shares down 20%.

The cinema chain runs 49 venues across the UK and is known for its luxury seating and gourmet menus.

Mr Scrimgeour became chief executive of Everyman Media Group in January 2021 after heading French restaurant chain Cote Brasserie since 2015.

In its trading update earlier this month, the firm said trading at the end of the year had been “weaker than anticipated”. As a result, it expected revenues of £114.5m for 2025 and underlying earnings of at least £16.8m, down from previous forecasts of £121.5m and £19.9m respectively.

Chairman Philip Jacobson said Mr Scrimgeour had “played a pivotal role in the team that successfully led the business through its recovery from Covid, more than doubling revenue”.

Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell, said the outgoing boss had to “deal with a succession of crises from day one” including the cost-of-living, as well as the the pandemic.

However, he added: “The share price fell by 76% during his tenure and time had run out.

“While the cinema industry did manage to regain some of its sparkle post-pandemic, Everyman lost its edge in the market.”

Mr Coatsworth said the upmarket chain had once offered “a unique proposition”, but had since been copied by rivals, including Vue and Odeon, which have installed reclining seats and “also rolled out bars inside their cinemas”.

He added that it would be interesting to see if Blue Coast Private Equity, which owns a 29% stake in Everyman, would buy the chain, “opting to remove it from the public spotlight to enact a turnaround programme”.