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Tom Saunders

@tomjss.bsky.social
785 followers 465 following 50 posts

Financial Correspondent at The Telegraph. One of MHP's "30 to watch" young journalist Gold winners 2024

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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
Saba Capital just sees "an opportunity to get it on the cheap.” Read my interview with Jonathan Simpson-Dent, the chairman of the embattled Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust, as it gears up for an existential shareholder vote next week. www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Wall Street tycoon’s attack on City funds is ‘bad for Britain’
Boaz Weinstein risks hurting confidence in UK, chairman of Edinburgh-based trust warns
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
EXC: The UK's first prediction market might be launched as soon as this week. EasyBet is launching a similar product in February. Matchbook will launch its product at the end of January at the latest, and is also providing a white-label product for easyBet www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
US ‘prediction market’ gambling boom hits Britain
Sports betting group hopes to emulate Polymarket’s success in America
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
This is quite a big deal re Venezuela bonds. JP Morgan Emerging Market Bond Index has increased V bond weighting yesterday, by 30bps. That equates to a lot of forced buying (spread over months) that will likely see bonds head up to 60/70c.
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
As one hedge fund told me, trading in Venezuelan bonds after the country defaulted in 2017 was essentially a way to trade the Monroe Doctrine It's unsurprising then that some are contemplating investing further on the basis that Maduro's ouster is just the start www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Hedge funds prepare to pile into Trump’s Venezuela
British investors are betting that US-style capitalism will boost the socialist country
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Last week, the US military stormed a supertanker after it departed Venezuela's Puerto José terminal, carrying roughly 1.1 barrels of oil. Barely a week after the ship was captured, a tanker carrying British insurance departed from the exact same terminal. www.telegraph.co.uk/business/202...
telegraph.co.uk
Access Restricted
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
NEW: FCA to allow crypto margin trading Initial guidance from the FCA banned margin trading for retail customers, but new rules set out yesterday will permit it - as long as losses don't exceed posted collateral. Usual rules re retail lending e.g. forbearance/credit checks also not required
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Unfortunate timing: Yesterday: Dame Debbie Crosbie, Nationwide CEO, appointed government's new Women in Finance champion Today: Nationwide fined record £44m over financial crime controls, including failing to spot a customer receiving £27m in fraudulent Covid furlough payments!
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Some personal news - after 3 years at The Times, I've joined The Telegraph as Financial Correspondent. So anyone with anything interesting to say about banks, hedge funds and the like - please do drop me a message!
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Honoured to have won the European Parliament's Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism with @jamesdhurley.bsky.social and 13 other newsrooms across Europe. Our investigation looked at former owners of ships now in the Russian Shadow Fleet. www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pres...
europarl.europa.eu
Russian shadow fleet investigation wins Daphne Caruana Galizia Journalism Prize | News | European Parliament
On Tuesday, Follow the Money won the 2025 Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism for exposing the hidden financial networks enabling Russia’s sanction-evading oil trade.
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
EXC: The Treasury opposed government plans to force a Chinese company to sell its stake in a UK chipmaker on national security grounds. With @georgegreenwood.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
Treasury opposed forced sale of China’s stake in UK chipmaker
Court filings reveal it was the only government department against the divestment of Future Technology Devices International, which had sold chips to Russia
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 13/10/2025
More than three-quarters of the FTSE 100 and a similar proportion of the FTSE 250 make their shares available to US investors by cross-trading them on OTC Markets, known primarily for owning the so-called "pink sheets" in the US. www.thetimes.com/article/b553...
thetimes.com
Why UK-listed companies are flocking to the US ‘pink sheet’ exchange
In an attempt to receive more international exposure, more than three quarters of the FTSE 100 are now cross-trading on OTC Markets
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Honoured to have been shortlisted for the Daphne Caruana Prize for Journalism with @jamesdhurley.bsky.social and journalists at 13 other newsrooms for our collective investigation into the former owners of ships in the Russian Shadow Fleet. daphnejournalismprize.eu/edition-2025...
daphnejournalismprize.eu
Finalists 2025 – Daphne Caruana Galizia
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 22/09/2025
EXC: The US has collected $1.36 bn in tariffs from imports of British products between April and July this year, according to US gov estimates. That's ~ 6x the same period in 2024, and means British exports faced the 12th-highest level of duties of any country. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
US collects $1.36bn in tariffs on British goods
The amount is six times more than the previous year and suggests UK manufacturers are being squeezed hard by the effects of President Trump’s duties
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Nothing - the London-headquartered smartphone company - has raised $200 million at a valuation of $1.3 billion. No small feat for a company operating in an industry dominated by a small number of major players. www.thetimes.com/article/584b...
thetimes.com
UK smartphone company Nothing valued at $1.3bn after fundraising
The company’s co-founder Carl Pei plans to increase investment in artificial intelligence products
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 18/08/2025
While Trump has raised tariffs to levels not seen in a century, his administration appears to be struggling to enforce them - 🧵 www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
US tariff collection falls short as implementation issues bite
Revenue falls short of projections, with Oxford Economics reporting a significant gap between expected duties and those collected
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 06/08/2025
Interesting Calastone figs: * North America-focused equity funds saw net outflows of £330mn in July, the first outflow since October 2024. * Global equity funds (which are 60-70% US weighted) saw their second consecutive month of outflows, first time in Calastone's 10-year records.
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
In less than a month's time, the de minimis exemption will end for any business exporting to the US. I spoke to businesses in the UK about what it means for them: www.thetimes.com/article/b8bd...
thetimes.com
Tariffs D-Day now just weeks away for Etsy export crew
President Trump is closing the loophole that allows small businesses to send shipments to the US without paying duty — and he is doing it sooner than expected
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 29/07/2025
European semiconductor businesses were among the few clear beneficiaries of yesterday's trade deal between the EU and US as much of their exports will be exempt from tariffs. On the other hand, EU spirit makers failed to secure an exemption, at least initially: www.thetimes.com/article/bde6...
thetimes.com
Trump’s tariffs are still too high, EU businesses warn
Europe’s trade deal with the US has winners and losers, but as one leader put it, ‘When you’re expecting a hurricane, you’re grateful for a storm’
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Earlier this year, a cross-department raid on company formation agents led to 11.5K companies being struck off Companies House One agent registered ~5K firms at a single address in London. Most of which were based elsewhere in the UK, or not in the country at all www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
Thousands of firms struck off Companies House register in crackdown
Police and regulators using new powers to act against economic crime
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
The FTSE 100 broke 9,000 words today, then closed below it - but I wrote 1,000 words about it anyway. Interesting point - since 2019, defence companies have risen from 7% to 11% of the FTSE 100. Over that same period, energy companies have fallen from 19% to 11%. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
FTSE 100 breaks 9,000 milestone
Blue-chip index is outperforming global indices as a safe haven from global volatility
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 07/07/2025
EXC: At least 7 vessels exported Iranian oil or related products while holding British insurance from two British shipping insurers. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
UK shipping insurers are caught in Iran oil sanctions grey zone
Conflicting US and British rules pose a headache for firms trying to keep up with regulations meant to curb Iran’s shadow fleet
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
The number of entry-level jobs has fallen by nearly a third since ChatGPT was introduced in Nov 2022 More importantly, the share of vacancies which are entry level has shrunk over that same period to just 25%, suggesting AI is having a unique effect on grad jobs www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
Entry-level jobs plunge by a third since launch of ChatGPT
Retail, IT and accounting and finance are among the worst hit sectors since the AI tool began operating in November 2022
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
UK plc have been disappearing from the world's largest trade fairs. Pre-pandemic, UK biz were the 2nd largest exhibitors at Drinktec with c 100 companies attending. This year, just 25 will go. The disappearance has become so noticeable that even the CEO of CES commented on it earlier this year.
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Richard Caring has apologised after his restaurant empire sent a letter to suppliers demanding a 2.5 per cent "discount" on bills due to the "current increased cost of trading". Caring told The Times that the letter (attached) had been sent in error and was "totally incorrect".
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
Almost all artificial intelligence models are based on the principle of neural networks, a computational model inspired by the human brain. However, are there other, more efficient ways of building AI models? One start-up spun out of Newcastle University thinks so: www.thetimes.com/article/d34d...
thetimes.com
Northern Gritstone leads funding for energy-efficient AI start-up
Literal Labs, spun out of Newcastle University, offers an alternative approach to machine learning
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
Looks like the UK's tariff rate will be 10%, according to the poster Trump is holding up at his press conference. It looks like tariff rates are discounted by 50% though a global minimum of 10%
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Among the products facing duties as a result of Trump's steel and aluminium tariffs - fancy ovens and farm equipment. Various estimates have put the amount of UK steel and aluminium product exports affected by the tariffs at ~ $3bn. Read more here: www.thetimes.com/article/e6c9...
thetimes.com
Donald Trump’s steel tariffs hit UK exports with $3.4bn at risk
New US tariffs threaten $3.4 billion of UK exports to the US. One expert suggests this is a negotiating tactic, but will it work?
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Spelthorne council, which invested over £1 billion in properties including BP's main campus, is to be taken over by government-appointed commissioners. I wrote about bad property bets made by the council and three others in London's commuter belt last year. www.thetimes.com/article/resi...
thetimes.com
Residents count the £4bn cost of councils’ bad property bets
‘Unsophisticated borrowers’ have left four local authorities in London’s commuter belt owing up to 1,500 per cent of their annual income
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
For the first time ever, Rolls-Royce's market cap has surpassed that of BP. The vast majority of this is down to individual performance. Though Trump factor - combination of tariffs + European rearmmament likely pushing both over the edge.
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
CCEP is almost guaranteed to join the FTSE 100 at the next reshuffle. Combined with the other Coca-Cola bottler already in the index, Coca-Cola HBC, it will mean nearly 2% of the entire FTSE 100 market cap is dedicated to bottling or selling Coca-Cola products. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
Coca-Cola bottler will add fizz to FTSE 100 in reshuffle
With a market cap of £31.5 billion, CCEP will be one of the biggest companies when it joins the index this week, as Hiscox drops out
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
The Times has partnered with Shadow Fleet Secrets, which shows that more than a third of the tankers in the Shadow fleet were previously owned by European and US shipping companies, producing sales of more than $6 billion. This includes ship owners from the UK: www.thetimes.com/article/1be0...
thetimes.com
Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’ fuels lucrative trade in old tankers
Moscow’s use of vessels bought from Britain and the EU for its oil trade is pushing prices up by 60% and raising questions over shipping dangers and sanctions
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Reposted by Tom Saunders
Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 28/01/2025
Update on Yvegeny Prigozhin's legal case against me - UK law firm that acted for Putin’s warlord Prigozhin 'broke no rules' democracyforsale.substack.com/p/uk-law-fir...
democracyforsale.substack.com
UK law firm that acted for Putin’s warlord Prigozhin 'broke no rules'
Exclusive: Taking cash from a sanctioned Russian mercenary chief to enable him to sue a British journalist is not an abuse of our legal system, solicitors' regulator finds
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Reposted by Tom Saunders
Emma Yeomans @yeomans.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Military contractors, weapons-carrying cargo ships, and an enormous Russian military tugboat... @tomjss.bsky.social and I took a look at what Russian ships are up to in British waters www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...
thetimes.com
Russian ships seen in UK waters 40 times since 2022 Ukraine invasion
The Yantar, a Russian research and intelligence vessel, passed through British waters this week
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Yesterday the defence sec said that the Yantar, a known Russian intelligence ship, was spotted passing through British waters. It's not the only Russian ship with military links to pass through UK waters since Feb 2022. With @yeomans.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...
thetimes.com
Russian ships seen in UK waters 40 times since 2022 Ukraine invasion
The Yantar, a Russian research and intelligence vessel, passed through British waters this week
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
From BCG's Trade report: UK's Trade with China is set to decline by 2.3 per cent a year - despite the UK's more neutral stance as supply chains respond to the demands of the rather more heavyweight US and EU. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
UK trade to lag GDP over next decade, report warns
British trade will grow by 0.7 per cent a year to 2033, Boston Consulting Group warns, well below its estimate of a global growth average of 2.9 per cent
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 09/01/2025
EXC - Darktrace makes its first acquisition since it went private last year - only the second in its history as the company is set to become "more acquisitive" now that it is off public markets. www.thetimes.com/business-mon...
thetimes.com
UK’s Darktrace turns ‘more acquisitive’ with Cado Security deal
Cybersecurity group announces shift in strategy since going private last year in deal for cloud security specialist
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
In November, @jamesdhurley.bsky.social and I wrote about how an 'insolvency avoidance scheme' used Neville Taylor to help companies drop debt Today Taylor, who was listed as the director of over 400 companies, has been banned from running companies for nine years. www.thetimes.com/article/inso...
thetimes.com
‘Insolvency avoidance scheme’ still running despite crackdown
Creditors left empty-handed as owners of struggling businesses use Atherton scheme to dispose of debts and distance themselves from failure
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
The Top 10 biggest fallers and risers in the FTSE 100 + FTSE 250 over the last year (excluding the stocks that dropped out of the FTSE 250 altogether). Read more about the best and worst-performing stocks over the year: www.thetimes.com/article/911d...
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 28/12/2024
AstraZeneca has made about £45 million in payments to doctors and healthcare organisations in Russia since the war against Ukraine. It made payments of about £24.4 million in 2022 and £20.6 million in 2023. with @alexralph.bsky.social www.thetimes.com/article/ac81...
thetimes.com
AstraZeneca paid £45m to doctors in Russia since war began
Analysis of data by The Times shows that the British pharmaceutical company has made the payments over two years at a time when other multinationals have pulled out of Russia
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Tom Saunders @tomjss.bsky.social · 04/12/2024
Do public-private partnerships work as a way to channel private capital into infrastructure projects in the developing world? Short answer is, as far as the evidence suggest, probably not. Though in some areas, namely Telecoms, the model has proved effective. www.thetimes.com/article/d751...
thetimes.com
How one telecoms player solved the PFI puzzle
Helios Towers, which operates telecom tower sites across Africa, has bucked the trend and successfully used public investment to reassure private investors
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