British biotech firm Immunocore has picked the US for its upcoming blockbuster float, even as the UK scrambles to lure firms to London.
Immunocore, which is based in Abingdon near Oxford, said it was planning to raise up to $100m in an initial public offering on the Nasdaq.
The company, which develops eye cancer therapies and had been among Neil Woodford's investments, said it had confidentially filed documents for the float in November. It has appointed investment banks Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Jefferies.
News of its intention to float comes after the company last week received it had raised a further $75m in cash, taking its total raised to $873.2m.
The decision to pick the US is expected to come as a blow to the UK, coming just weeks after executives from some of Britain's most promising tech firms were invited to a meeting with Boris Johnson over how to make the UK a more attractive place to list.
A review is also underway by the Treasury into attracting innovative firms to list in London. Reports on Monday suggested the London Stock Exchange was pushing for the Government to cut down the time it takes for companies to go public in the UK.
Bloomberg said the move would still allow for analysts to form their views of the companies.
The plans to shake up the listing regime follows a number of high-profile tech firms choosing the US, including British fashion website Farfetch.
Filings from chip designer Graphcore appear to suggest it too is planning a listing in the US.
However, there has been some recent headway in attracting tech firms, with both Deliveroo and Darktrace gearing up for floats on the London Stock Exchange. The pair are both expected to join the exchange in April in blockbuster floats.
Deliveroo, for example, could land a valuation of £8bn, becoming the largest new listing in London for a decade.
05:55 PM
That's it for today
The Telegraph's Tech Live Blog will be back tomorrow, here's a reminder of today's headlines:
Chip chaos to clatter car production for 'up to nine months'
Car manufacturers could be waiting months to fulfil a backlog of demand for semiconductors, industry experts have warned, with automakers find themselves back of the queue, Alan Tovey and Matthew Field write.
Unexpected demand for new cars has left them scrambling to find the chips to build new cars, leading to shut down and delays across carmakers. This is because last year car makers cancelled many of their orders during pandemic shut downs.
While they have since put in fresh orders for semiconductors, these can take months to come through, and giants such as TSMC have been busy building chips for Huawei, which has been stockpiling to avoid US sanctions, and for long-awaited orders for Playstation and Xbox consoles.
And while this is a problem now, electric vehicles could make things even more challenging in the long-term, since EVs require even more chips than a standard petrol car.
Tim Urquhart, IHS’s principal automotive analyst, said the chip shortage was a “harbinger of the issues we will experience as we switch from analogue to digital cars. The chip shortage just shows the complexity of modern supply chains in the automotive industry. We will see more of these issues going forward as key parts of new technology are developed for new electric drivetrains.
04:56 PM
These are the best upcoming video games of 2021
Our games expert Tom Hoggins has separated the wheat from the chaff and lays out what he believes are the 30 biggest games coming out this year, including Halo Infinite and Hitman 3.
Its decision to choose New York over London will come as a blow to the UK exchange, following a significant charm offensive to attract promising tech firms.
The Treasury is, meanwhile, reviewing changes to attract innovative firms to float in London.
Some companies whose user base is mainly in the UK have made steps towards pursuing a listing on the London Stock Exchange, and both Deliveroo and Darktrace are expected to float in the spring.
03:23 PM
Audi slows production after 'massive shortage' in chips
Audi's Markus Duesmann
Audi has become the latest carmaker to be struck by the global shortage in electronic chips needed to make modern vehicles, industry editor Alan Tovey writes.
Volkswagen Group, which owns Audi, Seat and Skoda, has furloughed more than 10,000 staff because of the shortages.
In an interview with the FT, Audi boss Markus Duesmann said production of some of the premium brand’s cars would be delayed because of the “massive” shortage of semiconductors.
All modern cars contain dozens of chips but manufacturers are now struggling to get hold of them, after they slashed orders in the face of the pandemic.
Honda has temporarily shut down its Swindon plant due to supply problems with the electronics, whilst Ford said last week its plant in Kentucky had stopped production and Toyota paused some manufacturing in China.
03:01 PM
Don't charge those shielding delivery fees, charities tell supermarkets
Bosses from charities including Age UK, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Alzheimer's Society have written to supermarkets to urge them to waive online delivery charges for people who are shielding from Covid-19.
The letter, first reported by The Times, urged the CEO of Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Iceland and Morrisons to remove the charges, which could be up to £7 and require people to spend higher amounts on their shopping.
Online delivery stats
"Many of the people we represent face long periods staying at home for their safety, including those who once again are shielding. They do not have the choice of visiting their local stores, and instead must largely rely on online delivery."
The charities said it was "unfair" that people who had been asked to remain at home to protect the NHS were facing these charges to access food.
02:28 PM
What is Parler and is it back?
Before the Capitol Hill riots earlier this month, many may not have heard about Parler. But, now, the so-called "free speech social network" has received much attention, having been taken down by Apple, Google and Amazon over concerns about the content on the site.
But what is Parler and where did it come from? Michael Cogley reports.
The social network operated much like Twitter, with profiles to follow and "parleys" instead of tweets. The site prided itself on allowing users to "speak freely" and was against the use of fact-checkers, whilst users could "echo" posts they wished to share with their own followers. Alternatively "upvoting" took the place of traditional "likes".
Amid growing regulatory scrutiny on mainstream social media sites, Parler was seen as “filling a space”, priding itself on allowing free speech.
However, the company has come under fire in recent months over claims it allows conspiracy theories and extremist views to go unchecked. It has not responded to requests for comment.
Baroness Kidron: 'Adopt US trade bill amendment to remove threat to online child safety laws'
Baroness Kidron - David Rose
Writing in The Telegraph today, Baroness Kidron has urged the Government to vote for an amendment that takes kids off the negotiating table for a trade deal with the US.
"The US-UK Trade Bill poses a threat to children’s online protections, but tomorrow, Parliament has a very straightforward opportunity to remove this threat, the crossbench peer writes.
"I have no doubt that it is not the intention of the Government to trade away children’s safety and security online, but in trade, no one side gets everything they want. We are now a sovereign trading nation which means that the rules set out in the Trade Bill are the rules that we – as the UK - wish to live by.
"I would prefer the Government to reaffirm their commitment to children by accepting the amendment. If they are not willing to do so, then it will be up to MP’s to reaffirm that the UK is a global leader in child protection online by voting for an amendment that takes kids off the negotiating table."
Experts scramble to restore deleted police records
Priti Patel
Experts are working "flat out" to restore hundreds of thousands of police records which were accidentally deleted, the Home Secretary has said.
Priti Patel told the Press Association: "We want to reconcile the data, we want to correct what has happened but that is a major, major technical operation right now and everybody is working flat out on this."
The professional body for IT said today that the wiping of records had been "due to best practice failures in three areas".
The Chartered Institute for IT said it was "likely that a developer, test analyst and release manager would all have been part of the process leading up to the failure".
12:31 PM
Trump 'to block shipments to Huawei' in final blow
The Trump administration has reportedly pulled certain licenses which allowed US firms to sell to Huawei.
According to Reuters, the US Commerce Department issued “intents to deny a significant number of license requests for exports to Huawei and a revocation of at least one previously issued license".
Among those said to have been hit by the moves are Intel and Japanese chipmaker Kioxia - formerly known as Toshiba Memory.
Huawei and Kioxia declined to comment on the story, while Intel had yet to respond at the time of writing.
It was reported that as many as 150 licenses had been pending, with a value of goods and technology of $120bn before the latest batch of decisions had been made.
Huawei has consistently denied that it has ever been asked to engage in any spying on behalf of the Chinese state.
12:21 PM
Dido Harding to appear before MPs over test and trace
Coming up later today, Baroness Dido Harding will be appearing before the Public Accounts Committee over "what the plan is to make sure Test, Track and Trace can deliver for the future".
The scheme will have cost taxpayers £23bn by March. It has come in for heavy criticism, with ministers having been warned by epidemiologists that inefficiencies in the system would render it useless at inhibiting the spread of Covid 19.
Should test and trace be handed over to local authorities?
11:37 AM
Electric car owners face struggle to find public charging points
My colleague James Cook this morning reports on the growing concerns that drivers will struggle to find electric car charging points.
He reports:
"Local councils are planning to install an average of just 35 electric car chargers each by 2025. A total of 9,317 new charging points are due to be installed over the next four years on top of the 7,682 already installed in the UK, according to Freedom of Information requests filed by Centrica.
"Amanda Stretton, the sustainable transport editor at Centrica, said the findings risk creating an “unfair” environment for electric car owners without driveways who may be unable to easily charge their car in the future.
"'Charging infrastructure and energy systems will need to be upgraded to cope with the demand and support drivers,' she said."
The UK's Herculean task to meet the 2050 net-zero emission target
10:53 AM
Bloom & Wild raises £75m after lockdown sees more turn to online florists
Online florist Bloom & Wild today announced it had raised £75m from backers after having seen sales jump 160pc over the past year.
A surge in orders, as many people sent bouquets to loved ones that they were unable to see, helped Bloom & Wild break even over the year.
The British company said it had raised the cash from General Catalyst, Burda Principal Investments, and Index Ventures. It will be used to help drive its expansion further into Europe.
Aron Gelbard, the founder of the business, previously told the Telegraph the company was also looking into ways it could account for more of the "self-purchase" sales, where customers were buying flowers for themselves - a market which had previously been dominated by supermarkets.
As many high streets closed, online florists have accounted for a larger portion of these sales.
How to support British florists and flower growers
10:30 AM
Facebook 'must boost oversight powers' in wake of Trump ban
It is not just politicians like Oliver Dowden who are ramping up pressure on social media firms. Over the weekend, my colleague Laurence Dodds reported that human rights auditors were pushing for Facebook users who found themselves 'muffled' by its algorithm to be allowed to appeal to its new “supreme court".
He reports:
"An independent report commissioned by the new Facebook Oversight Board, which began taking appeals in October, found that it was making “good progress” but still lacked powers to challenge the social media giant’s decisions to amplify or bury certain content.
"The human rights consultancy BSR said Facebook has not yet committed to giving the board oversight of “visibility” decisions such as “promotion or de-prioritisation”, as recommended by a previous audit in 2019."
London-listed Funding Circle said it became profitable on an adjusted earnings basis in the second half of last year, and expected this to continue going forwards.
"As a result of Covid, we are seeing an acceleration in the shift towards online in small business lending," said boss Samir Desai.
Its income for 2020 was up by a quarter on the prior year, hitting £222m.
The company was among those taking part in the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, which helped provide loans to small businesses. It said by last month, it had been responsible for around 25pc of the number of CBILS loans approved since we began participating in the scheme.
09:35 AM
New UK laws will stop social media firms 'arbitrarily banning' controversial users
Decisions affecting democracy, like Twitter's move to ban Donald Trump, "should be made democratically", the UK's Culture Secretary has said.
Mr Dowden said the question should be "who should decide the rules" for the internet.
"We can no longer outsource difficult decisions. There’s now a burning need for democratic societies to find ways to impose consistency, transparency and fairness in the online sphere."
He said the upcoming Online Safety Bill in the UK would go some way in doing this, for example, stopping social media firms from "arbitrarily banning any user for expressing an offensive or controversial viewpoint".
09:04 AM
Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit reaches space eight months after first flight
Virgin Orbit launched the rocket, which was carrying the satellites, from the wing of a Boeing 747 aircraft - the first time it has shown that the "air launch" system works.
Today's sequence of events for #LaunchDemo2 went exactly to plan, from safe execution of our ground ops all the way through successful full duration burns on both engines. To say we're thrilled would be a massive understatement, but 240 characters couldn't do it justice anyway. pic.twitter.com/ZKpoi7hkGN
The company is separate to Virgin Galactic, which is working to take passengers into space, and instead is working on launching satellites which can then be used to help connect people to the internet in remote locations.
08:34 AM
$3,000 home learning 'pods' cause controversy in Silicon Valley
With millions of schools closed across the world, those with money and connections in San Francisco and the Bay Area have decided to take matters into their own hands, Teresa Fitzherbert reports.
"When news broke last summer that schools in Silicon Valley would remain closed, Lian Chang, a San Franciscan mother and former tech employee, quickly launched a Facebook group with an aim to connect families and teachers. She called it Pandemic Pods and within weeks its membership ballooned to over 40,000.
"Indeed, a host of startups have emerged to cater to this craze. Selected for Families and School House are both online market places, the latter even describing itself as “not just a COVID-19 replacement - we are building a better way to learn.”
"The problem, of course, is that pods cost money. School House requires a $2,850 deposit just to sign up and teachers advertising on the Pandemic Pods Facebook group can charge up to $100 an hour."
Samsung billionaire heir ordered back to prison over bribery
Samsung heir Jay Y Lee - AFP
Lee Jae Yong, the top decision maker at Samsung, has been sentenced to two years and six months in prison on bribery charges, following years of legal wrangling.
The ruling sees Lee put once again behind bars, following his release in February 2018 when his five-year term was suspended. The verdict said Lee "actively provided bribes and implicitly asked the president to use her power to help his smooth succession".
Shares in Samsung slipped 4pc on the news of the ruling, amid concerns over a power vaccum at the top of the world's biggest electronics company.
Chae Yi-bai, a former South Korean lawmaker, told Bloomberg: "This is shocking news for Samsung, but Samsung should wrap up this legal wrangling and move forward."
The 7% sell rule is one of the tools nimble individual investors have that larger funds which hold large positions among a wide range of stocks may not.
(Bloomberg) -- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. saw April sales jump 60% to NT$236 billion ($7.3 billion) as sustained artificial intelligence demand was helped by the beginnings of a recovery in consumer electronics.Most Read from Bloomberg‘Seriously Underwater’ Home Mortgages Tick Up Across the USApple Apologizes for iPad Pro Ad, Scraps Plan to Air It on TVMarjorie Taylor Greene Finally Got What She Deserved: DefeatMicrosoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio ClosingsThe world’s l
Can investors realistically time the market to maximize returns, especially over the long term? According to a recent study from Charles Schwab, perfect market timing is practically impossible. The firm’s research showed that most investors are better off investing as soon as possible using a buy-and-hold strategy rather than trying to predict short-term peaks and […] The post Forget About ‘Timing the Market’: Schwab Research Reveals the Optimal Way to Invest appeared first on SmartReads by Smar
This year started with a bang, saw a fizzle in April – but now appears to be regaining its stride. As we saw last year, the gains continue to be dominated by the ‘Magnificent 7’ tech stocks. This group of mega-cap companies collectively experienced a 48% year-over-year earnings increase in the recent first-quarter 2024 releases, in contrast to a 2% collective decline across the other S&P companies. Going forward, however, expectations are that the remaining 493 companies on the S&P will close th
