BUSINESS LIVE: Revolution Beauty approaches Minto settlement; Hipgnosis is facing a lawsuit; CMC Markets is cutting jobs

CMC Markets is set to reduce its global workforce by approximately 200 positions, representing 17 percent of its total workforce, now that the online trading platform has completed a cost analysis.

CMC Markets said it expected to incur one-off, non-recurring costs of around £2.5 million this fiscal year as a result of the job losses, with estimated annualized savings of £21 million to be achieved in the 2025 financial year.

Trading platforms had seen a surge in revenue during the pandemic and in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when market volatility increased.

However, trading activity was relatively more subdued in 2023, despite an increase in volatility at the end of the year due to the conflict in the Middle East, from which these platforms benefited.

“Cost reductions have been achieved primarily by merging support functions across multiple business units, streamlining reporting lines and automating processes,” the London-listed company said in a statement.

Hipgnosis Songs is seeking protection from founder Merck Mercuriadis against a legal claim by a former company against the music royalty fund, its investment advisor and the industry veteran.

Hipgnosis Music Limited (HML), founded in 2015 and now dissolved, had filed proceedings in November for “a diversion of business opportunities” against the London-listed fund and Hipgnosis Song Management (HSM), which Mercuriadis founded in 2017.

Hipgnosis’ board recently appointed lawyers to review the claim, a statement said.

She previously indicated that she was not insured against the costs of handling the claim.

“As any liability of the Company arises from the conduct and knowledge of Mr. Mercuriadis, the Company intends to attempt to obtain indemnification from Mr. Mercuriadis and Hipgnosis Songs Management against any liability that the Company may incur,” Hipgnosis said in a statement.

More than six million people live in areas where no public charging points for electric cars were installed in the last three months of 2023.

Analysis of the latest figures shows that 75 constituencies in Britain had the same number of constituencies at the end of last year as at the beginning of October.

In some areas where no more have been installed, there are hardly any public charging points. In Bolton West the number remained at 12, while there were six in Bootle in Liverpool and three each in Castle Point in Essex and Sheffield Hallam.

Revolution Beauty co-founder and former CEO Adam Minto will pay the British cosmetics company £2.9 million as part of a settlement agreement to resolve accounting issues that prompted its 2022 share suspension and a year of unrest for the group.

The British makeup company had previously alleged that Minto had breached fiduciary and other duties, and that the company was seeking to recover a “material amount” of related costs.

Alistair McGeorge, non-executive chairman, said: “We are very pleased to have reached an agreement with Adam.

‘This, together with the revised payment schedule agreed in December 2023 for the Medichem acquisition, means we can now focus on the future.

“We look forward to providing an update on our strategy at our upcoming Capital Markets Event on February 8, 2024.”