Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 little changed, rally runs out of steam,
- Dechra slides over 11% after profit warning
- House prices hit new record high - Rightmove
Meta plans to appeal €1.2bn data transfer fine
The record fine handed out to Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) risks carving up the internet into silos, according to Sir Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs.
Meta has said it would appeal the Irish decision which has led to it being fined a €1.2bn and told to stop sending European users' data to the US in a spying row.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission, which oversees the General Data Protection Regulation, on Monday handed down the fine for Meta, saying that Facebook (NASDAQ:META) had violated its rules requiring platforms to ensure data transfers from Europe to the US have appropriate safeguards in place.
Describing the move as "flawed" and "unjustified," the company also promised to "immediately" seek a suspension of the banning orders, saying they would cause harm to "the millions of people who use Facebook every day".
Clegg, the former deputy Prime Minister, said the data-transfer curbs risk carving up the internet "into national and regional silos, restricting the global economy and leaving citizens in different countries unable to access many of the shared services we have come to rely on".
Standard Chartered and HSBC rise after analyst briefings
Asia-focused stocks sit top of the risers in the FTSE 100 after gains in Asian markets.
Standard Chartered PLC (LON:STAN) is up 3.3% and HSBC Holdings PLC (LON:HSBA) is also higher, gaining 1.5%, after well received presentations to City analysts in Asia over the past two weeks.
Barclays (LON:BARC) said: “We came away from our two weeks in Asia - meeting investors, policy makers, and management - with greater conviction in an improving outlook for growth, earnings and capital returns at both banks.”
“Despite complex geopolitics, valuation for HSBC in particular is highly attractive," analysts at the bak said.
HSBC is one of Barclays' "key" overweights ratings across European banks.
Restaurant Group urged to spin off Wagamama
Shares in Restaurant Group PLC (LON:RTN) rose 3.1% after an activist investor called on the group to spin off its Wagamama restaurant chain.
The Sunday Telegraph reported the news which comes as the embattled management team is expected to be questioned about pay and performance at the annual meeting this week.
TMR Capital, the Floride-based hedge fund which took a small stake this month, has approached the group, which also owns Frankie & Benny’s and Chiquito, with proposals to sell off all its businesses except Wagamama.
The fund wants the group to expand Wagamama before taking it private in a sale.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 has slipped back from earlier highs but remains firmly in the green up 18 points. It earlier hit an intra-day high of 7,783.40.