An Irishman has been arrested in Brussels after breaking off part of a statue outside the city’s Stock Exchange – which had just cost £15,000 to restore.

The building, known as the Bourse, was reopened just a day before the incident on Sunday, following a three-year £77million restoration project.

Shocking video shows the man, who appears to be drunk, climbing up the statue, which is called ‘the hand with a torch’ and is one of two which flank the entrance.

Astonished crowds watched as he clambered on to the sculpture, which depicts a lion and a man holding a torch.

As he goes to dismount the artwork, he grabs on to it to steady himself, snapping the torch and what appears to be part of the arm off as he jumps to the ground. 

The man is thought to have been intercepted by police in a nearby fast food restaurant soon after and arrested. 

The Stock Exchange now wants to recoup the thousands in damages directly from the man, Belgian media reports.

Nel Vandevennet, who managed the restoration project, told outlet VRT NWS: ‘The repairs are going to cost a lot of money because the work will have to be done by real craftsmen.

‘It is listed heritage and there will be follow-up from the monuments and landscapes agency of the Brussels region.’

Pictures show the erosion suffered by the stone statue before it was restored. Now, it will need to be worked on again. 

‘We would like to carry out the repairs quickly, but it will surely take a few weeks or even months,’ said Vandevennet.

‘The whole building has only just been restored to its former glory, including the two lions which were in a bad way. 

‘We thought the sculptures would enjoy greater respect. We just think it’s very sad this happened.’

The reopening of the landmark has been highly anticipated in the Belgian city, with guided tours being put on as tourists are welcomed back. 

It is not the only attraction to have suffered damage from tourists this summer, with Rome’s Colosseum targeted by a holidaymaker in June.

Ivan Dimitrov, 27, who also goes by the name Ivan Hawkins, was caught on camera by an American tourist as he carved the words, ‘Ivan and Hayley 23’ into the brickwork with a set of keys.

Then in July, a 17-year-old Swiss girl was also caught carving into the walls of the ancient amphitheatre.

The London stock market was dealt a fresh blow as Smurfit Kappa announced plans to merge with an American rival.

The FTSE 100 packaging giant, which has its headquarters in Dublin, is in ‘advanced talks’ with Georgia-based WestRock about a mega-deal worth £15billion.

The combined company, to be named Smurfit WestRock, would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange – meaning the cancellation of Smurfit’s London listing, which it has held since 2016.

The move is another setback for London as companies retreat from the City to the US.

CRH, the world’s largest building materials group and another Irish corporate giant, is switching its stock market listing to the US from London this month.

And London missed out on the hottest initial public offering of the year, with chip designer Arm shunning its homeland for New York instead.

Should the deal go through, Smurfit WestRock would retain a secondary listing in London and continue to be led by Tony Smurfit, who has been chief executive since 2015.

Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets, said: ‘The UK used to be where companies would come to consolidate.

‘For many years it was the merger capital of the world. That reputation has been lost.

‘The London stock exchange needs to urgently look at what it can do to stop the rot.’ 

Packaging companies have been in demand since the pandemic as people stayed at home and became used to ordering items such as food and clothes to be delivered to their homes.

The rise of internet giants such as Amazon has also boosted the sector.

Smurfit has its roots in 1930s Dublin, when businessman Jefferson Smurfit was asked to revive a small manufacturing business which was owned by family members.

Jefferson Smurfit grew under the leadership of the founder’s son, Sir Michael Smurfit, who became chief executive in 1977 and went about undertaking acquisitions in the US, Latin America and Europe.

Smurfit has for decades been a driving force for Irish business long before the domestic economy took off in the 1990s.

It merged with Kappa Packaging in 2005, changing its name to Smurfit Kappa.

WestRock, the second-largest packaging company in the US behind International Paper, was formed in 2015 through the merger of Meadwestvaco and Rocktenn.

International Paper tried to buy Smurfit Kappa in 2018 for £8billion but was rejected.

Smurfit Kappa said the new deal would create the world’s ‘go-to’ supplier with annual revenue of £27billion and 100,000 employees in 42 markets.

Its headquarters would be in Dublin, with an American base in Georgia. The deal would offer ‘complementary portfolios with unique product diversity and innovative sustainability capabilities,’ the company. 

Smurfit Kappa shares fell 3.8 per cent, or 122p, to 3096p.

Two of Britain’s best-known companies have emerged from the doldrums to become unlikely stock market winners this year.

Engine maker Rolls-Royce has been the best performing stock in the FTSE 100 in 2023 and High Street bellwether Marks & Spencer is one of the stars of the second-string FTSE 250.

Both companies have lost much of their lustre in recent years as businesses struggled.

But they are shining brightly again having both upgraded their outlook over the past month, even as the wider UK stock market struggles. 

 

Rolls-Royce: Engine maker and engineer roars back

Shares in Rolls-Royce have roared ahead this year, more than doubling in value.

Chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic inherited a business which he described at the start of this year, shortly after taking over, as a ‘burning platform’. But investors have bought into his turnaround plan.

Last month, the firm cheered investors with a profit upgrade – revealing that it will rake in £1.2billion to £1.4billion this year, up from £800m to £1billion previously expected.

That only added fuel to the Derby-based company’s explosive rise, which has seen the shares climb by 114 per cent for the year to date – though at 201.2p last night they are still far short of the peak of nearly 400p achieved in 2014.

> Read more: Rolls-Royce swings back to profit as air travel takes off

High Street sparkle at M&S bounces back

M&S has also been adding sparkle under Stuart Machin, who has been in place since May last year.

He inherited a company that was already showing improvement under predecessor Steve Rowe and chairman Archie Norman.

It follows years in which its bosses struggled to reboot the 139-year-old High Street stalwart.

Now, turnaround efforts are bearing fruit and M&S last week announced its own profit upgrade off the back of bumper sales.

M&S shares are up 79 per cent, making it the FTSE 250’s third-best performer so far this year and on course to return to the FTSE 100.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: ‘Many investors could have been forgiven for filing both firms in the ‘too difficult’ pile.’

> Read more: M&S shares soar as it eyes profit growth 

Jeremy Smith, Columbia Threadneedle’s head of UK equities, has warned that British firms looking to the US that there is no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

According to Smith, only a handful of British companies have ever made a success of the move across the Atlantic, adding that most have made no impression whatsoever.

Instead, Smith believes there is plenty of life in the London stock market but he acknowledges that the rules need shaking up.

Smith has called for the return of personal equity plans, or Peps, which allowed people to invest tax-free in the stock market, and in particular encouraged direct ownership of shares over holding funds.

As Chancellor, Gordon Brown got rid of them, thereby undoing Maggie Thatcher’s efforts to turn the country into a shareholder democracy.

Sir Howard Davies’ Ann Widdecombe connection

Little-known fact: NatWest chairman Sir Howard Davies lived in the same north London house as politician and Strictly star Ann Widdecombe four decades ago, when both were in their salad days.

Before the gossip-mongers go into overdrive, the pair resided in two separate flats.

Whispers hears that Widdy, now 75, was in those days much admired by Islington gents for her smart outfits and her shapely calves.

Horta-Osorio in Lakes restaurant

Who should be spotted at the Lake Road Kitchen in Ambleside – whose 12-course tasting menu for £165 a head has restaurant critics salivating with delight – none other than suave banker Antonio Horta-Osorio?

A fellow diner tells Whispers that the former Lloyds Bank and Credit Suisse supremo seemed to be less than delighted with the fare on offer at the foodie haven in the Lake District –unlike the rest of the clientele who were tucking in with gusto.

Vaizey does it 

Ed Vaizy is in the market for another banking role after leaving the New York advisory company LionTree.

‘Lazy Vaizey’, as the Tory peer is dubbed by some of his rivals, joined the firm in 2016 to hunt down tech deals across Europe.

LionTree, founded by Aryeh Bourkoff, has advised on mergers including Verizon’s take- over of Yahoo. 

Bourkoff is known for the company he keeps over lunches in New York, who include the glamorous former White House communications director Hope Hicks.

How many deals Vaizey got over the line during his stint is unknown.

                                                                       Contributors: Ruth Sunderland and Anne Ashworth 

Business-to-business cross-border payments group CAB Payments Holdings has confirmed plans to launch on the London Stock Exchange this year.

A trend of businesses spurning London in preference of New York has accelerated this year, with global banking woes pushing the sum raised from UK listings down by 80 per cent in the first quarter, according to Ernst & Young figures.

WE Soda yesterday dealt another blow to the market after scrapping plans to list in London over disagreements over valuation.

A final offer price is yet to be set for the CAB Payments listing but the initial public offering on London’s main market could take place as early as next month.

The offer will be comprised of a secondary sell-down of existing ordinary shares held by Merlin Midco Ltd and ‘certain’ other shareholders. The IPO will be targeted at institutional investors outside of the US.

The group said there had been ‘significant interest’ in a possible LSE float since it hinted at the move earlier this month. 

Analysts previously estimated that the company could achieve a valuation of between £800million to £1billion.

Ann Cairns, chair of CAB Payments, said: ‘Bringing CAB Payments to the public market underscores our confidence in the business and its value generation potential, as well as our confidence in the UK as the home for innovative and growing global businesses, and cements CAB Payments as a preferred payments and forex partner for blue-chip companies transacting in emerging markets. 

‘We have been pleased with the investor engagement so far and look forward to further discussing our value proposition with investors, based on our strong track record of profitable and cash generative growth that was built on the foundation of a well-invested technology platform, a compliance-first culture and robust governance frameworks, and a business model that delivers real economic development benefits to emerging markets.’

Barclays Bank and JP Morgan Chase and Co have been engaged as coordinators and sponsors for the IPO.

Claire Trachet, chief executive of business advisory Trachet, said: ‘Both global and UK businesses are still looking to list on the LSE, however, until economic conditions strengthen, and investor trust and appetite is restored, the city will continue to experience a largely inactive IPO market. 

‘I think we will eventually see an increase in UK listings, but this won’t happen until inflation numbers stabilise and looming recession fears fade, lifting the curtain on what remains an uncertain economic outlook. 

‘In the meantime, we’ve quickly moved into an environment where companies are seeking funding from private equity vehicles or strengthening their position through M&As.’

According to research by Proactive Investors, since the start of April, there have been over a dozen initial public offers, including four in the first few days of June.

In the secondary market, the research logged 20 fundraisers by existing listed companies in the last month for a total of just under £40million, the biggest of which was just over £6million, the smallest £250,000.

John Lewis of Hungerford has agreed a sale and leaseback deal on its Oxfordshire factory and head office, alongside plans to delist from the stock market.

The bespoke kitchen and furniture designer said it had exchanged contracts with TOF Corporate Trustees, the £6billion endowment fund of Oxford University, on its Wantage headquarters and manufacturing site.

Under the arrangement, the fund will pay £3million for the property and let it back to John Lewis for an initial 15 years in return for an annual rent payment of £192,000.

Completion of the transaction is expected sometime in the next fortnight, upon which the company will use part of the proceeds to repay a loan taken out with the Devon & Cornwall Securities loan agency.

John Lewis said the interest payments saved from selling and leasing back the property would mostly offset the rent it intends to pay on the new leaseback arrangement.

It also plans to use some money from the deal towards its strategic development plan, including upgrades to capital assets and a review of its showrooms.

Kiran Noonan, the firm’s chief executive and acting chairman, said: ‘The sale and leaseback transaction with TOF Corporate Trustees secures a strong strategic partnership with a fund committed to developing the Grove Business Park.

‘As the company continues to grow, we look forward to working closely with TOF Corporate Trustees to develop our property requirements over the coming years.

The business further announced its intention to delist its shares because of the ‘disproportionately high’ costs of having them on the junior AIM market.

It said around £250,000 in direct costs have been incurred in relation to the group’s listing through, among other things, adviser and broker fees, corporate governance and auditing. 

Noonan claimed John Lewis’s departure from AIM would ‘ensure management time is exclusively focused on the progress of the company.’

In its most recent half-year results, John Lewis reported losses more than doubling to £174,000 even though revenues rose by 18 per cent on the previous year.

The losses were partly blamed on ‘substantial and sudden’ increases in the costs of certain critical raw materials and the recognition of sales at the firm’s former retail price levels.

However, the group said margins should improve in the second half of the financial year because of price hikes and easing cost pressures.

John Lewis of Hungerford shares had slumped by 8.5 per cent, or 0.13p, to 1.35p on late Thursday afternoon.

A rare mix of House members from across the ideological spectrum is reintroducing legislation to ban stock trading this Congress. 

Moderate Pennsylvania Republican Brian Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the Problem Solvers’ Caucus, together with Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Calif., introduced the Restoring Faith in Government Act on Tuesday to prohibit financial investments by members of Congress, spouses and dependents. 

‘The fact that Members of the Progressive Caucus, the Freedom Caucus, and the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, reflecting the entirety of the political spectrum, can find common ground on key issues like this should send a powerful message to America,’ Fitzpatrick said in a statement on the bill. 

‘When members have access to classified information, we should not be trading in the stock market on it. It’s really that simple,’ added Ocasio-Cortez. 

Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez have frequently sparred over the years, with the progressive firebrand calling the Florida Republican a ‘bad haircut in a cheap suit’ when Gaetz said Rep. Jamie Raskin might be unable to perform his job through the grief of losing his son to suicide. 

‘Members of Congress are spending their time trading futures instead of securing the future of our fellow Americans. We cannot allow the Swamp to prioritize investing in stocks over investing in our country,’ Gaetz said of the new bill.  

Public momentum for a stock trade ban came to a head last Congress after ex-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband made a number of questionable high-value trades. 

A stock trading ban has had bipartisan support – and quiet opposition – in both parties in both chambers. ‘The dirty secret here is that members of Congress hate this, they hate this bill,’ Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who introduced another ban told DailyMail.com earlier this year. 

Last July Paul unscrupulously purchased  $5 million in semiconductor chip stock days before a House vote that handed $52 billion to semiconductor producers. He sold the shares at a loss to avoid ‘misinformation’ – or the appearance of a conflict of interest. 

The Pelosis have a combined net worth of around $46 million.

Many Americans had hoped to see stock ban legislation last Congress after reports revealed hundreds of lawmakers regularly trade stocks directly related to their work in Congress.

In September Pelosi backed a bill to ban congressional stock trades that some government reform advocates said didn’t go far enough. She and other Democratic leaders failed to bring a ban up for a vote on the House floor. 

Nearly 100 House members bought or sold financial assets that intersected with the work of the committees they sit on, according to a New York Times report from September.

Of the 435 House members, 183 traded stocks through themselves or their immediate family members from 2019 to 2021. At least 97 bought or sold stocks, bonds or other financial assets through themselves or their spouses that directly intersected with their congressional work.

The trades that intersect with committee work are split evenly on partisan lines – 49 Republicans and 48 Democrats.

Since 2012, Congress members have been bound by the STOCK Act which requires they report stock transactions of $1,000 or more by themselves or their family members within 45 days. Members of Congress are also supposed to be confined by insider trading laws.