MARKET REPORT: Molten Ventures profits as Revolut value soars

Revolut may not be to everyone’s taste, but one of the companies that uncorked the champagne was Molten Ventures.

The venture capital boutique said the value of its stake in the banking app has more than doubled to £160m.

This comes after Revolut, which was granted a banking licence in July after a three-year wait, was valued this month at £35bn after selling almost £400m of shares.

The share sale cemented Revolut’s position as Europe’s most valuable startup and made it worth more than Barclays and Lloyds.

In an update to investors, Molten Ventures said its stake in Revolut is worth an additional £95m. The stake had previously been valued at £65m in March this year.

Molten Ventures CEO Martin Davis said: “Revolut has been going from strength to strength recently. It’s great to see the company able to reward its people for their contribution to its growth, and at a valuation that offers a significant upside to our own.”

Shares rose 2.9 percent, or 11.5 pence, to 406.5 pence.

Elsewhere, water companies felt that sinking feeling as Pennon, owner of South West Water (SWW), lost ground.

This comes after environmental regulator the Environment Agency warned it is considering legal action against SWW following a sewage spill in Devon.

Last week, bathers were ordered to avoid going into the sea at Exmouth beach after a sewer burst on private land near the sewage treatment works on Maer Lane.

Clarissa Newell, regulatory manager at the Environment Agency, told BBC Radio Devon this could range from a warning to criminal prosecution.

South West Water said it had temporarily repaired the broken sewer pipe, but the spill has raised concerns about the impact on local tourism.

Pennon shares fell 2.5 per cent, or 15p, to 591p. Rivals Severn Trent (down 2.5 per cent, or 62p, to 2,470p) and United Utilities (down 1.1 per cent, or 11p, to 973.2p) also struggled.

South West Water serves 1.8 million customers across Cornwall, Devon, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset. It is the latest scandal for the group, after some customers in Devon fell ill after drinking water contaminated with parasites in May.

And last month, water regulator Ofwat expanded its investigation into wastewater spills across the industry, with all 11 companies in England and Wales under review.

The FTSE100 rose 0.12 percent, or 10.11 points, to 8,283.43 and the FTSE250 added 0.96 percent, or 201.04 points, to 21,187.19.

UK borrowing soared last month due to a surge in public sector spending, figures from the Office for National Statistics show.

A rally in iron ore prices, fueled by hopes of a recovery in China’s troubled property sector, lifted mining stocks.

Anglo American added 1.5 percent, or 33.5 pence, to 2,277.5 pence and Rio Tinto rose 1.2 percent, or 58.5 pence, to 4,835.5 pence.

But BT fell for a second day as investors reeled from Sky’s broadband partnership with network provider CityFibre.

The shares, which fell 6.4 percent on Tuesday, fell 1.1 percent, or 1.5 pence, to 134.8 pence.

Shares in Watkin Jones fell 32.8 percent, or 16.7 pence, to 34.2 pence after the property developer warned that a drop in transactions would hit profits.

The group is unlikely to complete any more deals this year as transactions over the summer have been hit by uncertainty over the pace of interest rate cuts.

As a result, profits should be between £10m and £12m for the 12 months to 30 September, but are unlikely to be higher next year.