STOCK MARKET WATCHLIST

AS ITS trendy US rival WeWork heads for a mega flotation next month, investors hope office leasing giant IWG – owner of the Regus and Spaces brands – will cover its new franchising model when reporting its halfyear results on Tuesday.

The firm, founded and run by Mark Dixon, revealed a deal that saw a Japanese rival buy its offices and the rights to its brands in April. The City wants, and expects, more deals to follow.

Ahead of this week’s interim results, Numis analysts upgraded the firm to ‘buy’, reasoning that these tie-ups could boost IWG’s value by 40 per cent by the end of 2022. No pressure, then, Mr Dixon.

GLENCORE boss Ivan Glasenberg will in three days lay out a blueprint to revive the fortunes of the mining giant’s troubled African copper business.

Glasenberg, a wily South African with one eye on retirement, has had a tough year and revealed last week that the division missed operational targets. Glencore owns most of Katanga Mining, a Canad a-listed copper producer in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has proved a thorn in its side.

Last year, Kat an ga, weighed down by bi g debts, was fined by the regulator for issuing false statements. Glasenberg is taking an active role to change its fortunes.

THE travails of the oldfashioned stockbroker are well documented and another City firm appears to have bitten the dust.

SVS Securities, one of the lesser-known outfits, has gone to the wall, I’m told. Plenty of rumours are flying around over the reasons, but there has been no response from the company as yet.

Those who know the sector won’t be surprised. Nor will investors in SVS’s rivals. Shares in listed stockbrokers Numis Securities, Cenkos Securities and Arden Partners have all tumbled amid dwindling dealing commissions and a lack of deals at the smaller end of the market.