Hit: Conservative peer Lord Cruddas
Lord Cruddas saw more than £100m wiped off his paper wealth yesterday after shares in CMC Markets plunged 20 per cent.
The rags-to-riches Tory peer, who founded the trading firm in 1989, watched the value of his stake dwindle after the business said it was suffering from rising costs.
The warning tops a month to forget for Cruddas, who is a staunch ally of outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Just last week over a lunch at Chequers, Cruddas claims Johnson told him that he ‘does not want to resign’ and discussed a campaign called ‘bring back Boris’.
Cruddas, a former Tory party treasurer and donor, threatened to cut off any future funding to the party if former chancellor Rishi Sunak, who he described as a ‘treacherous snake’ on social media, was successful in replacing Johnson in No 10.
The fall in CMC’s share price came as it admitted its expansion projects – including an investment platform – are proving more expensive than thought.
The weaker pound is also proving problematic, as CMC also has an Australian stockbroking business.
Now, when it needs to spend money on that unit, it must splash out more in sterling.
Investors took fright with shares tumbling 20 per cent, or 61.5p, to 246.5p. Cruddas owns 165.2m shares, now worth £407m, and his wife Fiona owns 9m shares worth £22m.
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