(Bloomberg) -- Happy Groundhog Day. Train drivers are striking, again; the Bank of England raised rates yesterday, again; and Emirates Telecom has raised its stake in Vodafone … again. So if it’s all becoming a bit repetitive, you might be interested in Yellow Cake, the British holder of physical uranium, who last night raised more than £60 million to buy the nuclear fuel. Their investors must be glowing.

Here’s the key business news from London this morning:

In the City

Standard Chartered Plc: The London-based bank has been granted in-principle approval by the China Securities Regulatory Commission to set up a securities firm in mainland China. 

  • The business will cover underwriting and asset management, with an initial capital injection of about $156 million

Vodafone Group Plc: Abu Dhabi phone operator Emirates Telecommunications raised its stake in Vodafone to 13% from 12%. 

  • Emirates Telecom said the investment rationale is unchanged from its May announcement, when it bought a 9.8% stake in Vodafone for $4.4 billion. It made the move “to gain significant exposure to a world leader in connectivity and digital services” and wants to develop opportunities for commercial partnerships, it said at the time

Yellow Cake Plc: The company has tapped London’s markets for £61.8 million to fund the purchase of physical uranium, under its agreement with Kazatomprom, a Kazakhstan-based uranium producer.

The company’s shares have increased in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which put energy independence in focus and policy makers considered nuclear power as a more reliable sourceBrave Bison Group Plc: The media company will buy Social Chain, Dragon Den entrepreneur Steven Bartlett's influencer marketing agency, for £7.7 million.

In Westminster

Britain’s rail network will be snarled by another mass strike today, with the biggest train drivers’ union warning that more industrial action could be announced if talks next week don’t lead to a breakthrough.

At first glance it looks as if both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank “ignored” the Federal Reserve's decision this week to slow the pace of interest-rate increases, says Bloomberg Opinion’s Marcus Ashworth. “But hold their respective statements up to the light and it's clear that a peak is approaching faster than policymakers at either institution are currently willing to concede.” 

In Case You Missed It 

This week, a little known but critically important software company that underpins the smooth functioning of stock, bond and commodities markets started to seize up. Here’s a closer look at the fallout of this week’s cyberattack at London-based ION Trading UK that sent derivatives trading across the globe “back to the 1980s.” 

Finally, a little-known company on the outskirts of London has grown into a payments-industry powerhouse, processing more than 1 billion euros in transactions every month. 

Looking Ahead 

Next week’s earnings highlights will include results from energy major BP Plc, drug maker AstraZeneca Plc, consumer goods giant Unilever Plc and Lucky Strike cigarettes maker British American Tobacco Plc. 

For a more considered take on the UK's economic and financial news, sign up to Money Distilled with John Stepek.

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