There is a debate over the future of London’s stock exchange rippling out across the City and beyond, amid fears that the tide is going out on its status as a trading centre. This week, research run by investment bank Peel Hunt and the Standard revealed the value of companies heading out of London’s stock exchange neared £100 billiion. But there is another landmark moment approaching more quietly for a service that has long been a vital part of the City, and the story of its longevity reflects the transformation of share ownership in the UK, not least in the way it helped unlock a vital source of capital. Now known as Investegate, it goes back to before the Big Bang reforms of the 1980s and operated throughout the rise of shareholder capitalism and the age of the internet, it remains the shop window on the City. It is still one of the best-used ways of screening the company announcements released each day, which make up the lifeblood of trading decisions which unite money with opportunity. Delivering around 3.5 million page impressions per month, it is about to handle is nine-millionth news release, running in real time and offering investors...