Market Buzz
Monday newspaper round-up: EU regulations, Vodafone, Entain
Boris Johnson has announced plans for legislation to make it easier to rip up EU regulations and protections, amid criticism from Conservative MPs that the government has not taken sufficient advantage of Brexit. The plans claim to cut £1bn in red tape expenses for businesses, but Johnson gave no firm details on which regulations are intended to be repealed or enhanced, instead stating five principles that would be applied, including the value of sovereignty and creating new markets.
Friday newspaper round-up: Bet365, Greencore, NI hikes
Denise Coates, head of gambling empire Bet365, was Britain’s biggest taxpayer last year, according to the Sunday Times Tax List. The Coates family paid an estimated £481. 7m, topping the annual ranking of billionaires’ tax payments for the third consecutive year. While the family’s tax payment was down from £573m in 2020, it was still almost £200m more that paid by hedge fund manager Chris Rokos in second-place with a £300m payment to the exchequer. - Guardian .
Thursday newspaper round-up: Car productions, rents, Tesla, Sensyne Health
The lowest number of cars rolled out of British factories last year since 1956, as the industry warned that rising energy costs and further shortages of computer chips will plague its recovery. Car production slumped across the UK and the world in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the globe, but many in the industry had expected a rapid improvement. Instead, the disruption triggered a global shortage of semiconductor chips, leading to an even worse 2021.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Airlines, probate, Elon Musk
At least 100,000 “ghost flights” could be flown across Europe this winter because of EU airport slot usage rules, according to analysis by Greenpeace. The deserted, unnecessary or unprofitable flights are intended to allow airlines to keep their takeoff and landing runway rights in major airports, but they could also generate up to 2. 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions – or as much as 1. 4 million average petrol or diesel cars emit in a year – Greenpeace says.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Meta, Aviva Investors, Govia Thameslink
Mark Zuckerberg has announced his social media empire is building what he claims is the world’s fastest artificial intelligence supercomputer as part of plans to build a virtual metaverse. The Facebook founder said in a blogpost that the metaverse, a concept that blends the physical and digital world via virtual and augmented reality, will require “enormous” computing power. The AI supercomputer, dubbed AI Research SuperCluster (RSC) by Zuckerberg’s Meta business, is already the fifth fastest in the world, the company said.
Monday newspaper round-up: Gambling industry, rate hikes, Unilever
Britain’s biggest cities have lost almost a year’s worth of sales during the coronavirus pandemic as lockdowns and a lack of office workers and tourists caused a collapse in consumer spending. As offices have started to reopen following the relaxation of plan B restrictions, the Centre for Cities said Covid-19 had “levelled down” historically more prosperous high street destinations. - Guardian .
Thursday newspaper round-up: Meta, AA, Go-Ahead, carbon emission permits
An extraordinary battle pitting New York multimillionaires against their billionaire neighbours is expected to reach fever pitch on Thursday when local politicians in the Hamptons vote on proposals to close an airport in the super-rich enclave. The East Hampton town board is expected to vote in favour of a plan to “deactivate” the local airport that buzzes with helicopters and private jets ferrying the uber-wealthy from Manhattan to their luxury beach houses. - Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Unilever, Together Energy, Royal Mail
Unilever has been warned that buying GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer products arm is likely to substantially swell its debt pile and could trigger a “multi-notch downgrade” to its credit rating. Ratings agency Fitch said Unilever would not be able to keep hold of its current A rating with a stable outlook beyond 2024-2025, and would be cut to BBB, if it were to acquire GSK’s consumer products division or another large business. - Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Energy crisis, gambling, Collecting Cars
Soaring energy bills could eat up more than half of some UK households’ incomes, a leading poverty charity has said, amid warnings that vulnerable people will be left unable to eat regularly or could even be at risk of death from the cold. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) said that while households across the board faced bill increases of 40% to 47% from April, there would be huge variations in the ability of families to cope. - Guardian.
Monday newspaper round-up: Fuel stress, GSK, Boots, Draghi
The number of households suffering from “fuel stress” – those spending at least 10% of their family budgets on energy bills – is set to treble to 6. 3m overnight when the new energy price cap comes in on 1 April, according to a leading research group. Fuel stress will no longer be confined to the poorest households, according to a study by the Resolution Foundation. Low- and middle-income families will also find it hard to cope as they spend a far greater share of their family budget on these essentials than higher earners.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Inflation, smart motorways, Unilever
UK households have suffered the sharpest fall in the amount of cash they have available to spend for almost eight years, amid a worsening cost of living crisis driven by high inflation and rising energy bills. According to a report by the insurer Scottish Widows, increasing living costs at the end of last year hit people’s pockets and led to the steepest decline in cash availability since the start of 2014. – Guardian.
Thursday newspaper round-up: Ovo, Hilco, EDF, HSBC
Ovo Energy is moving to cut a quarter of its entire workforce in an attempt to cut costs amid the growing industry crisis. The UK’s third-biggest supplier of gas and electricity is expected to announce the loss of 1,700 roles out of 6,200 as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme as soon as Thursday. Gas market prices last month reached an all-time high of £4. 50 per therm, about nine times higher than this time last year. - Guardian.
Friday newspaper round-up: Energy prices, Google, Ofcom, TPG
The global surge in demand for energy could spark another three years of market volatility and record power plant pollution unless countries make major changes to how they generate electricity, the world’s energy watchdog has warned. The International Energy Agency recorded the steepest ever increase in electricity demand last year, which triggered blackouts in major economies and led to historic energy price highs and record emissions. - Guardian .
Monday newspaper round-up: Household bills, housebuilding, NMCM creditors
Manufacturers have warned that Brexit will add to soaring costs facing British industry, amid concerns that customs delays and red tape will rank among the biggest challenges for firms this year. ake UK, the industry body representing 20,000 manufacturing firms of all sizes from across the country, said that while optimism among its members had grown, it was being undermined by the after-effects of the UK’s departure from the EU. - Guardian.
Friday newspaper round-up: Bain & Co, Hunterston B, Arm, Tesla
Boris Johnson should bar Bain & Company from lucrative government contracts in light of a judicial commission’s findings about the management consultancy’s “despicable” role in state corruption in South Africa, Peter Hain has said. In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former Labour minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged Johnson to “immediately freeze all government contracts with Bain” and to advise all public bodies to do the same. - Guardian .
Thursday newspaper round-up: Economic recovery, electric car sales, NatWest
Britain’s economic recovery stalled before the arrival of the Omicron variant of Covid and the dampening effect of the government’s plan B restrictions on consumer spending in the Christmas shopping period, a wide-ranging company survey has found. Businesses blamed spiralling inflation and shortages of imported goods for a decline in sales in the fourth quarter, which meant that an expansion during the spring and summer ground to a halt. - Guardian.
Wednesday newspaper round-up: Gas prices, fossil fuel firms, British Lithium
European gas prices have risen by more than 30% on Tuesday, adding to mounting concerns about the cost of heating a home, as supplies that usually come into Europe from Siberia continued to flow eastwards for the 15th day in a row. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied using Russia’s vast gas resources to turn the screw on Europe, after gas coming through the Yamal-Europe pipeline reversed direction three days before Christmas. - Guardian.
Tuesday newspaper round-up: Apple, UK house sales, Evergrande, Blackberry
Apple became the first US company to be valued at over $3tn on Monday as the tech company continued its phenomenal share price growth, tripling in value in under four years. A pandemic-era surge in tech stocks has driven the major US tech companies to new highs, pulling US stock markets with them. Apple became the world’s first trillion dollar company in August 2018, passed $2tn in 2020 and hit its new high as trading began after the holidays and its shares passed $182.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Vodafone Group, TSB, Inmarsat
Activist investor Cevian Capital has taken out a stake in Vodafone Group and is understood to have held talks in recent weeks regarding ways for the company to improve its performance. Cevian could push Vodafone to sell some of its assets around the world, strengthen key business lines or buy back shares, Bloomberg reported. Rumours regarding the outfit's vulnerability to a take over were already swirling last week with private equity outfits said to be circling.
Sunday newspaper round-up: Unilever, Morrisons, Aston Martin
Activist investor Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners has reportedly built up a stake in Unilever, which will likely pile on the pressure after the consumer goods giant's failed £50bn bid for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer health unit. The size of the stake, which was first reported by the Financial Times, is not known. Peltz had retired from the board of US-based rival Procter&Gamble just a few months before, but not before pushing for change that helped boost P&G's shares up by 85%.