FTSE 100 Live: Index surges near record to end quarter, Lloyd's of London 'best results in recent memory'
Stock markets are ending a strong quarter on the front foot, with the FTSE 100 index back near the 8000 threshold, despite tech disruption earlier today.
JD Sports Fashion is among those reporting today, while the Lloyd’s of London insurance marketplace has posted the best results in its recent history.
Today’s developments also include the funding crisis at Thames Water and confirmation that the UK entered recession at the end of 2023 with GDP figures unrevised.
FTSE 100 Live Thursday
Lloyd’s of London profits surge
Thames Water in funding blow
GDP figures confirm recession
Rise in nightclub closures makes a mockery of ‘24-hour London’ claims
16:25 , Daniel O'Boyle
London is still one of the hardest global cities in which to enjoy a drink out with friends late at night.
Once the last orders bell has been sounded just before 11pm, or in some cases midnight, claims that London is a 24-hour city ring very hollow. Incredibly the situation is only getting worse. Recent figures from the Night Time Industries Association show the rate of closure of bars, clubs and pubs has not slowed down since the end of the pandemic.
Market snapshot
16:14 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 is on course for a strong end to the quarter
Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison
15:50 , Daniel O'Boyle
Sam Bankman-Fried has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the FTX scandal.
He was convicted of fraud after the crypto trading site he founded collapsed.
City Comment: The Thames Water crisis is an unseemly stand-off — with Londoners caught in the middle
15:39 , Daniel O'Boyle
The first thing that needs to be said about Thames Water-gate is that the taps will not run dry. That is totally out of the question.
The issue is, who is to pay to keep the water flowing and the toilets flushing?
Shareholders are saying no, and the painfully stretched balance sheet of Thames’s parent company Kemble Water Holdings means that the debt markets are not an option.
What about customers? Ofwat are sticking to their guns and refusing to sanction the 40% increase in bills that Thames is demanding and any significantly above-inflation rise will be seen as unacceptable.
That only leaves the poor old perennial tail-end Charlies, the taxpayer, to stump up if the worst comes to the worst.
Market snapshot: FTSE 100 surges further
15:13 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our latest data as the FTSE 100 gets ever-closer to record levels
'Unusual to have high savings rate without spike in unemployment'
14:43 , Daniel O'Boyle
Panmure Gordon economist Simon French notes that the UK’s high savings rate yet historically low unemployment has been an unusual contrast.
Market snapshot as FTSE nears 8000
14:40 , Daniel O'Boyle
Take a look at our latest market data
Strong demand for skincare helps Boots sales grow further
14:16 , Daniel O'Boyle
Boots has hailed another quarter of sales growth as the chain was boosted by increased demand for skincare.
The retail and pharmacy company, which has around 2,000 stores, said sales were notably “strong” over Christmas – with shoppers snapping up items such as branded gift sets.
Boots’ UK boss Sebastian James said he is pleased to see “positive momentum” continue in recent months.
Independent reaches deal to take over BuzzFeed in the UK
14:10 , Daniel O'Boyle
The company behind the Independent will take over BuzzFeed and the HuffPost in the UK as part of a deal which brings together several major online brands.
Independent Digital News and Media said on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with US-based BuzzFeed Inc which will create a “digital supergroup.”
The group will be managed by the Independent and staff from BuzzFeed UK, HuffPost and Tasty UK will move over to the online news publication.
FTSE 100 and 250 disrupted by outage, now over
13:44 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 and 250 indices were disrupted for an hour by an outage earlier today, the London Stock Exchange Group said.
Trading in individual shares continued, but the flagship indices did not update.
It’s the latest tech trouble for the exchange after three in quick succession early in the year.
Energy Price Cap to decline further in July, but rise this winter, experts say
13:34 , Daniel O'Boyle
Energy bills are set to dip by another 7.7% in July, on top of next week’s sharp fall, but will rise again by next winter, sector experts project.
Energy consultancy Cornwall Insight has published its latest projections for the Energy Price Cap. Based on current wholesale energy prices and futures markets, Cornwall predicts that the cap figure will fall to £1,560 on 1 July. However, it will then rise to £1,631 on 1 October, before remaining close to unchanged at £1,634 for the three months from 1 January.
The April-to-June cap figure has already been set by the Government at £1,690.
US growth revised up to 3.4%
13:03 , Daniel O'Boyle
The US economy grew even faster than previously thought at the end of 2023, according to revised figures.
GDP was up by an annualised rate of 3.4% in the fourth quarter, compared to initial estimates of 3.2%, the Bureau of Economic Analysis said.
It’s the latest sign of the post-Covid US economy soaring along, while Europeann economies including the UK have had a much slower recovery. Updated figures this morning showed UK GDP declined in the fourth quarter.
210,000 US jobless claims
12:40 , Daniel O'Boyle
US jobless claims for the week came to 210,000.
The figure is in line with expectations, so is unlikely to change the Fed’s plans for interrest rate cuts.
Tomorrow, The US will publish the latest PCE inflation figures, which are closely watched by the Fed.
Thames Water dividend payouts in spotlight after shareholders pull funding
12:21 , Daniel O'Boyle
The UK’s largest water company Thames Water is scrambling to find extra cash, as it handed out millions of pounds worth of dividends to shareholders and bonuses to top bosses in recent years.
Shareholders of the firm said on Thursday that industry regulations make its business plan “uninvestible”, after previously agreeing to an emergency funding package.
The stark update highlights the deepening financial woes for the firm which is sitting on a debt pile of £14.7 billion.
Baltimore bridge collapse may be the biggest ever marine insurance loss, says Lloyd's of London chairman
11:42 , Daniel O'Boyle
The chairman of the City’s global insurance marketplace, Lloyd’s of London, said this week’s Baltimore bridge incident could spark the biggest loss of its kind in the industry.
Bruce Carnegie Brown told the Standard that the incident – in which The Dali cargo ship destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge by colliding with one of its supports –“has the capacity to be the largest ever single marine insurance loss”.
He pointed to three dimensions on the Baltimore claims, covering “the bridge itself, the ship and its cargo, and second order losses which will arise from supply chain interruption – the ships that are trapped in Baltimore and can’t get out and the ships in transit to Balitmore that now need to find a different harbour or port of entry into the United States.”
Muji files for administration in latest retail insolvency
11:23 , Daniel O'Boyle
The European arm of Japense retailer Muji has filed for administration, in the latest high-street business insolvency.
The shops will remain open, and a pre-pack deal is expected which would save the business. Muji has six stores in London. It is known for its minimalist Japanese designs, for both clothes and home goods.
The news was first reported by TheBusinessDesk.com.
Spirent shares get fresh takeover lift, FTSE 100 higher
10:36 , Graeme Evans
Shares in FTSE 250-listed Spirent Communications have risen 11% or 19p to 198p after its board backed a new takeover bid worth over £1.1 billion.
The equipment testing firm switched its support after America’s Keysight Technologies pitched an approach at a 15% premium to one by Viavi Solutions.
The new 199p a share approach by New York-listed Keysight, which used to be part of the Hewlett Packard group and is worth about $28 billion, represents an 86% premium on Spirent’s price prior to takeover interest earlier this month.
Amid tough trading conditions, Spirent chief executive Eric Updyke said directors welcomed the “broader reach and expanded long-term prospects” of ownership under Keysight.
Spirent’s jump and a strong performance by AO World contributed to a positive session by the FTSE 250 index, which added 17.06 points to 19,827.72.
The FTSE 100 index is within 50 points of a record high after today’s rise of 38.61 points to 7970.59.
The improvement reflected a strong showing for banks and miners, led by HSBC after a gain of 11.5p to 626.5p. Lloyds Banking Group also continued its positive run with a rise of 0.6p to 52.3p and Glencore lifted 6.25p to 435p.
The fallers board featured M&G, Smith & Nephew and Taylor Wimpey after their shares traded without the right to the latest dividend.
‘Growing buyer confidence’ in housing market as sale discounts get smaller
10:12 , Daniel O'Boyle
House sellers are typically shaving £10,000 off their original asking price to achieve a sale, according to a property website.
Across the UK, the average discount of 3.9% recorded in March is a “marked improvement” compared with an average discount of £14,250 or 4.5% recorded in November 2023, Zoopla said.
Its report said the narrowing “reflects a combination of greater realism from sellers on their asking price and growing buyer confidence”.
Arbuthnot reaches the parts other banks ignore
09:57 , Simon English
ARBUTHNOT Bank today said it is reaping the rewards from the personal touch it offers its small and medium sized clients.
Profit for the year more than doubled to £47 million, allowing the payment of a total dividend of 46p -- £6 million in all.
Chairman Sir Henry Angest gets the lions share of that as a 57% shareholder.
Andrew Salmon, chief operating officer, said: “Rising interest rates have helped us, but they wouldn’t if we had not developed the commercial banking arm. Poor old SMEs have been shunned by the big banks – we are providing the service they are looking for.”
The bank will move in August to new offices at Finsbury Circus that will house 500 staff.
Customer deposits increased by 21% to £3.8 billion.
Sir Henry said: "Arbuthnot delivered an exceptional performance in 2023, enabled by the continued delivery of the Group's "Future State 2" strategic plan, focused on diversification, first-rate client service and helped by rising interest rates. We are confident that the continued delivery of our strategic plan will enable Arbuthnot to prosper through the softening monetary environment we anticipate in the year ahead."
Cowgill to seize more power at Quiz Clothing
09:49 , Simon English
Former JD Sports chief Peter Cowgill is going to take a more hands-on role at Quiz Clothing, days after CEO Tarak Ramzan stood down.
Sales for the year to February were £8.6 million, a 9% fall.
Quiz said: “The group is taking a number of positive steps to counter the impact of the declining revenues including targeting cost savings for the forthcoming year, eliminating loss making activities, reviewing operational efficiencies and optimising its product offer.”
Ramzan, the largest shareholder, will be replaced by his son Sheraz, the current chief commercial officer.
Cowgill, who left JD Sports against his will after an acrimonious battle, is leading a review of the business.
He will implement a turnaround strategy “to recalibrate the Quiz brand, its product offering, and reconnect with consumers with the aim of moving the business back into profitable growth”, said the company.
Quiz shares were steady today at 5.5p which leaves the company worth just less than £7 million. The stock was nearer 30p five years ago.
FTSE 100 edges towards 8000, Spirent and AO World lead FTSE 250
08:49 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 is closer to its February 2023 record above 8000, with mining and banking stocks underpinning the latest rise of 19.23 points to 7951.21.
HSBC improved 7.6p to 622.6p, while Lloyds Banking Group continued its strong run with a gain of 0.6p to 52.3p and Glencore added 3.7p to 432.45p.
The best stock was JD Sports Fashion, which jumped 8% or 8.85p to 125.15p after unchanged fourth quarter like-for-like sales led to a full-year rise of 4.2%.
The fallers board was led by M&G, Smith & Nephew and Taylor Wimpey after their shares traded without the right to the latest dividend award.
Spirent Communications jumped 10.5% or 18.8p to 197.8p after a rival takeover proposal by US-based Keysight Technologies valued the telecoms equipment testing firm at £1.16 billion.
The shares rose 18.8p to 197.8p, just ahead of AO World after a trading update by the household goods firm sent shares up 8% or 7.15p to 97p. The FTSE 250 index fell 43.25 points to 19,767.41.1
City traders sell Thames Water holding company bonds on default risk
08:43 , Daniel O'Boyle
City traders have sold off bonds to be paid by Thames Water holding company Kemble, after Kemble warned of the risk of defaulting on its debts.
Kemble said that - “absent an investible proposition for the Shareholders to provide new equity” - it would default on a £190 million debt payment due on 30 April.
One lower-priority Kemble bond offers a yield of more than 120%.
AO shares pop on guidance upgrade
08:24 , Simon Hunt
Shares in AO World jumped as much as 11% to 100p this morning after the online retailer upgraded its profits forecast.
AO said: “Our core business continues to trade positively through Q4, and AO.com has returned to revenue growth during the quarter as expected.
“We now expect adjusted profit before tax for FY24 to be at least at the top of the previously guided range of £28-£33m.”
The company’s shares are up more than 50% over the past year but remain well down on the 2021 peak of 400p.
Recession confirmed as UK GDP unrevised
07:53 , Daniel O'Boyle
UK fourth-quarter GDP was not changed by revisions published today, confirming that the country ended 2023 in recession.
ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: “Our updated set of GDP figures shows quarterly growth unrevised across 2023, with a little growth in the first quarter and small contractions in the latter half of the year.
“New figures on households show that savings remained high, with an increase in income in the last quarter of the year.
“Our underlying balance of payments deficit with the rest of the world widened at the end of 2023, partly because the trade picture worsened slightly.”
Lloyd's of London hails its 'best results in recent history' on low catastrophe claims
07:53 , Michael Hunter
Lloyd’s of London, the City’s global insurance marketplace, has revealed a jump in profit in what it has called the “best” results in its “recent history”.
Underwriting profit for 2023 rose to £5.9 billion, up by £3.3 billion year-on-year, helped by “lower costs from large risks and natural catastrophe claims”.
That helped boost a key industry profitability measure, its “combined ratio”, to 84%, a 7.9 percentage point improvement. The ratio compares claim-related losses to earned premiums.
Gross written premiums were up 11.6% to £52.1 billion, with volume growth of 4% and prices up 7%, offsetting inflationary trends.
John Neal, Lloyd’s CEO said: ““The results we’re reporting today are our best in recent history, with an outstanding underwriting result underpinned by a strong and resilient balance sheet.”
Amigo still looking for friends as it sticks with London listing
07:44 , Simon Hunt
Amigo Holdings is still hoping to stick with its London listing despite the liquidation of Amigo Loans as the company looks for takeover opportunities.
The firm today said it had raised more than £200k in a new share placing and had appointed Jim McColl to act as its consultant.
“In that role, Jim McColl will assist the Board in identifying potential strategic opportunities for Amigo to continue as a listed company by way of a reverse takeover,” Amigo said today.
Amigo said the additional capital raised by the placing will be used to provide working capital to Amigo to fund some of the costs of exploring potential reverse takeover opportunities including consultancy costs.
'Recession confirmed, but almost certainly over'
07:44 , Daniel O'Boyle
Following today’s updated figures showing no revision to UK GDP, Thomas Pugh, economist at audit, tax and consulting firm RSM UK, said: “This morning’s data confirmed that the UK endured the smallest of recessions in the second half of last year. But it’s almost certainly already over.
“A jump in retail sales and an improvement in business surveys, such as the PMIs, point to the economy improving in the first quarter of this year. We then expect growth to accelerate in the second half of this year and into 2025 as sharply lower inflation, tax cuts and falling interest rates give households an income boost.”
JD still fighting cost cutting by rivals
07:37 , Simon English
JD Sports says it is still battling a “challenging” market with “elevated promotional activity” by rivals.
CEO Régis Schultz said: “We anticipate trading conditions will improve as we move through the year, helped by a busy sporting summer and softer comparatives with last year.”
Profits for the year will be within the £915 million to £935 million that it has already guided the City towards, someway short of the £1 billion figure some had hoped for.
Sales for the year were up 3.6% to £10.5 billion,
Unlike rivals who are closing stories, JD opened 215 new ones this year.
Travelodge revenues top £1 billion for the first time is it hails record London trade
07:25 , Simon Hunt
Revenues at Travelodge topped £1 billion in 2023, the firm said today, as it hailed record trading days in London.
The hospitality firm is planning another 6 hotel openings in the UK in 2024, with new openings set to rise to 15-20 per years in the years ahead.
Travelodge said: “This strong full year performance, which included a number of record trading days and weeks, was driven by robust demand across Travelodge’s diverse customer base of leisure and business guests.
“Leisure demand was consistently strong, driven by visits to friends and family, short breaks across the country, events such as Wimbledon, which drove Travelodge’s highest ever revenue in London, and Eurovision, the brand’s biggest event of the year.”
FTSE 100 seen higher after strong US session, Hang Seng rallies
07:17 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is set for a strong finish to the shorter trading week after US markets returned to form by ending a three session losing streak.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 1.2%, the S&P 500 index by 0.9% to a fresh record high and the Nasdaq Composite lifted by 0.5%.
The gains have left US benchmarks on track for a second consecutive quarter of growth, with the S&P 500 up 10% and Magnificent Seven stocks 18% higher.
In Asia trading hours, Australia’s stock market has hit a record high while the Hang Seng index is up 1.1%. However, the Hong Kong benchmark is among the worst performers of the quarter after a decline of more than 1%.
The FTSE 100 index, which recently touched a 12-month high, is forecast by IG Index to start today’s session about 32 points stronger at 7963.
New questions on Thames Water’s future as survival funding in doubt
07:16 , Daniel O'Boyle
New questions emerged over the future of Thames Water today, as it confirmed that shareholders will not inject the first £500 million of much needed ‘survival’ funding by the date that was planned.
It comes just months after it was revealed the Government had drawn up plans for the nationalisation of the debt-laden utility. Under those plans, the company would be placed into a special administration regime, similar to the takeover of energy supplier Bulb in 2021. It was hoped that the multi-billion-pound funding plan would ensure that Thames Water would stave off a taxpayer bailout, and the collapse of the deal could raise new fears that the Government would need to swoop in.
Recap: Yesterday's top stories
06:42 , Simon Hunt
Good morning from the Standard City desk.
A warning over an exodus of major companies from the London stock market was sounded yesterday as investors pull money out of Britain in search of better returns in the United States.
A huge gap in the value of similar companies in London and New York is putting pressure on chief executives to switch their listing in moves that could be devastating to the capital’s status as a global financial centre.
There is growing talk that a giant such as Shell could quit London, turning stock market strife into a full City crisis. Figures compiled for the Evening Standard show the market for new flotations — companies raising money to join the London Stock Exchange — has collapsed.
Here’s a summary of our other top headlines from yesterday:
London has lost more than 3,000 nighttime businesses since the start of the pandemic, far more than any other region, reveals damning new survey
Retailers “to have a tough Easter” according to analysts with forecast cold blustery weather driving away shoppers
S4 Capital’s boss Sir Martin Sorrell admits to “difficult” year due to recession fears and higher interest rates as his S4 Capital makes loss of £6m, better than last year’s £160m
AIM listed drugs company C4X Discovery issues damning attacks on lack of liquidity and depressed share price on London stock market as it prepares to take itself private
Gambling software company Playtech says its biggest client Mexican bookie Caliplay is refusing to pay $122 million
Stability AI exits its London headquarters after CEO’s surprise departure
