Thank you for following along, and have a great weekend.
04:31 PM
Kaz Minerals privatisation approved
Shareholders of miner FTSE 250-listed Kaz Minerals have voted 89pc in favour of a takeover by investment firm Nova Resources (Bidco), making its privatisation unconditional.
Nova Resource's 869 pence per share offer, which values Kaz Minerals at £4.1bn, was unanimously recommended for acceptance at the end of March.
Oleg Novachuk, chairman of Bidco, said:
The London capital markets are a strong and dynamic environment for companies and they have supported Kaz Minerals through many phases in its long-term development and we appreciate the positive input that this has had on KAZ Minerals and its corporate governance practices.
As KAZ Minerals enters this next phase of large scale development, one in which it is, Mr Kim [president of Kaz Minerals] and I believe, better suited to being held as a private company, we look forward to continuing to work with the Kaz Minerals Group’s employees and wider stakeholders to realise the strategic goals and development milestones that we must now focus on for the coming few years."
04:00 PM
World Bank commits $2bn for vaccine purposes
The World Bank have committed $2bn in financing by the end of April for vaccine purchases, development and manufacturing and is working with more than 40 countries on this effort, according to Axel van Trotsenburg, managing director of operations, reported Reuters.
The news agency has more:
World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the same World Bank forum called for political will to boost production of Covid-19 vaccines and share supplies.
He said that failure to agree on a proposal to waive intellectual property under the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) was the "elephant in the room"
03:35 PM
A good week with a low-key end
After hitting a fresh, post-pandemic high yesterday, the FTSE 100 has ended the week slightly down while the FTSE 250 has also dipped ever so slightly from its record highs.
Some commentary on the markets this week from Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets:
It’s been a solid week for UK stock markets with the FTSE250 making new record highs, while the FTSE100 managed to move above its early year peaks that we saw in January.
Today’s price action has seen a fairly low-key end to the week, characterised by some light profit taking ahead of the weekend, as the UK gears up for the reopening of non-essential retail stores, and pubs and restaurants outdoors next week.
We’ve some modest weakness in travel and leisure stocks as it becomes apparent that a return to normal travel wise is likely to face significant barriers in the short term. The announcement of a new traffic light system for overseas travel which is set to start in May will in all likelihood mean that anyone contemplating a holiday in Europe may well not be able to do so, due to the low vaccination rates there.
Some company movements today:
Travel agency Tui slipped into the red after announcing a new convertible bond offering, while the government's system on overseas travel would have also acted as a headwind.
Frasers Group edged up as it set aside another £200m in relation to further impairments to its real estate portfolio, on expectation of further restrictions in coming months.
Deliveroo declined once again to a new low, with shares now 30pc below its listing price after its first full week of trading.
Housebuilders Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were on the up today after the latest Halifax price survey showed annualised price gained 6.5pc in February.
JD Sports also rose after Berenberg upped its price target to £11, more than 15pc above its current level.
02:48 PM
Fraud office probes 'buy to let cars' scheme offering 11pc returns
Cars
A company offering 11pc returns on a ‘buy to let' scheme investing in lease cars is being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office, amid fears those who sunk savings into the business could lose their money.
My colleague Alan Tovey reports:
The regulator is probing Raedex Consortium, now in administration, which used television and Twitter to promote the returns to people who bought cars that were then leased. It described the scheme as an alternative to “stagnating savings and low interest”.
Investors’ money was used to purchase one or more lease cars at a discount, with payments from leasees - often those with bad credit - generating investor returns.
Raedex comprised several businesses, including Buy2Let Cars, which attracted investors, as well as vehicle leasing businesses PayGo Cars, Wheels4Sure and Rent2Own Cars.
The SFO, National Crime Agency and City of London Police raided two homes in connection with the investigation on April 8.
Comcast’s Sky plans to cut up to 25pc of its workforce in Italy
Comcast's Sky is planning to reduce its workforce in Italy by as much as a quarter after the pandemic hit the pay-TV business’s revenue and competition increased from streaming companies.
Sky Italia Chief Executive Officer Maximo Ibarra, who took over in 2019, unveiled the restructuring on Friday, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News report.
The overhaul includes as many as 3,000 job cuts over the next four years, unions representing the Italian business’s employees told the agency.
Sky Italia has about 5,000 direct employees and an additional 6,000 indirect workers. Sky Italia aims to save about 300 million euros ($356 million) in the period after the restructuring wraps up, the unions, including Slc-Cgil, Fistel Cisl and Uilcom, added.
The job cuts will be voluntary, they said. A spokesman for Sky Italia declined to comment.
02:00 PM
US Senate banking chair queries Credit Suisse and other banks on Archegos
Bill Hwang
The chair of the US Senate banking committee has written to four major banks seeking answers about the implosion of family office Archegos Capital.
Sherrod Brown wrote to Credit Suisse, Nomura, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley asking for explanations regarding their dealings with Archegos and family offices more broadly.
Mr Brown gave the firms two weeks to reply to his request.
“I am troubled, but not surprised, by the news reports that Archegos entered into risky derivatives transactions facilitated by major investment banks, resulting in panicked selling of stocks worth tens of billions of dollars and those banks collectively losing nearly $10bn,” he said in his letter to Credit Suisse.
01:39 PM
Wall Street opens mixed
US stocks opened mixed after a measure of inflation exceeded forecasts, indicating potential price pressures as the economy reopens.
US market data - Bloomberg
01:15 PM
John Lewis launches new value range to win over price-conscious customers
JL
John Lewis has taken its first major step in luring the middle classes back to its stores and website with a new value range called ANYDAY.
My colleague Laura Onita reports:
The loss-making retailer, which is attempting a revival, will offer 2,400 new products costing on average 20pc less than its current offering, with some up to half price.
The brand is meant to “modernise” John Lewis and ranges from a £1.50 face cloth to a £499 three-seater sofa. It spans eight key areas of the home: bedroom, dining room, living room, kitchen, bathroom, nursery, home office and outdoor.
It also features an extensive baby care and baby clothing range, with car seats starting at £60, filling the price bracket that Mothercare occupied before it went bust.
Pippa Wicks, who was hired by chairman Dame Sharon White to run the chain and help with the turnaround, said the move was not a case of “going after somebody”, such as Dunelm or Marks & Spencer customers.
“It’s actually about saying ‘you can get our quality at even better value for money’. We want to encourage people to do more of the whole shop with us,” Ms Wicks said.
Boeing is back in the headlines: Southwest Airlines is removing 30 of its 58 Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes from its schedule after a notification from the planemaker over a potential electrical issue, it said on Friday.
The airline said it has not experienced any known operational challenges related to the issue but has removed the 30 MAX 8s for further review.
"Southwest anticipates minimal disruption to our operation," it said (via Reuters).
The 737 MAX was grounded in 2019 after two crashes that killed 346 people. The plane was re-certified for flight by the FAA in November.
12:17 PM
US stocks look positive
Back to the markets, where US stock futures were looking buoyant before the open. Futures on the S&P 500 were flat, while Nasdaq futures dipped 0.2pc.
On Thursday the S&P 500 rose to a record on easing inflation fears, and world stocks also scored a record high.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signalled at an IMF event that the central bank was nowhere near reducing support for the US economy, saying that while economic reopening could result in higher prices temporarily, it will not constitute inflation.
Today we mourn the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh. He was a great advocate for UK enterprise around the world spanning much of his lifetime.
He will be warmly remembered by the UK business communityOur thoughts are with Her Majesty the Queen and the rest of the Royal Family at this time.
11:36 AM
Barclays tries to ease workload of junior bankers
Canary Wharf
Bosses at Barclays have told junior investment bankers to avoid working between 9pm on Friday and 9am on Sunday in a bid to ease the heavy workload of its youngest staffers.
“This is really meant to express in a very material way that culture of care for mental health,” John Miller, Barclays’s global head of banking coverage told Bloomberg.
“The working-from-home dynamic, the isolation, we are keenly aware of those challenges and we want to be keenly responsive to those challenges and empathetic and ensuring that we are investing appropriately in the mental health of our team.”
The bank also said junior employees should take two five-day vacations each year.
11:22 AM
Duke of Edinburgh dies aged 99
Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh. He was 99.
Trade with France bounces back to pre-Brexit levels
Ships
Trade between the UK and France has recovered steadily and was “close to normal” during March, according to analysis by French customs officials.
My colleague Louis Ashworth reports:
After dropping to 80pc of pre-virus levels at the start of the year as Britain’s new trading relationship with the EU came into effect, imports from the UK were at 107pc of reference levels, once the continued effects of the pandemic were taken into account, with exports at 96pc.
The figures will raise hopes that UK trade is on track for a swift recovery after a severe fall during January as businesses got to grips with new customs arrangements.
Meanwhile, new German trade figures for February showed exports to the UK were down 12.2pc compared with the same month last year, while imports from the UK fell 26.9pc.
However, they showed a marked improvement from January, when exports were down 29pc and British imports to Germany fell 56pc.
Office for National Statistics figures for January showed the devastating impact of the first month of the UK’s new trading relationship with the European Union, with exports to the bloc down 40.7pc and imports down 28.8pc.
Discovery UK has defied streaming's assault on traditional TV after the broadcaster's audience hit an all-time high at the start of the year.
My colleague Ben Woods reports:
The TV network behind the Discovery Channel and Eurosport increased its adult audience share to 5pc for the first three months of 2021, up from 4.7pc over the period last year.
The jump came as treasure hunting show Salvage Hunters on Quest delivered Discovery UK's highest rating on record, when 928,000 people tuned in on March 24.
James Gibbons, Discovery's UK and Nordics general manager, pinned the success on its ongoing investment in British shows.
Discovery's ratings bump comes amid a turbulent backdrop for terrestrial TV, as broadcasters struggle to prise younger viewers away from streaming, social media and video games.
Only 38pc of 16 to 34-year-olds watched traditional broadcast content last year, according to a report by the communications watchdog Ofcom.
Discovery launched its streaming platform Discovery+ across the UK via Sky's premium broadcast platform Sky Q last November.
10:23 AM
House prices hit record high after stamp duty holiday extension
House prices surged to a record high last month in a market resurgence driven by huge buyer demand.
My colleague Rachel Mortimer reports:
The average price of a property in the UK rose to 6.5pc in the year to March 2020, hitting £254,606 in March, according to Halifax bank.
It comes as analysis firm Capital Economics forecast house price inflation could go into double figures over the summer.
The market has been buoyed by Government measures intended to protect it against price drops, including the extension of the stamp duty holiday and pledged support for 5pc deposit mortgages. Between February and March, prices rose by 1.1pc, much higher than the consensus forecast of a fall of 0.1pc.
Unprecedented demand has also spurred price growth, with widespread warnings of a supply shortage as buyers submit offers way in excess of the asking price to secure properties.
Earlier this week agents polled by trade body the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reported a surge in property sales in March following the Budget.
Airbus delivered 72 aircraft last month, stepping up deliveries even as coronavirus flare-ups delayed a recovery in air travel.
The total marked the best monthly performance this year for the planemaker and brought the quarterly total to 125 - three higher than the same period last year largely before the pandemic took hold.
The rise will ease concerns about the number of undelivered aircraft, which stood at about 100 in mid-February.
Matching deliveries with build rates is vital for Airbus as it seeks to ramp up output of its A320 range during the quarter.
Airbus shares rose almost 3pc in Paris, bringing the rise this year to 15pc.
The latest figures “support the 40-a-month build rate for its most profitable airplane”, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts George Ferguson and Francois Duflot said in a note.
Help came in the form of the US-China trade dispute, with China taking 10 Airbus planes rather than Boeing aircraft, as well as budget airlines, they said.
Jet2 has suspended all flights and holidays until June 23 due to uncertainty over the government's travel plans.
Chief executive Steve Heapy said he was "extremely disappointed at the lack of clarity and detail" in the plans, which were announced overnight.
He added: "Because of the continued uncertainty that the framework provides, it is with a heavy heart that we have taken the decision to extend the suspension of flights and holidays up to and including 23 June 2021.
"Where customers yet to travel are affected by any programme changes, we will automatically cancel their booking with a full refund, and our team of travel experts will be in touch to help them to book their summer getaway for later in the year."
The traffic light "framework" proposed by the government includes making all UK arrivals take pre-departure and post-arrival Covid tests.
✈️ NEW: Jet2 is suspending ALL flights and holidays until June 23rd because of the uncertainty caused by the government’s travel proposals
After a flat open, the FTSE 100 has fallen and is currently trading 0.3pc lower. Commenting on this morning's market movements, Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell, says:
Markets can be stubborn beasts and headlines such as ‘US stocks hit new record high’ can be a hard act to follow.
It’s been a fantastic week for the FTSE 100 and S&P 500 as they put Covid in the rear-view mirror and raced ahead, but that momentum was tested as the trading week came to an end.
On Friday, the FTSE 100 eased back 0.2pc to 6,929 after hitting a post-pandemic high earlier this week, however pre-market indicative prices suggested that the S&P 500 could build on its record high seen yesterday when US markets reopen.
The FTSE was dragged down by tobacco, pharmaceuticals and banking, more than offsetting the gains from UK reopening plays Whitbread and Next.
There was nothing to cause serious concern about these price movements and, if anything, investor sentiment should be good given how the UK market has finally managed to come out of the doldrums.
However, Sports Direct owner Frasers reminded the market that we’re not out of the woods yet with regards to the pandemic and a potential third wave.
European market data - Bloomberg
08:51 AM
UK pubs could take three years to recover from pandemic, says S&P
Pubs
England’s pubs can welcome their drinkers back to outdoor areas from Monday, starting an expected three-year long effort to restore their finances to pre-pandemic levels, according to S&P Global Ratings.
Bloomberg has the details:
Anticipated changes in consumer behavior, including lower beer intake, will push operators to evolve from a “drinks-led focused” business model to include food as a bigger part of their offerings, the analysts wrote.
The ratings firm expects larger pub operators to win market share as smaller businesses struggle with the restrictions imposed to control the spread of Covid-19. Net closures – total closures minus openings – stood at 5,975 sites across Britain, an increase of 175pc from 2019 levels, the report stated, quoting data from consultancy firms CGA and AlixPartners.
“While the welcome prospect of opening after several months and pent-up demand (booking levels remain very healthy) will drive footfall, S&P Global Ratings expects operating prospects will remain tough over the medium term,” analysts including Raam Ratnam and Alex Roig wrote in a report published on Thursday.
Larger-managed pubs, they added, with a wider range of venues and better access to capital, are likely to fare well during the recovery phase, aided by greater earnings and cash flow per venue.
“Publican tenants, who are typically smaller or self-employed, often have limited access to capital markets and are more affected by economic downturns,” the S&P analysts wrote.
08:25 AM
'Stamp duty reduction is having a more than proportionate impact'
Commenting on the Halifax index, Anna Clare Harper, chief executive of asset manager SPI Capital, says:
This annual house price growth of 6.5pc, despite the current, uncertain environment, reflects two broad trends.
Firstly, affordability. The temporary stamp duty reduction is having a more than proportionate impact since it gives buyers a larger deposit to work with, and they take lending on the property price, not the transaction costs. In addition, ongoing low interest rates make the cost of borrowing very low, and high savings rates over the past year have given many buyers an opportunity to increase their deposits, so that they can afford to pay more for housing.
Secondly, rising living standards. This is a long-term, global trend, and we have seen it come to the fore in the UK housing market the form of existing homeowners trading up to improve their living environment, spurred on by multiple lockdowns.
Looking to the future, the extension to the temporary stamp duty reduction is likely to continue to encourage housing transactions and price growth, though this will slow as the temporary measures ‘taper down’.
08:02 AM
House prices hit record average
Houses
House prices hit a record high of £254,606 on average in March after jumping by 1.1pc month-on-month, according to Halifax's house price index.
Across the UK, property values were 6.5pc higher than in March 2020, Halifax said.
Russell Galley, managing director, Halifax, said: "Following a relatively subdued start to the year, the housing market enjoyed something of a resurgence during March, with prices up by just over 1% compared to February.
"This rise, the first since November last year, means the average property is now worth £254,606, a new record high."
07:47 AM
France set to pull AstraZeneca as second jab for under-55s
Macron
France is preparing to pull the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for those under the age of 55 who have already had their first jab, and instead offer them an alternative.
Speaking on RTL radio, health minister Oliver Veran said the new advice, which is expected to be outlined later today, would likely be to use an inoculation based on mRNA instead, such as the Pfizer or Moderna jabs.
The French move comes in response to evidence that the vaccine is linked to a rare type of blood clotting. However, the EU regulator said this week that the vaccine's benefits outweigh the risks.
07:31 AM
Loungers to open around a third of sites next week
Loungers has announced plans to open just under a third of its sites for outdoor service next week as it struck a new deal with lenders to tide it over into next year.
The company behind Cosy Club and Lounge said that its £15m loan facility with Santander and Bank of Ireland had been extended by another year and expanded to £25m.
Four new sites, in Wolverhampton, Stourbridge, Welwyn Garden City and St Ives, are set to open before the end of May, when all Loungers' 172 sites should be back up and running.
Loungers will open 47 sites in England for takeaway and outdoor service next Monday, while five in Wales will open when restrictions there ease on April 26.
It then plans to reopen the rest of its English sites by May 17.
London's blue-chip index has opened flat after rising inflation in China spooks investors.
FTSE 100 -0.1pc
DAX _0.2pc
CAC 40 +0.6pc
06:56 AM
Virgin Atlantic boss hits out at travel plans
The chief executive of Virgin Atlantic has criticised the British government's proposals for restarting travel outlined on Friday, saying that trips to low-risk countries should not involve expensive PCR tests for Covid-19.
"For travel between green countries it should be absent quarantine and absent testing," chief executive Shai Weiss told BBC Radio. "There are better ways of doing what the government has set out to do."
He said the more expensive PCR tests required for travel would put off some customers (via Reuters).
06:51 AM
Frasers takes £200m hit
Sports Direct owner Frasers Group has warned it could take a hit in excess of £200m due to the Covid-19 restrictions - double its previous estimate in February.
The retailer said it believed further restrictions were "almost certain", and said that a writedown against freehold values and other non-cash impairments was required.
The company added: "Frasers Group is continuing to assess the Covid-19 potential impact on asset values.
"In our ongoing assessment we note the continuing Government and Government adviser pronouncements regarding 'third waves' and normality being 'some way off', meaning further restrictions are in our view almost certain."
Global stocks held firm near record highs on Friday as receding inflation fears in the United States pushed down bond yields and lifted Wall Street, though softness in Chinese shares capped gains in Asia.
MSCI's broadest gauge of world stocks set a record high earlier in the Asian session and last stood almost flat.
Japan's Topix gained 0.6% and Australian stocks hovered near a more than one-year top, while South Korea's Kospi touched the highest intraday level since mid-February.
Chinese shares were an outlier, with the CSI 300 sliding 1.3%, pushing down MSCI's ex-Japan Asia index 0.4%, not helped by worries about further tension between Washington and Beijing.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields held close to Thursday's two-week trough near 1.6%, which had lifted U.S. tech shares and powered the S&P 500 to a record close.
Coming up today
Economics: Halifax house price index (UK) consumer price inflation figures (China, US), trade balance (Germany), retail sales (Italy)
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