The FTSE 100 will open at 8am. Among the companies with reports and trading updates today are Berkeley Group, The Restaurant Group, Heathrow, Computacenter and Harland & Wolff. Read the Friday 4 August Business Live blog below.
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TRG chair to step down
Wagamama owner Restaurant Group’s Chairman Ken Hanna will step down after months of pressure from activist investors to change its management and improve profitability.
Hanna, who took over as the group’s chairman at the start of January 2022, will remain its chair until a successor is appointed.
He had also held the role of chairman at car dealer Inchcape and equipment rental firm Aggreko.
The Restaurant Group management has come under fire from activist shareholders Oasis Management and Irenic Capital Management seeking changes at the company, whose shares lost two-thirds of their value last year.
Melrose chiefs hail GKN deal as they depart five years after controversial £8bn takeover
Melrose boss Simon Peckham boasted his controversial takeover of GKN helped create a British ‘aerospace champion’ – as he announced plans to step down.
Peckham said buying the historic manufacturer for £8billion five years ago has revitalised a ‘fading UK industrial icon’.
However, he did not rule out the business being sold, raising the prospect of a foreign takeover.
CMA backs aviation watchdog over Heathrow pricing row
Britain’s competition regulator has said it provisionally backs the Civil Avivation Authority in most of its decisions over how much Heathrow Airport can charge airlines over the 2024-2026 period, after both airlines and the airport launched appeals.
The Competitions and Markets Authority, the CMA, stepped in to review the CAA’s decision after the cut to charges it proposed for the next three years angered both sides.
Britain’s Heathrow said lower fees would hit investment, while the airlines, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, said the cuts did not go far enough.
The CMA now has until 17 October to decide whether to allow or dismiss the appeals, it said in its statement on Friday.
;Overall we provisionally consider that the CAA was not wrong in most of the decisions that were appealed to us,’ the CMA said.
Crackdown on the ‘wild west’ cryptocurrency industry is delayed
A crackdown on cryptocurrency has been delayed.
The Financial Conduct Authority said stricter regulation about marketing crypto would come into force next month but firms can apply for more time to comply with rules, such as a 24-hour cooling-off period.
It said companies could be given until January 8. The rules were due to take effect from 8 October.
Berkeley flags housing market woes
Berkeley Group has joined sector peers in highlighting a gloomy trading environment in the face of rising interest rates and wider macro economic concerns, but the high-end housebuilder has maintained its profit guidance.
The FTSE 100 builder reported a 35 per cent slump in underlying private sales reservations in the first four months of its current fiscal year beginning 1 May.
