Business & Finance | Express Digest

Plan to offload some of its £15bn stake in Indian cigarette firm ITC lights up BAT

By Leah Montebello Updated: 22:05 GMT, 8 February 2024 British American Tobacco shares gained the most in nearly four years after it revealed it was [...]

Tech minnow Sondrel doubles in value on reports it played a key part in Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:05 GMT, 8 February 2024 Brain chip: Sondrel soared 105.9% after Mail Online revealed it helped with [...]

Gucci owner Kering vows to pump more money into the luxury brand after sales slump

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:05 GMT, 8 February 2024 French luxury group Kering has vowed to pour more money into Gucci [...]

Shares in chip designer Arm jump 60% as it cashes in on the AI boom

By Leah Montebello Updated: 22:05 GMT, 8 February 2024 Shares in British chip designer Arm soared yesterday as it cashed in on an Artificial Intelligence [...]

AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot backs Britain as drug maker’s profits soar

By Jessica Clark and Calum Muirhead Updated: 22:00 GMT, 8 February 2024 The boss of drug maker AstraZeneca said Britain is a better place to [...]

Are house prices set to bounce back? LUNCH MONEY

By This Is Money Updated: 16:19 GMT, 8 February 2024 The property market has spent much of the past 18 months in the doldrums as [...]

Sky unveils 6.7% broadband and TV price hikes affecting millions

One of the UK's biggest telecoms firms has announced plans to increase billsThe new charges kick in from 1 April and will mean millions must [...]

Compass scores ‘strong start’ on back of double-digit revenue growth

Compass Group reported organic revenue increased by 11.7% in the first quarterThe Surrey-based firm noted like-for-like volumes were 'better than anticipated'By Harry Wise Updated: 13:16 [...]

BATS swings to loss following huge impairment charges on US brands

British American Tobacco reported a £15.8bn loss from operations in 2023BAT took a £27.3bn writedown on the value of some of its combustible brandsBy Harry [...]

BUSINESS LIVE: AstraZeneca ups profit guidance; BATS vape sales soar; Unilever cheers volume growth

By Live Commentary Updated: 07:41 GMT, 8 February 2024 The FTSE 100 will open at 8am. Among the companies with reports and trading updates today [...]

Demand for low and no alcohol drinks continues to grow and close the gap with booze, says Ocado

By Angharad Carrick Updated: 03:00 GMT, 8 February 2024 Demand for low and non alcoholic drinks continues to rise as consumers stay dry beyond January, [...]

Big Oil’s £95bn profits bonanza… but that’s still LESS than the £142bn made in 2022

By Leah Montebello Updated: 22:12 GMT, 7 February 2024 The five biggest oil producers in the West raked in almost £100billion of profit last year [...]

Sainsbury’s to overhaul stores as it steps up fight to lure back shoppers from Aldi and Lidl

By Emily Hawkins Updated: 22:12 GMT, 7 February 2024 Sainsbury’s is planning a major overhaul of its stores as it steps up the fight to [...]

Diamond market recovery remains slow to sparkle, De Beers boss warns

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:11 GMT, 7 February 2024 Iman models a De Beers necklaceThe recovery in the beleaguered diamond market is [...]

Barratt Developments to buy rival Redrow for £2.5bn in biggest British housebuilding merger for 17 years

By Jessica Clark Updated: 22:07 GMT, 7 February 2024 Barratt Developments is to buy rival Redrow for £2.5billion in the biggest British housebuilding merger for [...]

Taxi app Uber hails its first ever full-year profit as demand for its cabs soars

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:05 GMT, 7 February 2024 Uber has posted its first ever full-year profit as demand for its [...]

Germany remains the ‘sick man of Europe’ as industrial output falls for seventh month in row

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:04 GMT, 7 February 2024 Seven-month slump: Industrial output in Germany fell a further 1.6% in DecemberGermany [...]

Sajid Javid and Charles Roxburgh sounded out for top job at Standard Chartered

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:04 GMT, 7 February 2024 Experience: Former banker Sir Sajid Javid (pictured) has served as Home Secretary [...]

Snapchat owner Snap loses a third of its value as it grapples with advertising slowdown

By Leah Montebello Updated: 22:03 GMT, 7 February 2024 Snap shares fell by more than a third yesterday as it grapples with an advertising slowdown [...]

Smurfit Kappa profits drop but volumes bounce back

Smurfit Kappa Group revealed that box volumes declined by 3.5% last yearThe packaging company's pre-tax profits also slumped by 18% to €1.06bnBy Harry Wise Updated: [...]

Ford upgrades its best-selling Puma – here are five key new features

1971 Austin Morris 1100/1300 - 133,527 sales1972 Ford Cortina - 187,1591973 Ford Cortina - 181,6071974 Ford Cortina - 131,2341975 Ford Cortina - 106,787 1976 Ford Escort - [...]

Coventry BS now has the best buy easy-access savings deal

Savers signing up with Coventry can secure a 5.15%The account only allows up to three free withdrawals a year Best easy-access and fixed rate accounts are [...]

Grainger cheers ‘exceptionally high’ rental demand

Grainger said it's continuing to see 'record levels of rental growth'By Jane Denton Updated: 11:31 GMT, 7 February 2024 Residential property group Grainger has enjoyed [...]

PZ Cussons slashes dividend and profit forecast on FX woes

PZ Cussons now expects adjusted operating profits of £55-60m this yearThe firm's shares were the biggest FTSE 250 faller on Wednesday morningBy Harry Wise Updated: [...]

NatWest told to hire new chief exec as Government prepares to sell part of its 35% stake

By John-Paul Ford Rojas Updated: 22:38 GMT, 6 February 2024 Caretaker: Paul Thwaite was appointed NatWest's interim boss last JulyNatwest has been urged to provide [...]

Aston Martin shaken as it seeks another new boss amid ongoing production delays

By Daily Mail City & Finance Reporter Updated: 22:31 GMT, 6 February 2024 Production delays: James Bond car maker Aston Martin (pictured)Aston Martin is on [...]

Bank of England accused of ‘leap in dark’ over £875bn quantitative tightening bond sales

By John-Paul Ford Rojas Updated: 22:30 GMT, 6 February 2024 Leap in the dark: Quantitative tightening began in 2022 The Bank of England took a ‘leap [...]

‘No end in sight’ to Germany’s building slump, warn analysts… but optimism in the UK soars

By Hugo Duncan Updated: 22:28 GMT, 6 February 2024 The moribund German economy suffered a fresh setback amid warnings there is ‘no end in sight’ [...]

Taxpayers more than £200m out of pocket after controversial satellite firm bail-out

By John-Paul Ford Rojas Updated: 22:27 GMT, 6 February 2024 A leading government official has admitted that taxpayers are more than £200million out of pocket [...]

Marks & Spencer set to overtake Waitrose: Middle classes flocking back to High St stalwart

By Emily Hawkins Updated: 22:25 GMT, 6 February 2024 Marks & Spencer is poised to overtake Waitrose as it wins over growing numbers of middle [...]

Government pledges to end confusing messaging on how people can protect themselves from scams

By Jessica Beard Updated: 22:05 GMT, 6 February 2024 Crackdown: The Government is taking action to stamp out confusing messaging on scamsThe Government is finally [...]

Could you still retire in your 60s if the state pension age rose to 71? LUNCH MONEY

By This Is Money Updated: 14:03 GMT, 6 February 2024 Today’s workers may have to wait longer for retirement – and it is bad news [...]

White van drivers hit by rising insurance costs – with prices up 36% in a YEAR

The bill for insuring a van has risen by more than a third, new figures show Those that use vans for work are facing premiums of [...]

Renishaw shares leap 20% despite first-half profit slump

Renishaw revealed pre-tax profits fell 27% in the six months ending DecemberRevenue was hit by weaker demand from semiconductor equipment makersSales were also affected by [...]

Futura Medical shares swell as sales of its erectile dysfunction gel Eroxon boom in the past year

Over-the-counter drug Eroxon sees successful launch in the UK and BelgiumFutura Medical is rolling out the drug in the a number of countries in 2024 By [...]

BUSINESS LIVE: Retail sales growth disappoints; BP profits beat forecasts; Virgin Money UK suffers mortgage dip

By Live Commentary Updated: 08:02 GMT, 6 February 2024 The FTSE 100 will open at 8am. Among the companies with reports and trading updates today [...]