Interest rates drive profit growth for Virgin Money, Molten Ventures portfolio value slips

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 18 points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.53% at 7,385.52 on Friday.

Stocks to watch

Virgin Money reported a strong rise in full-year profits driven by higher interest rates. The bank on Monday said pre-tax profit surged 43% to £595m. It also posted impairment losses of £52m, compared with a £131m credit a year ago.

Molten Ventures reported a gross portfolio value of £1.45bn at the end of its first half on Monday, down from £1.53bn at the end of March, as its net assets fell to £1.28bn from £1.43bn. The FTSE 250 firm said its net asset value per share totalled 837p on 30 September, compared to 937p, as its gross portfolio saw a fair value decrease of 12%, with a 17% negative gross foreigh exchange impact.

Newspaper round-up

The companies responsible for bringing electricity to UK homes have been accused of “rampant profiteering” by a leading union that is calling for the energy regulator to cap their earnings. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, has written to Ofgem to ask it to clamp down on “excessive” profits generated by regional electricity distribution network operators (DNOs), which raked in £15.8bn in profits last year and have paid out £3.6bn in dividends between 2017 and 2021. – Guardian

Much-anticipated plans to list the British chip designer Arm on the stock exchange have been delayed by managers who fear the global economic downturn and a slump in tech shares could spook potential investors. The Cambridge-based company wrote to private shareholders a few days ago, saying the initial public offering (IPO), which could value the company at up to $40bn (£34bn), would not take place until well into next year. The company was widely expected to float as soon as the first quarter of next year. – Guardian

The Chinese owners of British Steel have injected only a fraction of the £1.2bn they promised to invest despite begging British taxpayers for a bailout worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Jingye, the largely unknown Chinese company that acquired British Steel almost three years ago, has pumped in just £156m since acquiring the business in a Government-supported takeover in March 2020, the Telegraph can disclose. – Telegraph

Middle earners face a fresh income squeeze as the Government examines plans for “social tariffs”, which would see the energy bills of vulnerable households subsidised through levies on bills paid by the better off. The Government plans to “develop a new approach to consumer protection in energy… including options such as social tariffs,” documents published alongside the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement show. – Telegraph

An American private equity firm that once owned a stake in Heathrow is reviving a plan to list an investment company on the London stock market that it hopes will raise £300 million to buy into infrastructure assets. The flotation will be a boost for the stock exchange, which has suffered from a slump in listings this year as investor fears about the economy have mounted and market volatility has risen. The investment company, which will be called AT85, will be managed by the Connecticut-based Astatine Investment Partners and will set out its plan to sell shares today. – The Times

US close

Wall Street’s main stock gauges all closed in the green on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.59% at 33,745.69.

The S&P 500 added 0.48% to 3,965.34, and the Nasdaq Composite eked out gains of 0.01% by the closing bell, to 11,146.06.