Vodafone confirms talks to sell Italy operations, Taylor Wimpey profits almost halve
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat on Wednesday, having closed down 0.02% on Tuesday at 7,683.02.
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Vodafone has confirmed media speculation that it intends to sell its Italian operations to Swiss telecoms group Swisscom for an enterprise value of €8bn. The UK-listed telecoms firm said it had been engaged in talks with several parties to explore market consolidation in Italy, but it was now in "exclusive discussions" with Swisscom. A deal, which is still subject to confirming binding transaction documentation, will "deliver the best combination of value creation, upfront cash proceeds and transaction certainty for Vodafone shareholders", Vodafone said in a statement on Wednesday.
UK housebuilder Taylor Wimpey said 2023 profits almost halved as higher mortgage rates hit demand, but added that current trading was showing “some encouraging signs of improvement with reduced mortgage rates positively impacting affordability”. Pre-tax profits fell 42.8% to £473.8m. Group completions, including joint ventures, came in at 10,848 from 14,154 in 2022.
Drax Group announced provisional results from the T-4 auction on Wednesday, securing agreements for a total of 462MW capacity from its existing pumped storage and hydro assets and an additional 240 MW capacity for refurbishing Cruachan Power Station units three and four. The company said the agreements, priced at £65 per kilowatt, would generate £28m and £221m in income, respectively, during the delivery periods from October 2027 to September 2028 and October 2027 to September 2042. It said the refurbishment of the Cruachan Power Station units would entail a capital cost of around £80m.
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Customer service levels at HM Revenue and Customs have sunk to an “all-time low”, parliament’s spending watchdog has said. Users regularly encounter long call-waiting times as the tax department apparently struggles to cope with demand, a report by the cross-party public accounts committee (PAC) has found. As demands on HMRC grow, the authority has not been given the resources needed to staff its phone lines, the report said. – Guardian
Deep cuts to government funding have led a council in south London to ask its residents to invest their own money, for a financial return, to build cycle hangars, new LED street lighting and green upgrades at schools and leisure centres. In the midst of a financial crisis hitting town halls across England, councillors in Southwark have resorted to a crowdfunding scheme to raise £6m over the next six years to help fund climate-friendly projects. – Guardian
Britain is poised to launch an investigation into cheap Chinese electric vehicles coming onto the market amid fears a flood of cars subsidised by Beijing will destroy local manufacturing. On Tuesday it emerged that officials at the Department for Business and Trade have discussed an intervention amid concerns that China has given its car makers an unfair advantage through vast subsidies. – Telegraph
High street banks shut more than 140,000 accounts held by small businesses last year, according to figures obtained by MPs that will fuel concerns about debanking. Eight banks disclosed account closure data to the Commons Treasury committee after requests for information from the MPs, who are scrutinising the financing for small and medium-sized enterprises. – The Times
The buy now, pay later group Klarna is using an AI-powered chatbot to handle two thirds of its customer service inquiries, doing the equivalent work of 700 full-time agents. The Swedish fintech, which has 150 million customers worldwide, collaborated with OpenAI to build the AI assistant for customer service chats on its app. – The Times
US close
US stocks finished mixed on Tuesday with markets range bound as risk sentiment receded ahead of key economic data later in the week.
The Dow fell 0.25%, while the S&P 500 inched 0.17% higher and the Nasdaq gained 0.37%, though gains were limited by data showing the biggest monthly drop in US durable-goods orders in nearly four years.
Stocks have been pulling back over the past few sessions after racing to new highs last week on the back of blockbuster earnings from chip giant and AI poster child Nvidia, which spurred buying across the tech sector.
On the macro front, US durable goods orders shrank rapidly at the start of 2024, mainly due to a more than halving in orders for defence aircraft and parts.
According to the Department of Commerce, in seasonally adjusted terms durable goods orders dropped by 6.1% in January to $276.65bn, well below the 4.5% decline expected by the market.