Sainsbury's reports rise in Christmas sales, GSK application for new Shingrix formulation accepted
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 14 points lower on Friday, having closed up 0.83% on Thursday at 8,319.69.
Stocks to watch
UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s posted a 3.8% rise in sales over the Christmas period and said it expected to deliver full-year underlying retail operating profit at the mid-point of its £1.01bn - £1.06bn guidance range, representing growth of around 7%. Party food sales were up nearly 40% in the six weeks to January 4, with more than 200 bottles of fizz sold every minute in the key days ahead of Christmas, the company said in a trading statement on Friday.
GSK announced on Friday that the US FDA has accepted its regulatory application for a new prefilled syringe presentation of Shingrix, its shingles vaccine, eliminating the need for reconstitution before administration. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said the new presentation contained the same composition as the existing vaccine and was supported by data demonstrating comparability. It marked a significant milestone for Shingrix, which has been approved in the US since 2017 for adults over 50 and since 2021 for immunocompromised adults aged 18 and older.
Vodafone has raised its stake in its Indian joint venture Vodafone Idea (Vi) after exiting its investment in the country’s mobile tower installation company Indus Towers. The UK firm said on Friday it had sold its remaining 3% shareholding in Indus Towers for 28bn INR ($330m), with $105m used to repay outstanding borrowings secured against its Indian assets and the $225m used to acquire 1.7bn shares in Vi, raising its stake to 24.39% from 22.56%.
Newspaper round-up
The number of people in England and Wales who sought help with energy bills jumped by 20% last year, according to Citizens Advice, which assisted 60,000 households struggling with the soaring cost of gas and electricity. That number was double the figure for 2020, the national consumer advice charity said, with problems with billing being the single most common type of issue raised with its service providers. – Guardian
The price at which tickets for live events can be resold is to be capped under “gamechanging” proposals put forward by the government to crack down on touting in the sector. In a move hailed by music industry figures, the culture minister, Lisa Nandy, has launched a consultation that she said would end the “misery” of fans being exploited by touts, some of whom have made huge profits by selling hundreds of tickets a year. – Guardian
More than 100 earthquakes that damaged households across Surrey were likely caused by fracking, according to a landmark study by the University College London (UCL). As part of their findings, researchers suggested that oil extraction from a Surrey well led to powerful tremors across various villages in 2018-19, including Newdigate and Charlwood – which lie just four miles from Gatwick Airport. – Telegraph
BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, is abandoning an influential net-zero alliance after coming under pressure from Republican politicians over its support for “woke” climate policies. The New York-headquartered firm, which manages $11.5 trillion of assets, said it would leave the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Members of the group pledge to support the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, including by using their votes on behalf of shareholders at corporate meetings. – The Times
The increase in employers’ national insurance contributions will result in an overall slowing of wage growth in the long run, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has said. Sarah Breeden, who is in charge of financial stability at the Bank, said she no longer feared a resurgence in consumer price inflation this year as the economy has slowed, the labour market has cooled and government tax changes to NICs could push down on earnings growth. – The Times
US close
Markets on Wall Street were closed on Thursday due to the funeral for the late US president Jimmy Carter.
They had closed in a mixed state on Wednesday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.25% at 42,635.20, and the S&P 500 added 0.16% to 5,918.25.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, however, shed 0.06% to settle at 19,478.88.