Vodafone launches joint venture with Altice, Asos in final stages of making amendment to revolving credit facility

Stocks to watch

Telecommunications giant Vodafone has created a new joint venture with French firm Altice to deploy fibre-to-the-home services to up to 7.0m German homes over a six-year period.

Vodafone said on Monday that FibreCo, its 50/50 partnership with Altice, will offer wholesale access to telecommunications service providers in Germany. Creation of FibreCo was expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.

Asos confirmed on Monday that it was in the final stages of agreeing an amendment to its revolving credit facility after reports that Allianz Trade reduced its insurance cover for the group's suppliers by more than half.

"This action will give Asos significantly increased financial flexibility, against the uncertain economic backdrop. ASOS retains a strong liquidity position and this is a prudent step in the current environment," the company said.

Newspaper round-up

The UK is likely to enter a deeper recession than previously expected next year, while interest rates and inflation will be lower than forecast, according to revised analysis from Goldman Sachs. The US investment bank downgraded its outlook for Britain, in analysis released on Sunday, forecasting the UK economy would shrink by 1% next year, down from its previous estimate for a 0.4% contraction. – Guardian

Hargreaves Lansdown, a top British investment platform, has been hit by a multimillion-pound lawsuit over the failure of fallen star manager Neil Woodford's equity income fund, which left hundreds of thousands of investors nursing losses. The claims management firm RGL said it had filed the claim in the high court in London on behalf of an initial 3,200 investors caught up in the scandal against the London blue-chip company, which promoted the former flagship Woodford Equity Income Fund. – Guardian

Hiring in the City of London has plunged almost by a third as economic turmoil spells the end of a dealmaking boom for banks and financial services companies, a leading recruiter has warned. Morgan McKinley, which specialises in hiring for financial services roles, found that the number of vacant City jobs in the third quarter fell by 31% to 7,907 from the previous three months. – Telegraph

Company directors could be jailed for not taking appropriate measures to prevent fraud at their organisations under proposals expected to be set out this week. MPs are due to propose an amendment to the economic crime and transparency bill which would include corporate and director-level liability for 'failure to prevent' criminal activity. – The Times

Shares in Asos face more pressure today after the online fashion retailer confirmed that it was in talks with lenders over the terms of its £350.0m borrowing facility. Asos said it was in the final stages of agreeing changes to the future financial covenants of its revolving credit facility, which matures in July 2024. The retailer said the changes would give it "increased financial flexibility, against the uncertain economic backdrop". It added: "Asos retains a strong liquidity position and this is a prudent step in the current environment." – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Friday as market participants digested earnings from a number of the nation's biggest names in banking.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.34% at 29,634.83, while the S&P 500 was 2.37% weaker at 3,583.07 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.08% softer at 10,321.39.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com