Nick Read to step down as Vodafone CEO, Glencore settles with DRC government

The FTSE 100 was expected to open three points lower on Monday, having closed down 0.03% at 7,556.23 on Friday.

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Vodafone said chief executive Nick Read would step down at the end of the year. Chief financial officer Margherita Della Valle has been appointed interim CEO and “will accelerate the execution of the company's strategy to improve operational performance and deliver shareholder value”, the company said on Monday. Read will remain with the telecoms giant until 31 March 2023.

Glencore has reached an agreement with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), it announced on Monday, covering the alleged acts of corruption by the Glencore group in the DRC between 2007 and 2018. The FTSE 100 mining giant said that included activities in certain group businesses that were the subject of investigations by the US Department of Justice and the DRC's National Financial Intelligence Unit and Ministry of Justice, among others. Under the agreement, Glencore International would pay the DRC $180m, and would continue to implement the ethics and compliance programme it committed to in its resolution with the US DOJ.

National Express said on Monday that interim chief financial officer James Stamp will take on the role on a permanent basis with immediate effect. Stamp joined the company in July 2017. Prior to his appointment as interim CFO on 1 November, he had served as CFO of the UK & Germany division and as group commercial and strategy director, where he led work on the Evolve strategy. Stamp is a qualified chartered accountant with over 25 years' experience in finance and consulting, having previously been a Partner at KPMG, where he led the Transport Practice.

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The RMT has rejected an offer from rail employers aimed at heading off more strikes. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) offered the union a pay rise of 8% over two years with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies to April 2024, in an attempt to resolve a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions. The RMT’s general secretary, Mick Lynch, said: “We have rejected this offer as it does not meet any of our criteria for securing a settlement on long-term job security, a decent pay rise and protecting working conditions. – Guardian

The cost of the items that make up a traditional Christmas dinner has risen three times faster than wages this year, according to research from the Trades Union Congress (TUC). In a series of calculations to back its calls for more government action on the cost of living crisis, the trade union body said Christmas staples such as a turkey, pigs in blankets, carrots and roast potatoes had risen in price by an average of 18% in the space of a year, while wages had gone up by only 5.7%. – Guardian

British Gas has applied to shut down dozens of its business customers this year over unpaid bills as the energy crisis leaves companies battling to meet soaring costs. The supplier, which is owned by Centrica, has issued 37 winding-up petitions so far this year, 13 of which have led to the business being wound-up, according to analysis of court records by The Telegraph. – Telegraph

The Opec cartel has warned it could take immediate action on adjusting oil output as the group of producing nations braces for the fallout of fresh Western sanctions on Russia. Opec, which comprises 23 nations including Saudi Arabia, said it was maintaining its policy of reducing production by two million barrels per day which came into force last month and will run to the end of next year. – Telegraph

The government has no plan for growth and must take urgent steps to rectify a chronic lack of investment, the CBI warns today, as it slashes its forecasts for the economy. Predicting that the economy will shrink by 0.4 per cent next year, a “significant downgrade” on June’s estimate of a 1 per cent rise in GDP, the business lobby group called on the prime minister and chancellor to “use levers of growth to ensure this downturn is as short and shallow as possible”. - The Times

US close

Stocks were mixed at the end of the week on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.1% on Friday at 34,429.88.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.12% to 4,071.70, meanwhile, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.18% at 11,461.50.