Hipgnosis losses widen, HICL Infrastructure ups investment in French road

Stocks to watch

Troubled music rights owner Hipgnosis Songs Fund reported wider interim losses on Thursday and said dividends would be suspended for at least the end of the financial year to comply with loan covenants amid a row with its investment adviser over the valuation of assets. Operating losses before tax for the six months to September 30 were $63.6m, compared with a loss of $17m a year earlier. Gross revenue from continuing operations for the period fell to $63.2m from $86.4m. The company is undergoing a strategic review to deal with “ongoing failures in the financial reporting and control process”.

HICL Infrastructure announced the acquisition of an additional 3.1% stake in the A63 Motorway concession in France on Thursday, for £20m, bringing its total interest in the project to 24%. The A63 is a 40-year toll-road concession, and the acquisition was expected to be completed early next year, pending consents. HICL said the investment offered an opportunity with significantly higher returns compared to alternative uses of capital.

Newspaper round-up

The Premier League’s pledge to scrap betting adverts on football shirts will not protect children from a “bombardment” of gambling advertising, according to a report by MPs that also raises concerns about the pace of reform to the industry. MPs on the select committee for culture, media and sport criticised the government for failing to take a more “precautionary approach” to gambling promotion, setting out their concerns in a 76-page report published on Thursday. – Guardian

The Labour party has called on David Cameron to release all details of his involvement in the Greensill lobbying scandal. Sir Laurie Magnus, Rishi Sunak’s adviser on ministerial interests, has also been asked to explain whether investigations into the foreign secretary’s former employer will be formally declared. – Guardian

Warner Bros and Paramount have opened discussions about a $38bn (£30bn) merger that would bring together two of Hollywood’s “Big Five” studios. David Zaslaw, the chief executive of Warner Bros Discovery, met Bob Bakish, the boss of Paramount Global, in New York this week to discuss a possible combination of the two companies, online news website Axios reported. – Telegraph

BT is scrambling to rip Huawei equipment out of its network before the end of the year to avoid hefty fines. The telecoms giant still has not removed all kit made by the controversial Chinese company from its “core” network, with just 11 days left before a government-imposed deadline of December 31. – Telegraph

Heavy losses at Dazn have almost halved as the sports streaming provider battles to tip the balance between the enormous costs of sports rights and selling enough subscriptions. In latest results published at Companies House, Dazn reported a total loss of $1.26 billion for the year to the end of December 2022, sharply reduced from the $2.18 billion loss it made in 2021. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Wednesday, snapping major averages' recent positive run as investors took some profits.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.27% at 37,082.00, while the S&P 500 slipped 1.47% to 4,698.35 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.50% weaker at 14,777.94.

The Dow closed 475.92 points lower on Wednesday after registering its ninth-straight winning session a day earlier.

Even with the losses, all three major averages were in the green for December, and the year as a whole, as market participants continued to look ahead to multiple rate cuts from the Federal Reserve in 2024.

In focus on Wednesday, Red Sea concerns were still weighing on sentiment despite a US pledge to assemble a cross-country naval force in the region.