Hill & Smiths buys Capital Steel, GSK acquires Aiolos

Stocks to watch

Infrastructure services group Hill & Smith said it had bought the business and assets of New Jersey-based Capital Steel for $6.25m (£5m), on a debt and cash free basis. Capital Steel, located in Trenton, is led by Robert Hickman who will stay with the company. It supplies structural steel products and services principally into the electrical transmission and distribution market in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Under the terms of the deal a further $1.2m is payable conditional on Capital Steel's achievement of financial performance targets in the two years post-acquisition.

GSK said it was buying Aiolos, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on treatment of respiratory and inflammatory conditions, for a $1bn (£780m) upfront payment and up to $400m in milestone payments. The deal provides GSK with access to Aiolos' AIO-001, a drug ready to enter phase II clinical development for the treatment of adult patients with asthma, with potential for additional indications including chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps. Founded in 2023, Aiolos Bio is a San Francisco, USA and London, UK-based clinical-stage, private, biopharmaceutical company focused on treating respiratory disease.

Newspaper round-up

Ministers have drawn up urgent plans to clear the names of hundreds of post office operators who were wrongly convicted of theft and fraud in the Horizon IT scandal as the government scrambled to get on the front foot over the major miscarriage of justice. The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, will hold talks with the senior judiciary to confirm how the convictions can be overturned as soon as possible, so victims can have speedier access to millions of pounds of compensation. – Guardian

The top director responsible for safety and security at Sellafield is to leave the vast nuclear waste dump in north-west England, it has emerged. Mark Neate, the Sellafield environment, safety and security director, is to leave the organisation later this year. – Guardian

Barclays cut its workforce by around 5,000 last year as part of an ongoing push to strip costs from the lender. The bank confirmed the size of the job losses for the year ending December 2023 after reports emerged that it was planning to cut 2,000 jobs in a £1bn cost-cutting drive. Investors are awaiting an update in February from chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan, also known as Venkat, which could lay out further cost reduction plans. – Telegraph

Income tax revenues have leapt by more than 70 per cent since 2010 to £264 billion, illustrating the sharp rise in the tax burden overseen by successive Conservative administrations since the party came to power more than a decade ago. Analysis of figures from HM Revenue & Customs by The Times revealed that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt have been raising income tax receipts without actually lifting headline rates. – The Times

The American entertainment group that was backing a 21,500-capacity Sphere venue in east London has pulled the plug on the project after claiming it had become a “political football” between the government and the mayor of London. Sphere Entertainment has withdrawn its planning application for the “glowing orb” near the Olympic Park in Stratford, saying that the process had descended into a turf war between Sadiq Khan and Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary. – The Times

US close

Huge gains from tech stocks and falling oil prices and bond yields ignited stocks on Monday, with the S&P 500 coming within 36 points of its all-time closing high.

The S&P 500 finished 1.4% or 66 points higher at 4,764 by the close, inching closer to the record level of 4796.56 reached in January 2022.

The Nasdaq meanwhile surged 2.2% to 14,844, though the Dow rose only 0.6% to 37,683, held back by a heavy fall from aircraft maker Boeing.

Economic data was thin on the ground on Monday, though things will pick up later in the week with the consumer price index (CPI) due out on Thursday.

The yield on a 10-year US Treasury was at 4.027% by the close, but dipped below the 4% level earlier on, compared with a previous close of 4.046%.

Oil stocks were hit as major producer Saudi Arabia cut prices across the board, sending benchmark crude sharply lower on Monday.