HSBC chief executive to retire, Whitbread announces share buyback

Stocks to watch

HSBC group chief executive Noel Quinn said he was retiring after nearly five years in the job, in a shock announcement on Tuesday. Quinn, 62, will remain in post until a new CEO is appointed. The news came as the lender posted a 1.8% drop in first-quarter profit to $12.7bn (£10bn), slightly higher than expectations, and unveiled a $3bn share buyback.

Hospitality group Whitbread has announced a £150m share buyback and beefed up its dividend after seeing its bottom line jump by more than a third in the year to 29 February. The company, which owns Premier Inn, Beefeater and a number of other names in the pub, restaurant and hotels sector, said results were bolstered by a record annual profit from Premier Inn UK and an improvement in Germany where it continues to narrow losses. Adjusted pre-tax profit totalled £561m, up 36% on the year before, helping the company lift its total dividend by 31% to 97p per share.

Prudential reported an 11% increase in first-quarter new business profit to $810m in an update on Tuesday, excluding economic impacts, reflecting growth across geographical markets. Adjusted for economic impacts, the profit remained stable at $726m. Additionally, first-quarter APE sales rose by 7% to $1,625m, indicating sustained momentum despite challenges in specific regions such as Vietnam.

Newspaper round-up

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday fined the largest US wireless carriers nearly $200m for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information. The FCC is finalizing fines first proposed in February 2020, including $80m for T-Mobile; $12m for Sprint, which T-Mobile has since acquired; $57m for AT&T, and nearly $47m for Verizon. – Guardian

The EU is set to launch formal proceedings against Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, amid concerns it is not doing enough to counter Russian disinformation before the EU elections in June, according to reports. It is also expected to express concerns about the lack of effective monitoring of election content and a potentially inadequate mechanism for flagging illegal content. – Guardian

Oil traders working for US giant ExxonMobil face losing their jobs because they refuse to leave Brussels for London over poor pay. Staff at the multinational are reluctant to relocate to the British capital amid dissatisfaction with “uncompetitive” pay and a “lack of flexibility”, unions have warned. An internal survey showed most said they would turn down the move for these reasons. – Telegraph

The Barclay family are on course to lose control of the last pillar of their corporate empire as their Gulf-based backers plot a sale of Very Group. The Abu Dhabi investment firm that launched an unsuccessful attempt to buy the Barclays’ media assets last year is drawing up plans for an auction of the retailer as it seeks to unwind a £1.2 billion refinancing of the family’s debts. – The Times

A star stockpicker who has been responsible for managing £60 billion of assets has quit Royal London Asset Management to set up his own firm, taking his team with him. Peter Rutter, the firm’s head of equities and the manager of a number of strongly performing authorised funds, has left with immediate effect. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks were in the green at the end of trading on Monday as investors braced for more corporate earnings, some key labour market data and the outcome of the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.38% at 38,386.09, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.32% to 5,116.17 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.35% firmer at 15,983.08.

The Dow closed 146.43 points higher on Monday, extending gains recorded in the previous session.