Croda taps JMAT's finance chief, Anglo American suspends production at Queensland mine

Stocks to watch

Croda International on Monday said it had appointed Johnson Matthey chief financial officer Stephen Oxley to the same role at the chemicals company. Oxley was previously a Partner at KPMG where he spent nearly 30 years advising global companies across consumer, healthcare and industrial sectors, Croda said in a statement. He is expected to join the firm no later than April 1, 2025 following a notice period.

Mining giant Anglo American was forced to suspend production at its Grosvenor steelmaking coal mine in Queensland after an underground coal gas ignition incident at the weekend. No injuries were reported and all workers were evacuated safely. Grosvenor is expected to contribute 3.5m tonnes of steelmaking coal to Anglo’s 15-17m total in 2024 – though the company said it will update the market with guidance “once more information is available”.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended AstraZeneca's ‘Imfinzi’, or durvalumab, and ‘Lynparza’, or olaparib, for approval in the EU for treating certain patients with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer. Specifically, the combination of Imfinzi and chemotherapy followed by Imfinzi and Lynparza was recommended for mismatch repair proficient (pMMR) disease, while Imfinzi and chemotherapy followed by Imfinzi alone was recommended for mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) disease, based on phase three trial results. The firm said the recommendations highlighted significant improvements in progression-free survival.

Newspaper round-up

London’s investment bankers are expected to rake in bigger bonuses this financial year, as the City begins to recover from a two-year slump in deals caused by surging interest rates. Demand for investment banking services – such as facilitating mergers and acquisitions, advising companies and governments on fundraising, and underwriting new stock and bonds – was hit by a sharp increase in borrowing rates after the pandemic, as central banks acted to tame runaway inflation. Jobs and pay were cut as investment banks sought to reduce costs. – Guardian

Millions of households will pay lower gas and electricity bills this summer as the energy price cap for Great Britain falls by £122 a year to the equivalent of £1,568 for the typical annual charge from today. However, the latest cap applies only from July until the end of September, and bills are expected to rise again this winter, leaving millions struggling to heat their homes. – Guardian

Vast salt caverns designed to store hydrogen are to be excavated under Britain’s biggest former naval base as part of plans to bolster the country’s energy security. Each the size of St Paul’s Cathedral, the 19 caverns will be dug under Portland Harbour in Dorset and filled with enough hydrogen to fuel a power station for days. The hydrogen contained in the caverns will be reserved for emergency use and called upon when wind and solar farms are not generating enough energy to keep Britain’s lights on. – Telegraph

Millions of employees saving in workplace pension schemes are set to have their money put into illiquid, unlisted assets for the first time with the announcement by Legal & General of a new fund capable of handling billions of pounds. L&G, which operates workplace pension schemes for employers including Tesco and NatWest, said its new fund would feed savers’ cash into private equity, private debt and infrastructure — asset classes largely denied to pension savers. – The Times

A fund management company is betting against shares of Raspberry Pi only weeks after the maker of microcomputers was listed on the stock market in a flotation hailed as a boost for London. The asset management division of JP Morgan, America’s biggest bank, has amassed a so-called short position in Raspberry Pi stock equivalent to 0.51 per cent of the company’s issued share capital, disclosures to the Financial Conduct Authority show. – The Times

US close

Stocks closed weaker on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.12% at 39,118.86.

The S&P 500 lost 0.41% to 5,460.48, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.71% at 17,732.60.