SSE promotes commercial chief to CEO, WH Smith sells UK high street business

Stocks to watch

Energy group SSE has promoted its chief commercial officer Martin Pibworth to the CEO position, replacing current boss Alistair Phillips-Davies who will formally leave the company this summer. Pibworth, who first joined SSE in 1998 and stepped up to the executive committee in 2012 and the board in 2017, “has been at the heart of the design and delivery of SSE’s highly successful corporate strategy”, SSE said.

WH Smith has sold its UK High Street business to Modella Capital for an enterprise value of £76m on a cash and debt-free basis. The retailer, which will now focus on its travel outlets, said it expected net cash proceeds of around £25m when adjusted for transaction and separation costs, which would be spent in-line with its capital allocation policy. It added that the deal did not include the funkypigeon.com personalised online greeting card business where strategic options were now being considered, including a possible sale.

Diversified Energy has successfully issued $300m in senior secured notes maturing in April 2029, it announced on Friday, with a fixed annual interest rate of 9.75%. The company said the proceeds would be used to repay existing debt and support general corporate purposes, maintaining the company’s current leverage. It said the financing would boost its liquidity to around $440m, and enhance its cash flow flexibility for future investments.

Newspaper round-up

British bill payers remain exposed to another energy crisis while facing “worryingly high” energy debts and some of the highest electricity costs in the world, parliament’s spending watchdog has warned. The public accounts committee (PAC) said ministers had not put in place sufficient safeguards to shield households against another energy crisis or taken steps to permanently reduce Britain’s energy prices. – Guardian

Canada’s prime minister has said the era of deep ties with the US “is over”, as governments from Tokyo to Berlin to Paris sharply criticised Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on car imports, with some threatening retaliatory action. Mark Carney warned Canadians that Trump had permanently altered relations and that, regardless of any future trade deals, there would be “no turning back”. – Guardian

Ed Miliband has been accused of failing to tackle sky-high energy bills and risking power shortages as he races to hit net zero. A report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the Energy Secretary’s reviews of gas and electricity prices were taking too long – leaving consumers with bills so high that increasing numbers of people are now in debt to their suppliers. – Telegraph

The Government’s pay bill is set to soar by more than £50bn per year by the end of the decade, despite efforts to trim the size of the Civil Service. Spending on central government employees will rise from £172bn last year to £225.7bn in 2029 to 2030, according to forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). – Telegraph

London-based investment bankers at HSBC were sacked on the very day they were hoping to hear news of their annual bonuses, with chief executive Georges Elhedery said to be taking a more ruthless approach to cutting costs. The dismissals were delivered on bonus day in January, traditionally when dealmakers learn the size of their annual bonuses, according to a report in the Financial Times, which said the move was regarded as uncharacteristic of the normally more paternalistic bank. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks ended lower on Thursday as investor sentiment was weighed down by persistent concerns over president Donald Trump's tariff proposals and a slightly stronger-than-expected US economic growth report for the fourth quarter.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.37% at 42,299.70, while the S&P 500 declined 0.33% to 5,693.31.

The Nasdaq Composite posted the steepest loss among the major indexes, slipping 0.53% to 17,804.03.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew at an annualised rate of 2.4% in the fourth quarter, slightly above the expected 2.3% but down from 3.1% in the prior quarter.

The modest upward revision was driven by lower imports, though analysts remain cautious about first-quarter prospects amid ongoing trade tensions and weather-related disruptions.