End-of-day market snapshot
Take a look at our market snapshot as the FTSE 100 closes lower.
FTSE closes down after another afternoon tumble
The FTSE 100 tumbled in the afternoon for the third straight day, eventuallly finishing at 7,412.45.
The index fell below the 7400 mark, leaving it at its lowest in over a month, before reocvering some of those losses late in the day.
To risers included IAG after an upgrade and Tesco following its results. Fallers included Whitread and BAE.
Richard Caring’s rapid rollout helps to serve up record profits for The Ivy’s parent company
Richard Caring’s rapid rollout of The Ivy restaurant brand has delivered record sales and profits despite the challenges facing the hospitality sector, latest accounts reveal.
Troia (UK) Restaurants, which owns the original Theatreland celebrity haunt as well as dozens of other sister venues that bear its name, saw sales grow by half to £302.9 million in 2022. Pre-tax profits were also higher, from £20.4 million to £29 million.
Caring bought The Ivy in 2005 and launched the first spin-off, Ivy Market Grill in Covent Garden, in 2014. Since then, there has been a quickfire expansion all over the UK, including under the Ivy Asia format, which has been the focus of much of the recent expansion.
What3words: The life-saving app that finds everything apart from profits
A little more than a year ago, hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of London in the queue to see the coffin of the late Queen. We British are known for our queuing etiquette, but even for us, something which at its peak ran as long as 10 miles had the potential to become very unruly. Mercifully, a novel piece of technology was on hand to assist.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) issued instructions to attendees on where they should head to join the back of the queue. ‘Go to tent.pipe.descended’ for the queue, said DCMS on Twitter. ‘Now head to doll.heads.effort. Now same.valve.grit. Now trendy.format.fuel.’
The response of a lot of people might have been: ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ The locations sounded more like MI5 codenames than places on a street in Westminster.
For many, this was their first introduction to what3words: a geolocation app designed to make it easier to pinpoint precise locations using three-word co-ordinates when an address either doesn’t exist or won’t suffice.
Market snapshot as FTSE sinks again
The FTSE 100 has sunk back into the red, though gilt yields have also eased slightly.
Take a look at our key market data,
Young London tech workers pin hopes on AI
Gen Z tech workers in London believe the generative AI revolution will supercharge the industry they work in, as startups across the capital emerge to cash in on the technology.
A survey of 2,000 20-30-year-olds working in tech across Europe by venture capital investor Eight Roads Ventures shows that British tech workers are more confident of AI than any other European workers, with 4 in 5 convinced it will boost their careers.
Levels of job satisfaction among young UK tech workers have bounced back this year. The proportion of employees feeling unhappy in their role fell from 35% in 2022 to 15% in 2023.
Hopes for AI follow a host of London companies raising funds from venture capital investors in the last six months and ChatGPT developer OpenAI opening its first office outside the US in London.
Davor Hebel, Managing Partner, Eight Roads Ventures, said: “Today’s young professionals are proving just how resilient and adaptable they can be. Not surprisingly, they are the fastest generation to embrace AI, seeing it as a strong productivity lever, and not a threat.”
The survey of Gen Z workers also indicates that younger workers are keen to return to the office, with more than half preferring to work four or five days in the office. Almost a third (29%) said they prefer being in the office five days a week, while only 9% said they like working fully remotely.
Merger could push up scampi prices in UK pubs and restaurants, CMA finds
A merger of the UK’s two largest scampi suppliers could ultimately push up prices for UK pubs and restaurants, the competition watchdog has said.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has found that Whitby Seafoods’ purchase of Kilhorne Bay Seafoods could result in higher prices and lower quality products for consumers.
Whitby Seafoods is currently the largest UK supplier of breaded scampi to customers including pubs, restaurants, and fish and chip shops, holding a market share of about 90%.
Businesses slam Sunak decision to scrap Northern leg of HS2
Rishi Sunak has officially scrapped the Northern leg of HS2, arguing the facts had changed since the project was launched, in a decision widely condemned by business leaders.
BusinessLDN chief executive John Dickie said: “The Government has done the unthinkable by building a new north-south railway and stopping halfway.
“This short-sighted decision has been made with little attempt to work with business to explore how costs could be reduced and private investment increased. It pulls the handbrake on the long-term benefits of growth, levelling up and sustainability that HS2 would have delivered for communities across the country.
“Constant chopping and changing has increased costs and undermined delivery of HS2. This meddling by ministers sends a very negative signal to investors and contractors, which will drive up the price that we all pay when it comes to delivering future major infrastructure projects.”
Market snapshot: FTSE steady, gilt yields remain high
The FTSE 100 is slightly up today after an initial fall, but gilt yields are still at historic highs.
Take a look at our full market snapshot.
SSE sees production lower than hoped due to poor weather
Electricity giant SSE said output from its renewables divisions has been worse than planned in the six months to the end of September, as the weather proved unfavourable.
The generation company said output was around 19% lower than had been expected during the period, leaving it with a 7% shortfall compared with where it expects to be by the end of the financial year.
SSE said it expects that adjusted earnings per share will hit “at least 30 pence” when it reports results for the six months.
