EU fine wipes £70bn off the value of Apple

Nearly £70billion was wiped off the value of Apple after the US tech giant was fined £1.5billion by European regulators for violating laws on music streaming.

The iPhone maker was accused of stopping streaming apps like Spotify from telling customers they can subscribe for cheaper if they do not use Apple’s App Store.

The European Commission said Apple had abused its dominant position in the market for distributing music streaming apps, and had broken EU antitrust rules in the process. Apple said it would appeal the decision.

But shares fell 3.1 per cent, reducing its value by almost £70billion.

Back in London, the FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent, or 42.17 points, to 7640.33 and the FTSE 250 lost 0.5 per cent, or 105.3 points, to 19249.08.

Shares in Clarkson rose after it cashed in on soaring demand for its services despite disruption in the Red Sea. 

The FTSE 250 shipping data firm’s record results showed that revenues rose 5.9 per cent to £639.4million in 2023 while profits increased 9 per cent to £108.8million.

‘We are optimistic about the route ahead of us,’ said chairman Laurence Hollingworth.

‘Global trade continues to grow in both scale and complexity, and the green transition in shipping is moving ahead apace.’

Shares yesterday gained 3.1 per cent, or 115p to 3790p.

Engineering group Senior said ‘momentum is building’ in its aerospace division as it continues to recover from supply chain issues that affected trading.

Group revenues increased 14 per cent to £963.5million last year while profits rose 2 per cent to £22.8million. Shares rose 1.3 per cent, or 2p, to 161.5p.

Wizz Air flew more than 4m passengers last month, up 15.8 per cent on the same period a year earlier.

However, the airline’s load factor – the proportion of seats filled – fell 3.3 percentage points to 90 per cent. Shares dipped 0.9 per cent, or 20p, to 2215p.

AstraZeneca moved a step closer towards getting approval from EU regulators for an antibody drug it made with the pharma firm Daiichi Sankyo to help treat adult patients with lung and breast cancers. 

But the blue-chip company’s shares fell 0.3 per cent, or 34p, to 10046p.

Sticking with health, Halma bought a Dutch-based group that designs and makes products for cervical cancer screening for around £73million. 

The firm, which is behind dozens of groups that create life-saving products such as safety barriers, said Rovers will sit within its health division. Shares slid 0.1 per cent, or 3p, to 2299p.

There was some much-needed respite for Vertu Motors after the price of second-hand cars stabilised in recent weeks.

Prices fell by a tenth between October and December as a cocktail of economic woes, including higher interest rates, hit consumer demand. But such market turmoil has since eased. Shares rose 3.7 per cent, or 2.5p, to 70p.

City broker Berenberg encouraged its clients to buy BT shares, arguing that the investment case for ploughing money into the telecoms giant should be much clearer by the end of this year. The stock rose 1.4 per cent, or 1.5p, to 106.15p.