Afternoon market snapshot
Take a look at our afternoon market snapshot
FTSE 100 gets closer to perfectly flat half-year
The FTSE 100 is now justr 13.7 points below where it started the year as it reaches its halfway point, after climbing further this afternoon.
Ocado has been the day’s biggest riser, after a volatile six months for the delivery firm. It’s still down for the half-year, but continued takeover rumours have kept it from being among the index’s biggest losers over the last six months.
For the year, Rolls Royce has been the biggest riser, followed by 31 and Flutter.
Miners Fresnillo, Glencore and Anglo American make up the bottom three spots for the year.
Financial Conduct Authority enables firms to provide mortgage breathing space
The City regulator says it has moved quickly to make rulebook changes, to help give households some relief from rising mortgage rates.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said lenders should make the options available to borrowers clear and accessible.
Sheldon Mills, executive director for consumers and competition at the FCA, urged homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage, or believe they might have difficulties, to speak to their lender.
Pokémon Go maker Niantic lays off 230 staff while cancelling Marvel and NBA games
Niantic, the developer behind Pokémon Go, has announced that it is laying off 230 employees and axing two games as it grapples with a turbulent gaming market.
The cancelled titles include Marvel: World of Heroes, which was being previewed in select countries ahead of its official launch, and the recently released NBA All-World.
Pokémon Go developer Niantic will focus on a smaller batch of games going forward after a string of failed releases
/ Pokémon GoIn an email to staff published on the firm’s website, Niantic boss John Hanke essentially described the layoffs as the results of a Covid hangover.
ICYMI: Secret email from Severn Trent boss to rivals
Liv Garfield, the boss of FTSE 100 water giant Severn Trent, is trying to bring a taskforce of utility bosses together with the Labour party in a bid to head off the threat of nationalisation.
In an email sent to other utility CEOs which she describes as “sensitive” and “highly confidential”, the £4 million a year Garfield asks them to join an “off-the-record roundtable” with Will Hutton, the Observer journalist best known for books critical of capitalism including The State We’re In.
Her move comes as water companies face the threat of being re-nationalised, decades after they were privatised as one of Margaret Thatcher’s free market reforms.
Thames Water’s annual profit figures may come out after MPs grill industry executives
There were fears in the City today that Thames Water will publish its annual accounts later than usual, as concern grew over the state of the heavily indebted group’s finances.
The 15-millon customer utility is grappling with a £14 billion debt burden as interest rates soar, stoking concern about its viability. Its £1.6 million-a-year CEO, Sarah Bentley, left suddenly this week.
Thames usually publishes its financial report in the first week of July. Sources close to the company said today its next set of accounts will come out before July 15, the deadline for them to be released.
The Government said AI firm Cervest could ‘transform lives’ — It was weeks from collapse
Cervest, a London ‘climate intelligence’ firm hailed by the Government as one of the UK’s 10 most “exciting” AI firms just three months ago has gone bust with staff left unpaid, the Standard can reveal.
All of Cervest’s more than 100 staff have lost their jobs. Its 71 UK employees haven’t been paid since April.
The collapse of a supposed AI champion is the latest dent in a London tech sector struggling with layoffs, falling valuations and dwindling investment. In particular, it’s a blow to Rishi Sunak’s vision of making London a world-leading artificial intelligence hub, laid out at London Tech Week just days before Cervest entered administration.
It is maybe the biggest downfall so far in the UK AI sector, which had appeared to be the one area of tech in the country that was immune to the slowdown in funding as investors threw money behind artificial intelligence firms in the wake of ChatGPT’s popularity.
Legoland owner bounces back to profit amid tourism and staycation boom
The return of tourists and families enjoying staycations has propelled sales and earnings for the owner of Legoland and Thorpe Park.
Merlin Entertainments, which is one of the world’s biggest operators with more than 140 attractions, theme parks and resorts, said it had millions more visitors last year.
The multinational group saw its revenues surge by 60% to £2 billion over 2022, compared to 2021, and surpass pre-pandemic levels.
Competition watchdog concerned over £16bn Adobe takeover
The Competition and Markets Authority might move to block Adobe’s 20 billion dollar (£15.8 billion) takeover of Figma, a tool used to design digital apps and websites, after it found that it could be bad for competition in the UK.
The regulator said on Friday that the deal might mean “less choice for designers”, as the two businesses stop competing with each other.
“We’re worried this deal could stifle innovation and lead to higher costs for companies that rely on Figma and Adobe’s digital tools – as they cease to compete to provide customers with new and better products,” said Sorcha O’Carroll, senior mergers director at the CMA.
Wimbledon serves up £200m boost to London
Wimbledon fortnight delivers a £200 million boost to the London economy, making the tennis championship the most valuable annual sporting event in Britain, according to a new study.
The thousands of spectators, players, officials, event staff and media representatives who will descend on All England Lawn Tennis Club from Monday will inject millions of pounds a day into the local economy through spending on accommodation, food and drink, transport and merchandise over the two weeks.
Researchers at the sports industry research centre at Sheffield Hallam University found that the tournament’s total economic impact on London last year was £198.9 million, and it supported economic activity worth £222.4 million across the capital. The equivalent figures for Britain as a whole were £319.1 million and £367.9 million respectively.
