Weakening demand for beer and tougher global economic conditions have hit sales for Heineken, the Dutch brewing giant said in a fourth quarter trading update.
The company, which also makes Birra Moretti and Amstel, said third-quarter revenues fell 4 per cent to €8.7 billion. This was driven largely by a drop in the volume of beer sales in North and South America and Europe.
UK consumers, however, shrugged off a wider downturn with sales of the Spanish lager Cruzcampo and Irish stout brand Murphy’s rising.
Heineken said that profit growth for the year is set to be “towards the lower end” of its 4 per cent to 8 per cent forecast range.
Winnebago beats expectations in fourth quarter
Winnebago Industries, the US maker of one of the most recognisable names in the RV and motorhome industry, has reported better-than-expected sales and profits in the fourth quarter, pushing the shares up 13.5 per cent in pre-market trading.
Net profits in the three months to the end of August rose to $13.7 million, up from a loss of $29.1 million in the same period last year. Revenue increased by 7.8 per cent to $777.3 million.
Michael Happe, the chief executive, said: “Our performance clearly reflects the advantages of a diversified product portfolio, as strong momentum across our brands and product lines helped offset the operating margin pressure stemming from the ongoing turnaround of our Winnebago-branded businesses.
“The positive feedback from our dealers and the interest in our newest models showcase the hard work our product teams are putting into innovating for today’s outdoor recreation customers.”
Happe said industry conditions continued to “reflect higher competitive discounts and allowances”.
Winnebago shares have fallen 45 per cent over the past year to close at $31.62 yesterday.
State pension expected to rise to £12,548
MIKE KEMP/IN PICTURES/GETTY IMAGES IMAGES
Pensioners on the full state pension looks set to £241.30 a week increase next year, an increase of 4.8 per cent which takes the annual amount to around £12,548.
Under the triple lock guarantee, the state pension increases every April in line with whichever is the highest of total wage growth in the year from May to July of the previous year, CPI inflation in September of the previous year, or 2.5 per cent.
Official data showed CPI inflation was 3.8 per cent in September. However, total wage growth including bonuses for the quarter to July was 4.8 per cent.
The work and pensions minister is required by law to undertake an annual review of the state pension and benefits and the outcome will be announced in November.
Government shutdown is now second longest in US history
The US government shutdown has now become the second longest in the country’s history at 22 days.
The longest was a 35-day shutdown of 2018–2019 during President Trump’s first tenure, caused by a dispute over expanding barriers on the US-Mexico border.
Trump has urged Senate Republicans to stand firm and said he’ll meet with Democratic leaders only after the impasse ends.
Cressida Hogg to be new CBI president
Cressida Hogg, the chairwoman of the defence company BAE Systems, is to be next president of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
She will takeover from Rupert Soames at the start of January.
Hogg is a former chair of Land Securities Group, and has a strong background in infrastructure and private equity. She has been managing director and head of infrastructure at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and has worked at 3i.
Soames said: “She has a high reputation as one of the most successful members of the British business community and has had a distinguished executive and non-executive career covering industrial, financial services and asset management businesses.”
HS2 delayed for at least four years
HS2, the high-speed railway line which hopes to connect London to northern England, will be delayed by at least four years, the company said in the latest setback for the project.
A spokesperson for HS2 said construction on the 18-mile section north of Birmingham would be postponed to prioritise completion of the main London–Birmingham route, Reuters reports.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, warned in June that the line would not open by 2033 as previously targeted, and said she expected to provide an update on costs and timing by the end of the year.
Halfords upbeat after good first half
The bicycles and motoring retailer has reported a 4.1 per cent rise in like-for-like first-half sales, helped by growth in both its retail and car maintenance businesses.
Halfords also stuck to its annual outlook. The update for the the 26 weeks to September 26 lifted shares in the company by 6.5 per cent to 146p.
The company said it was comfortable with analysts’ expectations for underlying pre-tax profit of between £36 million and £39.8 million for the year ending March 2026.
BP halts work on US wind project and cuts jobs
BP’s offshore wind joint venture is halting work on a project in America and laying off its staff in the country amid hostility to the sector from the Trump administration.
Jera Nex BP, the newly-formed 50:50 venture between the FTSE 100 energy group and Japan’s top power generator Jera, said it did not see a viable path to develop its Beacon wind project off Massachusetts in the current environment and could not continue investing in the market. It will lay off its US employees in the coming months.
The decision comes after the Trump administration twice intervened to halt work on offshore wind farms under construction off the north-east coast of America, scaring away investors from the sector.
JLR cyberattack estimated to have cost UK £1.9bn
CHRISTOPHER FURLONG/GETTY IMAGES
The cyberattack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is estimated to have been the most economically damaging hack in UK history and cost the country around £1.9 billion, according to research from the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC).
Around 5,000 businesses across the country have been hit by the fallout of the attack, according to the research from the non-profit organisation.
JLR stopped production at its UK factories for five weeks from September 1 after being targeted by hackers. The incident also led to warnings from suppliers that they could collapse without trading rapidly resuming or financial support.
Ciaran Martin, chairman of the CMC’s technical committee, said: “With a cost of nearly £2 billion, this incident looks to have been by some distance, the single most financially damaging cyber event ever to hit the UK.”
Barclays has £110m exposure to Tricolor bankruptcy
As well as a bigger hit from the motor finance mis-selling scandal, Barclays has also revealed in its third-quarter figures that it had taken a £110 million blow from the collapse of Tricolor, the American subprime auto lender that went bankrupt last month.
The failures of Tricolor, where there are allegations of fraud, and First Brands, a US car parts supplier, have raised concerns about the vast private credit markets because both companies were deeply entwined in this fast-growing but opaque and lightly-regulated area of the financial system.
Barclays disclosed that its overall exposure to the private credit markets was about £20 billion. CS Venkatakrishnan, the bank’s chief executive, said the Tricolor exposure “was obviously not a surprise, the surprise was the fraud” but that “fraud was no excuse for us”.
CS Venkatakrishnan
CHRISTOPHER L PROCTOR FOR THE TIMES
He said the bank was looking at lessons to learn from situation and was “vigilant” more broadly about credit markets. He also disclosed that Barclays had been approached multiple times about doing business with First Bank but “our credit analysts didn’t think that they saw adequate support for the financial projections they were making”.
Lidl’s annual profits jump to £156.8m
Lidl GB, the German-owned discounter, has reported a jump in pre-tax profits to £156.8 million in the year to February 28, up from £43.6 million in the previous year.
Revenue at Britain’s sixth-biggest supermarket chain was up 7.9 per cent to £11.7 billion.
Industry data published last week showed Lidl’s sales rose 10.8 per cent over the 12 weeks to October 5 year-on-year, giving it a UK grocery market share of 8.2 per cent, close to Morrisons, which is ranked fifth.
The company said it plans to open 13 new stores between now and Christmas, and a total of 40 new stores before the end of the current financial year.
ITV shares tumble as stock market rises
London’s leading share indexes rose this morning, buoyed by corporate news.
The FTSE 100 gained 0.6 per cent, or 58 points, at 9.485.95, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.6 per cent to 22,037.56, despite a 10.3 per cent fall in the shares of ITV after Liberty Global, its largest shareholder, halved its stake in broadcasts to about 5 per cent.
In the FTSE 100, Barclays was buoyed by its plans for a share buyback, while Rio Tinto rose after it said it was exploring a potential asset-for-equity swap with Chinese state-owned Chinalco that would would free up Rio to resume buybacks and pursue new strategic deals.
Gold miners Fresnillo and Endeavour were the top risers, despite yesterday’s sharp fall in the bullion price. Housebuilder Persimmon gained on hopes of interest rate cuts after the inflation data.
Burberry, the luxury goods company, was out of favour.
Pound drops after inflation data
The pound has fallen sharply after the unchanged inflation reading fuelled expectation of an interest rate cut.
The currency fell 0.3 per cent against the dollar to $1.3325 and the yield on UK government bonds, which are sensitive to changes in interest rates, fell across the curve.
Before the inflation data was published, traders had expected the Bank to make no more interest rate cuts this year.
Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, said the lower-than-expected peak in inflation this year could prompt policymakers into an interest rate cut “sooner rather than later”.
Before the inflation data was published, traders had expected the Bank to make no more interest rate cuts this year. Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Strategy, said the lower-than-expected peak in inflation this year could prompt policymakers into an interest rate cut “sooner rather than later”.
George Buckley, chief European economist at Nomura, said the data kept “the next MPC meeting live”. “We expect a 25bp rate cut on November 6 … markets are beginning to price the risk of November more appropriately.”
Princes Group eyes value of £1.24bn in float
The Italian-owned business that makes Princes tuna and Napolina pasta is targeting an estimated £1.16 billion to £1.24 billion market valuation in initial public offering in London.
The business, which will be known as Princes Group, has set a price range of between 475p and 590p per share.
Princes, which was acquired by New Princes last year for £700 million, will offer up to 84.2 million new shares to raise up to £400 million in primary capital to fund acquisitions.
Majority shareholder New Princes has indicated its intention to subscribe for up to £200 million worth of shares at the final offer price.
London debut for double decker Eurostar trains
A computer-generated image of the Eurostar Celestia, one of the new fleet of double-decker trains which will operate in the UK
EUROSTAR/PA
Double-decker high-speed trains, a quarter of a mile long and carrying more than 1,000 passengers could be arriving at London St Pancras from as early as 2031 after a €2 billion deal between Eurostar and the French rolling stock manufacturer Alstom.
The Channel Tunnel and European passenger train operator has announced an order to take 50 new Alstom Avelia Horizon trains. The deal will facilitate plans for Eurostar to begin direct services between London and Frankfurt and Geneva for the first time from about 2035.
The new trains will be the first double-decker passenger trains to operate either in Britain or through the Channel Tunnel.
Malone’s Liberty Global to halve ITV stake
PAUL ELLIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
ITV shares will be in focus today after its biggest investor, Liberty Global, announced plans to halve its stake in the broadcaster which has been at the centre of takeover speculation.
The US media company, chaired by the billionaire John Malone, said after the market closed last night that it was reducing its stake in ITV to five per cent from 10 per cent via a placing.
Liberty Global has often been talked of as a potential kingmaker in any deal to acquire the broadcaster. ITV was subject to speculation earlier this year that the French company Banijay was considering an offer, though this was later knocked back by the company.
ITV also held preliminary talks with All3Media, owned by RedBird IMI, the Emirati-backed fund, over a merger of their respective studios businesses but these failed to progress.
Barclays sets aside extra £235m for car loan claims
Barclays has set aside a further £235 million to pay compensation over mis-sold motor finance and joined an industry backlash against the City regulator’s plan to force car loan providers into an £11 billion consumer redress scheme.
The bank said that it was increasing the sum it had earmarked earlier this year to cover the costs of the scandal to £325 million, from £90 million. Like rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Close Brothers, it also raised concerns about the Financial Conduct Authority’s compensation proposals, claiming they “do not accurately address actual loss (if any) suffered by customers and do not achieve a proportionate or appropriate outcome”.
The bigger motor finance hit marred Barclays’ third-quarter results, although its pre-tax profits of £2.1 billion, down 7 per cent year on year, were still roughly in line with analysts’ forecasts.
In a positive surprise for stock market investors, the bank announced in its results a plan to return £500 million to them through a share buyback that had not been in City estimates.
UK inflation unchanged at 3.8 per cent in September
Food price inflation fell unexpectedly in September
CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
Consumer price inflation held steady at 3.8 per cent in September, lower than City forecasts.
Official figures said the pace of annual price growth was stable at 3.8 per cent for the third month in a row, and below the 4 per cent peak expected by the Bank of England and City analysts.
The stable inflation figure was driven by an unexpected fall in food price inflation, which fell from 5.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent last month, according to the Office for National Statistics.
A measure of core inflation, which strips out food and energy prices, fell from 3.6 per cent to 3.5 per cent, below forecasts of a rise to 3.7 per cent last month.
Inflation in the services sector, which is a measure of labour costs, also held steady at 4.7 per cent — below the Bank’s 5 per cent forecast.
September’s inflation figure confirms that the state pension will rise by 4.8 per cent under the triple lock next year, in line with the jump in average weekly earnings. The lock commits the government to raising the pension by the highest of the CPI figure in September, wages as measured in the three months to July, or 2.5 per cent.
JCB plans £100m ‘back Britain’ expansion
JCB is to spend £100 million expanding and revamping its global headquarters in Staffordshire as it “continues to back Britain” despite concerns about tax rises and steel tariffs.
The digger manufacturer’s investment, unveiled as part of its 80th anniversary celebrations, will fund a £60 million fully-automated powder paint plant at its Rocester base as well as a “comprehensive refurbishment” of its shop floor. New machining centres, friction welders and cylinder boring machines are also planned.
There remain worries that the chancellor will hit businesses with more tax increases at next month’s budget and Donald Trump’s tariffs on British steel imports have had a “significant impact” on the industry, JCB said.
However, Lord Bamford of Daylesford, JCB’s chairman, believes it still “makes perfect sense” to invest in the group’s British factories. “Basing JCB in the UK makes business sense, just as it has always made business sense,” he said. “The work ethic in our country remains strong — especially in the Midlands, with its deep engineering heritage. Obviously, we are expanding overseas, not least in America, where we have been for decades. But the UK is our home.”
Gold price correction after 70 per cent rise this year
Gold has trading flat this morning after pulling back sharply from a blistering rally, as stretched valuations came under scrutiny and investors booked profits.
The price of the metal dipped 0.1 per cent to $4,132.45 per ounce.
Gold, which has risen almost 70 per cent so far this year, dropped 6 per cent in the largest decline since August 2020 and second biggest since 2013. It hit a high a new record high of nearly $4,400 on Monday.
The rise in the gold price this year has been driven by economic uncertainty amid concerns about government debt, a global investor retreat from the dollar, expected US interest rate cuts and the impact of President Trump’s tariffs. Retail investors also have ploughed in for fear of missing out.