FTSE jumps to new post-pandemic high

“We need a way that tourists can go to a country but prove that they are safe to travel so that governments are willing to let people come,” said chief executive Glenn Fogel in an interview on Bloomberg TV.

Mr Fogel added that taking a test three days prior to traveling is “not the greatest system” and a “technological solution” is needed. “We want to do something that is easier so we can bring back international travel.”

Booking Holdings – which owns brands including Priceline, Kayak, Agoda and OpenTable – has seen an increase in demand but is still “significantly below” 2019 levels.

While the outlook for summer travel looks bright, Fogel said fast-spreading variants pose a risk to a rebound. “It is a race between the virus and the vaccines.”

James Mitchell, head of manager oversight, Phoenix Group said: “The new Venture Capital fund will support Healthcare, Green Energy and FinTech entrepreneurs up and down the country, providing them with the capital and the expertise they need to level up and grow their businesses.

“Subject to market conditions, we intend to increase this allocation in due course as we see this as an attractive asset class, consistent with our policyholder’s objectives and values.”

Chief executive Laxman Narasimhan’s total pay reached £8.4m in 2020, rising from £4.6m the year before after the board hit a string of financial targets.

The jump was underpinned by an agreement for the Durex-to-Dettol maker to compensate Mr Narasimhan for lost executive pay awards following his exit from the drinks giant Pepsico.

Reckitt paid him £3.1m as part of the buy-out arrangement last year, topping up the £5.3m he earned in salary, pension and bonuses from the company.

The FTSE 100 firm also announced that they would increase his salary by 3pc to £979,000 this year in line with a company-wide pay rise and following a strong performance.

Despite the salary rise, Mr Narasimhan’s pay still remains well short of the amount earned by his predecessor Rakesh Kapoor, who accrued £25.5m in 2015 and £97m since 2011.

It came as Reckitt said it would not link the board’s pay to environment, social and governance targets despite a sharpened focus on ESG from The City.

“Whilst the committee determined that it was not appropriate to include ESG measures in incentives in the current policy, we will keep this position under review and may look to incorporate ESG measures into incentive schemes when it is appropriate to do so,” the company added.

The companies say the proposed Keadby Hydrogen plant could come online within the decade with support from the Government, generating about 900MW of electricity.

They are also planning a gas-fired power station, Keadby 3, with carbon capture systems to stash its carbon emissions under the North Sea.

The developers say the projects can create thousands of jobs and “revitalise an industrial heartland.”

The FTSE 100 business said the review of the health business, which accounts for less than 10pc of its revenues and profits, was part of its “ongoing process… to maximise value by focusing on areas of greatest opportunity”.

Analysts at Jefferies estimate the health business, which makes “active pharmaceutical ingredients” – the constituents of pills and medicines which attack diseases or combat symptoms – could be worth £2bn.

The upgrade to forecasts was driven by the recovery in the worldwide car industry. which Johnson Matthey said was “better than previous expectations”.

Johnson Matthey is one of the world’s biggest producers of catalytic converters used to reduce emissions in cars and trucks.

The company is now predicting an underlying operating profit will be at the top end of market expectations, with the consensus coming to between £405m and £502m.

The number of Americans making initial claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week, showing signs of continued choppiness in the labour market.

Claims made through regular state support programmes jumped by 16,000 to 744,000 in the week to April 3rd, defying expectations they would fall.

Data for the previous week was revised upwards to 728,000 reflecting climbs in both California and New York, two of America’s most economically-vital states.

The level of claims remains stubbornly high, defying signs that the US labour market is healing – including a strong jobs report last week that showed unemployment falling as the number of non-farm payrolls rose by 916,000.

The increase in claims came despite the US making significant progress in its vaccination efforts, with almost a quarter of its adults now inoculated against Covid-19. Consumer spending is picking up as restrictions ease and confidence builds.

Mounting debts risk spooking investors and driving up borrowing costs once normal conditions resume, particularly if post-pandemic austerity sparks a new wave of political populism, according to M&G fund manager Eric Lonergan.

Countries have been able to borrow hand over fist because the European Central Bank is buying €1.85 trillion (£1.6 trillion) of bonds under its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Programme, while financial markets have backed spending to get through the lockdowns.

Mr Lonergan said: “Europe is ironically vulnerable to recovery because it seems you only get temporary elimination of credit risk in European sovereigns when you are in an emergency, in which case the ECB underwrites your bond market.

“The problem is that when you come out of an emergency, you are back to market forces in the bond market, and some of these numbers look really, really bad.”

The eurozone’s rules on government borrowing have been suspended to allow countries to run huge deficits through the pandemic. However, the measures are only temporary with the derogation limited to cases of “an unusual event outside the control” of a member state.

Since Chewy co-founder Cohen joined GameStop’s board in January, he has been pushing towards transformation of the brick-and-mortar retailer into an e-commerce firm that can take on big-box retailers such as Target and technology firms such as Microsoft.

The company also said on Thursday it was nominating six people, including Cohen, to stand for election to its board at the annual meeting of stockholders on June 9.

Shares of GameStop were up over 3pc in premarket trading, snapping a three-day losing streak.

The announcement comes after GameStop on Monday increased the value of the new stock it may sell to $ 1 billion from $ 100 million, as it seeks to capitalize on a surge in its shares from the Reddit-driven rally.

The GameStop stock has rampaged over 900pc higher since January in highly volatile trading as amateur investors organized on social media sites such as Reddit staged a stubborn buying spree, winning out over Wall Street hedge funds that had shorted its shares.

Housebuilding was the strong-performing sub-sector, with its strongest reading since last summer, while commercial construction and civil engineering posted the strongest gains since late 2014.

The housing sector was buoyed by March’s Budget, which included an extension to the Stamp Duty holiday and support for 95pc mortgages, while the Government has also laid out major plans for infrastructure spending.

Steve Plaskitt from accountancy firm MHA said such measures “will underpin performance in the sector for the months ahead”.

IHS Markit reported a “solid rise” in employment numbers, which rose at the fastest rate since late 2018, with companies also stepping up purchasing volumes in the face of growing workloads.

However, high demand led to longer waiting times for materials, and price rises that companies linked to Brexit and Covid led to the sharpest increase in purchasing prices since August 2008.

Cannes Lions has made a volte-face on plans to hold an in-person event this summer, opting for a virtual festival from June 21 to 25.

The event on the Croisette is known for big corporates bank-rolling alcohol-fuelled parties to raise their profile with the advertising elite.

The International Festival of Creativity was poised to go-ahead as a physical event following an announcement in January, but those plans have fallen foul of the pandemic.

It comes as international travel has yet to return to levels seen prior the pandemic despite the ongoing roll-out of covid vaccines.

Chairman Philip Thomas said it was moving fully to a digital format after consulting customers over the past year.

He said the event would have “all the celebration, inspiration and participation of Cannes Lions – to unite the global community virtually”.

The US has reportedly proposed a clampdown on companies using certain countries to avoid paying higher tax as part of its plans for a huge global shake-up.

The White House has argued that multinational giants should pay taxes to governments based on their local sales in each country in documents sent to the OECD, the Financial Times reported.

It is part of the Biden administration’s push for a global minimum corporate tax rate with European leaders swinging behind the plans in recent days.

However, the latest proposals from the US could ignite tensions in Europe as some countries benefit from American companies booking their profits in the tax havens.

Ireland, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Singapore and the Caribbean are the biggest beneficiaries from US companies profit shifting and using them as tax havens, research indicates. These countries have been able to undercut others with low rates, allowing them to generate more tax revenue.

The product is used to generate power but doing so emits vast amounts of carbon dioxide. Miners and power generators are under pressure to cut its use, with many economies switching to gas or renewables.

The demerged company, Thungela Resources, will be listed in Johannesburg and London, with each Anglo-American shareholder getting one share for every ten that they hold in Anglo.

Anglo American said it meant that shareholders could choose whether to sell out of or increase their shares in the company, depending on their views on thermal coal.

The mines are in South Africa and in 2019 accounted for about 6pc of Anglo’s revenue and 1pc of underlying EBITDA. They produced about 16.5m tonnes of thermal coal in 2020.

“The proposed demerger recognises the diverse range of views held by Anglo American’s shareholders in relation to thermal coal and therefore provides Anglo American’s shareholders, including those with specified investment criteria, with the choice to act on such views,” it said.

The Aim-listed company said it has now slashed property costs on 85pc of its estate after the crisis forced the industry into closure.

It came as the pandemic caused the firm to record a £22.1m loss for the year to December, in contrast to a £1.7m pre-tax profit 12 months earlier.

Revenues also dropped 62pc to £24.2m, as the prolonged closure of its 35-strong estate meant admissions tumbled 63pc to 1.2 million.

Chief executive Alex Scrimgeour said the chain had done an “excellent job” navigating an “unprecedented and extremely challenging year”.

“[The team has] minimised all costs during periods of closure, strengthened the group’s balance sheet, worked with our landlords to achieve rent concession and not least, remained actively engaged with our people and customers throughout,” he added.

“Moving forward we remain confident that the nation’s love of film remains and that our premium offering sets us apart.”

The FTSE 100 hit its highest level in over a year this morning. Trading above 6,920 the FTSE is at its highest since the pandemic struck and global stock markets plunged at the end of February 2020. The blue chips are back at last: UK equities entered 2021 at a big discount to peers but have not enjoyed the same bounce as US or some European markets.

The FTSE 250 is also at a record high – at last UK equities are bouncing strongly on a combination of strong UK growth expectations, ongoing monetary policy support and expectations for a strong global recovery. The move comes after another positive session on Wall Street sent the S&P 500 to another all-time closing high. Yields are supportive after the minutes from the Fed’s meeting in March showed policymakers are no hurry to taper or tighten monetary policy.

The mutual made the decision despite profits more than doubling to £77m and revenues jumped 5.5pc to £11.5bn for the year to January 2.

More than £2bn has been handed back to the Government in business rates relief from other essential retailers that continued to trade during lockdown measures.

Allan Leighton, Co-op group chairman, said it had played a “vital and unique role in feeding and caring for the nation” during the pandemic.

“We were grateful for the Government support that allowed us to manage our businesses through the pandemic, particularly our Funeralcare business, which has been working with bereaved families in extraordinarily difficult circumstances, helping them mark the passing of loved ones at a time of national grief.”

On vaccinations, the UK regulator pointed out that the balance of benefits and risks still favors the AstraZeneca vaccine.

We thus see yesterday’s sharp move in GBP lower as exaggerated, remain constructive on the currency and expect EUR/GBP to return to the 0.85 level. GBP to see some modest recovery today.

There aren’t too many businesses that can say the pandemic triggered record profits. ASOS is among that elite list, of course, because it’s a digital-only player. While its performance can’t be knocked, it’s not necessarily smooth sailing from here – a pandemic boon is good, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough.

The tailwind provided by Covid is expected to unwind as the hospitality and tourism sectors reopen, and ASOS’ customers have more to do with their time than adding yet another loungewear set to their online baskets. The emphasis will be on how many of the new customers that joined during the last year plan to stick around, and keep shopping with the platform.

Operating margins came too close to the ground for comfort in recent years, and if return rates start to spike again, we could see some of the progress in margins come undone. Provided there aren’t any operational slip ups to boot, this won’t be the end of the world, but the comfortable margin position we’re looking at now should be taken with pinch of salt.

Real estate broker Jones Lang LaSalle has agreed to take 134,000 square feet of space at 1 Broadgate in the heart of the financial district, according to a statement Thursday. The building will house Chicago-based JLL’s flagship UK office upon its expected completion in 2025.

“1 Broadgate will be central to our plan as we recognise the importance that offices play in collaboration, innovation and fostering culture and wellbeing,” Stephanie Hyde, JLL’s head of UK and Ireland, said in the statement.

Bloomberg reported last month that British Land were also in talks to lease about 300,000 square feet of office space at 1 Broadgate to law firm Allen & Overy, according to people familiar with the negotiations. That would be the biggest office lease signed in London since the onset of the pandemic.

Large companies in London that want new state-of-the-art space are being forced to pin down new premises several years in advance due to the relative dearth of planned office projects. That’s creating a two-tier market, where rents for the best new buildings remain high even as older buildings suffer from a surplus of space being offered for sublet by firms that are shrinking.

In documents sent to the 135 countries negotiating international taxation at the OECD in Paris and obtained by the Financial Times on Wednesday, the US Treasury laid out a plan that would apply to the global profits of the very largest companies, including big US technology groups, regardless of their physical presence in a given country.

The goal of the plan is to catalyse negotiations at the OECD, the international organisation of wealthy countries, with the promise of a more stable international tax system that would stop the proliferation of national digital taxes and break the mould of tax avoidance and profit-shifting by many multinationals.

The US concession during the week of the IMF and World Bank spring meetings comes as the White House has called for raising US corporate taxes by about $ 2.5tn over the next 15 years to pay for more than $ 2tn in investments in infrastructure, clean energy and manufacturing.