BUSINESS LIVE: Barratt waives CMA's Redrow concerns; Ted Baker jobs at risk; Job vacancies rise again

Just before close, the FTSE 100 was 0.67% up at 8,367.34.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 0.53% higher at 21,160.36.

A village in Warwickshire has become one of the first major battlegrounds over Labour’s plans to get building on the green belt.

Residents in the village of Ansty near Coventry are objecting to FTSE 100 firm Frasers Group’s plan to build a new base that will use up 275 acres of prime farmland in the green belt, according to the Telegraph.

Topps Tiles has agreed to buy struggling CTD Tiles in a £9m deal.

It will purchase 30 of the Birmingham-based group’s stores while shutting another 56 outlets with the loss of 268 jobs.

Rob Parker, chief executive of Topps Group, said: “The CTD brand and assets are an excellent fit with our existing business and the acquisition creates a new and complementary specialist tile business within the Topps Group.”

By your 50s you’re likely to have had the same career for years or even decades. But if you’re sick of it, you don’t need to coast along miserably until retirement.

These years can be the perfect time for a career change. After all, you’re likely to have at least a decade or so to go before retirement. And you will have built up years of work and life experience that could be channelled into a new role.

He is the tech tycoon dubbed Britain’s ‘Bill Gates‘ who is now feared to have been on board a sunken superyacht.

Mike Lynch, a former advisor to then-Prime Minister David Cameron and BBC board member, is believed to be among the passengers trapped on the luxury yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily this morning.

The number of UK pubs, restaurants, bars and hotels has returned to growth for the first time in two years, signalling green shoots for the hospitality sector in the face of a challenging economic backdrop in recent years.

New figures showed a particular improvement for casual dining restaurants, which saw numbers increase for the first time since the Covid-19 outbreak in early 2020.

CGA by NIQ and AlixPartners’ latest hospitality market monitor revealed there were 99,207 licensed hospitality operators across the UK at the end of June.

It meant the sector recorded 462 net new openings, or an average of five per day, between March and June.

This was the first quarter-on-quarter increase since 2022 and follows reports of improving sales from industry firms amid easing pressure on household budgets.

The latest uplift indicates there could be a recovery in the sector, but total outlets are still 1% lower over the past year, after almost 1,000 net closures.

The fresh rise in venues for the latest quarter was partly driven by a recovery for midmarket restaurants.

Food and drink producers recorded the strongest growth in output of any sector last month as inflationary pressures drove manufacturing price hikes, fresh data shows.

Higher demand helped the UK food and drink manufacturing industry score 59.2 on July’s Lloyds Bank UK Sector Tracker, compared to 56.9 the previous month.

Fabrizio Freda, the chief executive of Estée Lauder, is retiring from the beauty giant next year after more than a decade at the helm.

Freda originally joined the company in 2008 as president and chief operating officer before becoming CEO a year later.

The New York-headquartered firm also revealed net sales dipped by 2 per cent to $15.6billion in the year ending June, while net earnings plunged by 60 per cent to $390million.

It blamed the result on ‘ongoing softness’ in prestige beauty brands in mainland China, as well as a drop in the Asian travel retail market.

Drivers living in London have a matter of weeks to apply for grants to help them replace their older cars with models that are compliant with the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone.

The ULEZ scrappage scheme, launched in January 2023 and extended six months later, will close next month due to a decline in requests, according to Transport for London.

(PA) – Virgin Media O2 has launched a new mobile plan for people on low incomes to help them stay connected.

The mobile operator has announced a new O2 Essential Plan priced at £10 a month for 10GB of mobile data, and unlimited calls and texts – aimed at those who receive a range of benefits.

The telecoms firm said the plan can be taken as a 30-day rolling contract with no activation or exit fees and no price changes while customers are in receipt of benefit payments.

It is available to those receiving income-based Employment and Support Allowance, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income Support, Pension Credit or Universal Credit.

According to Ofcom figures, around 2.6 million UK households find it difficult to afford their mobile phone service, and previous research has shown large numbers of people suffering from digital exclusion, where their inability to access mobile connectivity cuts them off from key day-to-day services that are increasingly moving online, including healthcare and banking platforms.

Christian Hindennach, chief commercial officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “Virgin Media O2 is proud to offer a range of comprehensive measures to help people on low incomes to get online and stay in touch with loved ones.

London-listed defence stocks fell on Monday following reports that Germany is planning to slash military aid to Ukraine.

German newspaper FAZ said Germany’s Defence Ministry plans to reject additional requests for assistance after providing previously-agreed aid.

Plus500 has lifted full-year profit expectations after seeing a jump in new customers in the first half of 2024.

The FTSE 250-listed Israeli stock trading platform revealed a 13 per cent rise year-on-year in new customers for the six months ended 30 June.

Barratt Developments is set to complete its acquisition of Redrow later this week, six months after initially announcing the takeover.

The £2.5billion deal would create Britain’s largest housebuilder, with the ability to construct about 23,000 homes per year and earn over £7billion in revenues.

Energy bills will rise 9 per cent in October, experts warn – just as households need to turn their central heating on.

The average home now pays energy bills of £1,568 a year, for a deal with prices limited by the Ofgem price cap.

Property asking prices fell for the first time this year in August, according to Rightmove, despite mortgage rates falling over recent weeks.

The average newly-listed home for sale fell in price by 1.5 per cent, an average of £5,708.

Universal is in talks with ministers about tax incentives as it looks to build a multibillion-pound resort in Bedford.

The US company, owned by Comcast, has snapped up 500 acres of land in the UK as a potential site for Europe’s largest theme park.

But now Universal is in talks with officials about tax and infrastructure arrangements – which could be a make-or-break for a site, according to the Financial Times.

London-listed stocks have opened the week slightly lower, weighed down by aerospace and defence shares, but investor optimism over a potential September rate cut in the United States limits losses.

Aerospace and defence stocks have inched 1.3% lower, tracking losses in European defence stocks following reports the German federal government would reject new military aid requests for Ukraine due to spending cuts.

On the flip side, precious and industrial metal miners have inched 0.7 per cent higher each, as gold prices trade near historic levels while copper gains on waning fears of US recession and Chinese demand concerns.

Real estate and real estate investment trusts are marginally higher after property website Rightmove said British estate agents reported higher buyer interest since the Bank of England’s interest rate cut.

Among individual stocks, Plus500 has gained 4.1 per cent to top the FTSE 250 index after the online trading platform forecast its annual results to be above market view and also recorded a 13 per cent jump in new customers in the first half of the year.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘Stocks look set to struggle for a sense of direction at the start of a week dominated by ongoing conflicts and US domestic politics, while China’s economic difficulties come into focus again.

‘The FTSE 100 has opened lower, as investors assess fresh data indicating a further fall in foreign direct investment in China, with an acceleration in the pace of the decline.

‘The precariousness of the latest talks in the Middle East amid high tensions between Russia and Ukraine may also be weighing on sentiment.

‘The pause for breath comes after a week of sharp recovery, boosted by hopes that the US economy will avoid a hard landing, while an orderly but rapid reduction in interest rates looks set to unfold.

‘The expectation of lower borrowing costs in the US has pushed the dollar lower against a basket of currencies, while the yen has gained ground on expectation of another interest rate hike from the Bank of Japan, which has weighed sharply on the Nikkei.

‘Minutes from the Fed, out later this week, will be closely watched for further clues about the monetary policy path.

‘But it will be Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday at the central bankers meeting in Jackson Hole that will be the big draw, as he’s expected to cement expectations for a quarter of a percentage point cut in September, and more reductions are likely to follow by the end of the year.’

Online trading platform Plus500 has forecast annual results to be above market view this year after recording a 13 per cent jump in new customers in the first half.

The company said it would return $185.5 million to its shareholders, comprising a share buyback plan of $110 million and dividends of $75.5 million.

Trading platforms benefited from increased market volatility during the pandemic and in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Despite a quieter 2023, trading platforms saw a year-end revenue spike due to heightened volatility from the conflict in Gaza.

Analysts expect the Israel-based company to log annual revenue of $697.8 million with a core profit of $314.6 million, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Anthony Codling, managing director of RBC Capital Markets:

‘It is good for Barratt, Redrow and homebuyers in general that Barratt has chosen to push ahead with its proposed merger with Redrow despite the small issue raised by the CMA.

‘We view the CMA’s issue as a minor one that can be easily resolved and not an issue big enough to stand in the way of the planned combination of Barratt and Redrow.

‘The sooner the merger is completed the sooner homebuyers can benefit from a larger choice of homes offered for sale by the newly formed combined group.’

No one wants Rachel Reeves to succeed more than I do. Not because I voted Labour – I didn’t – but because I want the country to flourish.

And because, as the first female Chancellor, she could be an inspiration to women.

The world’s financial markets will be on tenterhooks this week as top central bankers gather to discuss the global economy.

Officials from the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB) will meet for the annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

But all eyes will be on Fed chairman Jerome Powell when he delivers a speech on Friday about the US economic outlook.

Ted Baker will close all its remaining 31 stores tomorrow – putting more than 500 jobs at risk.

The firm behind its UK shops – No Ordinary Designer Label – collapsed into administration in March after failing to woo younger shoppers.

This led administrators to shut 15 shops.

Job vacancies have risen for the first time this year as confidence grows among employers.

Listings for UK roles hit 862,043 in July, up 1.1 per cent from the month before, according to job site Adzuna.

The uptick was driven by graduate roles, as well as legal and manufacturing positions.

Barratt Development’s £2.5billion takeover of rival Redrow is set to go ahead after the housebuilder agreed to address concerns raised by the competition regulator.

The group said it intend to complete the combination ‘later this week’, thereby removing ‘uncertainty for the employees, supply chain and wider stakeholder groups of both businesses’.