BUSINESS LIVE: Phoenix weighs SunLife sale; AO World profits beat forecasts; REVB lifted by cost cuts

Simply earlier than shut, the FTSE 100 was 0.18% down at 8,232.98.

In the meantime, the FTSE 250 was 0.25% decrease at 20,312.46.

Barclays is axing its month-to-month loyalty bonus funds for Blue Rewards scheme members in a shake up of its rewards.

Blue Rewards members presently get a £5 a month money bonus for paying not less than £800 a month into their linked present account and paying out two direct debits.

(PA) – Common has revealed new particulars about plans for its first UK theme park, which it claims will assist increase the UK financial system by practically £50billion.

Common Locations and Experiences, which is owned by Sky mother or father group Comcast, purchased a 476-acre web site on a former brickworks in Kempston Hardwick, Bedfordshire, final yr.

It has proposed constructing a serious theme park resort on the positioning, and launched engagement with native residents and authorities.

A brand new report commissioned by Common discovered that the development of the challenge would create 20,000 jobs within the long-term, with 5,000 employees on web site at its peak.

As soon as operational, the resort would initially create 8,000 new jobs in a spread of roles.

The analysis additionally outlined that the challenge would ship a lift of over £49billion to the regional and wider UK financial system.

This included a £35.1billion contribution by way of the development course of and its first 20 years of operations.

AO World’s annual income have soared as worth hikes helped the group compensate for decrease revenues to realize increased margins.

The web electronics retailer revealed adjusted pre-tax income climbed by 186 per cent to £34.3million within the yr ending March, far above its steering of between £28million and £33million.

German automobile big Volkswagen Group will make investments as much as $5billion (£4bn) in US electrical automobile maker Rivian as a part of a three way partnership to share EV structure and software program.

The sizable funding will present a monetary lifeline to Rivian following a spate of losses and assist to fund improvement of upcoming fashions.

Witan Funding Belief will merge its belongings with London-listed peer Alliance Belief to type a £5billion portfolio allocating money to a spread of world inventory pickers and focusing on FTSE 100 standing.

In a joint assertion on Tuesday the funding corporations mentioned Witan’s belongings could be rolled into Alliance Belief in alternate for brand new peculiar shares within the renamed and enlarged Alliance Witan funding belief.

(PA) – Money-strapped customers want to commerce down their family home equipment amid the cost-of-living disaster, in keeping with retailer Marks Electrical, in a pattern which pushed the agency’s income down by one-third final yr.

{The electrical} items vendor, which listed on the London Inventory Alternate in 2021, mentioned the buying and selling setting weighed on margins as shoppers “stay extremely price-conscious”.

Marks Electrical’s adjusted earnings have been down 33 per cent to £5million for the yr ending March 31, regardless of its home equipment market share rising to 2.8 per cent within the interval, up from 2.5 per cent final yr.

The falling revenue got here regardless of the agency bringing in document turnover for the yr, with income rising 17 per cent to £114million.

“Within the present buying and selling setting, shoppers stay extremely price-conscious, which given our premium focus, continues to have an effect on our common order worth, leading to buyer order volumes rising quicker than income,” mentioned Marks Electrical chief government Mark Smithson.

Greater than half of houses aren’t power environment friendly probably including hundreds of kilos to family payments, a brand new research by Rightmove claims.

No less than 18million houses have an Vitality Efficiency Score of D or under, in keeping with the property portal, which equates to 55 per cent of the entire housing inventory.

Phoenix Group is contemplating promoting its SunLife enterprise after deciding it was ‘not core’ to its operations.

The FTSE 100 firm purchased the division from AXA in 2016, together with the French insurance coverage big’s non-platform funding and pensions arm, AXA Wealth, as a part of a £375million deal.

The rise of Nvidia to turn out to be the world’s most beneficial firm turned this little understood chip designer and its inspirational founder Jensen Huang into the ‘Swifties’ of tech.

Share markets are unforgiving and infrequently irrational locations the place the herd intuition can get the higher of fundamentals.

The concept tech-savvy kids are much less more likely to fall sufferer to scams on-line is a false impression, new figures counsel.

Over the past 12 months, Gen Z and Millennials accounted for 65 per cent of scams reported, information from cash app Revolut reveals – with a rip-off skilled placing it all the way down to the actual fact they do extra of their banking on-line.

Britain’s greatest winemaker may very well be bought because it tries to fulfill booming demand for English fizz.

Chapel Down has launched a strategic assessment to discover methods to seek out recent funding to pay for its bold progress plans.

Shares in synthetic intelligence chip designer Nvidia rose practically 6 per cent after a three-day rout that noticed $557billion (£440billion) wiped off its worth.

On a day of much-needed reduction for traders with Nvidia inventory or funds that maintain the agency, the shares reached nearly $125, nudging it again in direction of a market capitalisation of $3 trillion (£2.4 trillion).

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor:

‘With a lot of the heavy lifting now accomplished in revitalising the enterprise, AO World can now transfer on to the subsequent part of its improvement, though its cell operations will want some care and a focus.

‘The unit is presently loss-making attributable to mushy client demand and a fall in connections/

‘Whereas the enterprise represents a comparatively small a part of the general group earnings, AO World is constant to run with its potential and in an effort to supply further gross sales channels, the group acquired two internet domains within the interval, with the strategic focus being on promoting its full vary of its merchandise to its prospects.’

The mud might not have had that a lot time to decide on the get together manifestos, however small companies have already labored out that they are going to be required to do a lot of the heavy lifting required to pay for them.

With financial progress and wealth creators put entrance and centre of the key get together pleas, the UK’s self-employed, start-up and small enterprise neighborhood are prepared to position their vote with the get together they suppose goes to place fixing the financial system proper on the high of their checklist of priorities.

The proprietor of Vauxhall has warned it might cease making automobiles within the UK amid a row over electrical automobile gross sales targets.

Stellantis – one of many world’s greatest automobile makers – has threatened to shut its vegetation in Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and Luton over authorities quotas for zero-emission autos. The corporate employs 2,500 workers throughout the 2 websites.

In a dramatic escalation of tensions between the producer and ministers, Stellantis UK boss Maria Grazia Davino put the Authorities on discover, saying the choice will likely be made in ‘lower than a yr’.

Cosmetics model Revolution Magnificence returned to revenue final yr as the corporate units its sights on a makeover underneath new administration following a turbulent two years.

The agency reported a pre-tax revenue of £11.4million for the yr to the tip of February, up from a lack of £33.9million the prior yr.

Gross sales edged up by simply 2 per cent yr on yr to complete £191.3 million, which it mentioned included the influence of clearing undesirable inventory to deal with its core merchandise.

Lauren Brindley, former Walgreens vp who was appointed Revolution’s chief government in August, mentioned the previous yr had been one among ‘nice strategic and monetary progress following two difficult years’.

The corporate was thrown into disaster in 2022 over accounting mishaps, which led to an ongoing dispute with its former boss.

AO World income beat forecasts final yr because the British on-line client electrical retailer’s plan to deal with effectivity kicked in, and it mentioned it anticipated it to develop by not less than 6 per cent this yr regardless of the powerful financial system.

AO, which sells washing machines, fridge freezers, cookers, TVs, laptops and cell phones throughout the UK, posted an adjusted pretax revenue of £34million for the 12 months to the tip of March, in comparison with steering for it to return in on the high finish of a £28million to £33million vary.

The group has forecast revenue within the vary of £36million to £4 million, on double-digit income progress.

The corporate, which has a 15 per cent market share of the home equipment market within the UK, exited the German market in 2022 and has during the last yr reduce prices, eliminated decrease worth merchandise from its vary and launched supply costs as a part of a plan to enhance profitability.

AO mentioned it was assured of additional revenue progress within the medium-term regardless of what it referred to as ‘ongoing macro-economic challenges’ following two years of excessive inflation.

Morrisons is opening extra comfort shops as its worth warfare with Aldi and Lidl exhibits indicators of paying off.

The grocery store group mentioned it intends to open round 400 extra Morrisons Every day retailers to hit a complete of two,000 in 2025.

Insurance coverage agency Phoenix Group is exploring a possible sale of its over-50s specialist SunLife enterprise after receiving expressions of curiosity from potential consumers.

Phoenix informed traders it had concluded that SunLife, which reported revenue after tax of £16million in 2023, ‘is not core to the supply’ of the group’s ‘imaginative and prescient of turning into the UK’s main retirement financial savings and earnings enterprise’.

It added: ‘The Board has subsequently determined to start a sale course of, having obtained quite a lot of preliminary expressions of curiosity from third events. Nonetheless, there will be no certainty at this stage {that a} disposal will happen.’