Good morning from London, where it is Budget Day. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will be standing up in the House of Commons at 12:30 to deliver the first Spring budget of the Rishi Sunak era. Various bits of it have already been briefed to the press, but nothing that seems to have set City hearts ablaze – the FTSE 100 is trading lower again this morning at close to two-month lows.
Some company news now and Balfour Beatty has reported a 42% rise in annual profits to £279mln, prompting a dividend hike and its third consecutive buyback.
Insurer Prudential is reporting an 8% rise in operating profit for 2022 to $3.38bn, and says the reopening of China has given a boost to its sales so far in 2023.
Keywords Studios is also sounding pleased this morning, reporting a 35% rise in revenue to €690.7mln and a dividend hike of its own.
But transport ticketing platform Trainline fell short of expectations, reporting net sales of £4.3bn, up 16% but short of a targeted 18-27%, as rail strikes gripped the business and cost it up to £6mln each day.
That’s all for this morning, today’s report was written by Josh Lamb and presented by me, Thomas Warner.