FTSE 100 made a sluggish start after heavy losses on Wall Street overnight even though economic data was better than expected. The blue-chip index shed 6 to 7,557.
Britain’s economy is now officially larger than it was before the pandemic. UK GDP came in at 0.9% in November, versus the consensus forecasts of 0.4%, as all areas of the economy expanded.
Struggling Cineworld’s revenues picked up due to a raft of box office hits such as Spider Man: No Way Home and Daniel Craig’s final outing as James Bond in No Time To Die. Box office sales in December were up by 88% over 2019 said the cinema chain owner, though the improvement was held back by new omicron restrictions.
Meta is being sued for billions after claims that 44mln users had their data breached and exploited. The Facebook owner used its market dominance to force users to agree to terms and conditions that allowed it to receive billions from their data alleges the writ.
Britain’s four major UK mobile networks are set to raise monthly tariffs for millions of customers by up to 10%. BT, Virgin, O2, and Vodafone are set to announce the rises in the coming months according to reports.
Cornerstone FS said it enjoyed a substantial improvement in revenues and profit margins last year, helped by its new Asia team. Second-half revenue was roughly 75% higher than in the first six months, driven by increased sales to direct clients,
Trident Royalties has received the first cash from a portfolio of gold revenue streams it acquired from Orion Resources earlier this week. Trident acquired 1,858 ounces of gold, which it subsequently sold.