FTSE 100 open slightly higher, currently up 3 points at 7,294, mirroring markets globally that bounced following the first US Federal Reserve interest rate hike since 2018. The Bank of England looks set to follow today, with it expected to raise interest rates for the third time since December.
AstraZeneca is set to pay out US$775mln to settle a patent dispute between its recently acquired rare diseases business Alexion and Chugai Pharmaceutical. The litigation relates to a drug called Ultomiris, which is used to treat two life-threatening conditions.
Toyota said it will be cutting its global monthly production of vehicles by 150,000 to 750,000 from April. The company is said to be feeling the effects of a semiconductor shortage and the impact of the Covid pandemic.
Cineworld said it expects performance to improve this year thanks to pent-up demand and a full slate of movies. It also reported a narrowing in pre-tax loss, down from US$3bn in 2020 to US$708mln.
Ceres Power Holdings said it intends to increase its spending on R&D and capital investment to take advantage of the opportunities in the growing fuel cell markets, especially hydrogen. Revenues grew by 44% to £31.7mln in 2021 driven largely by licence fee income, which more than doubled.
Among the small caps, Ariana Resources said it expects a 20% jump in gold production this year from the Kiziltepe mine in western Turkey. Output should be about 25,000 ounces of gold, or 2.5 times greater than the feasibility plan for this stage of mine life.
Scancell Holdings told investors it has created five new candidates that can target cancer from its latest proprietary lab. The anti-glycan monoclonal antibodies (mAb) will target specific tumours.