FTSE 100 opened higher, gaining 50 points to 7,433. London’s blue-chip index was helped by a revival on Wall Street following Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, although updates from AB Foods and HSBC are dragging the market.
UK's post-Brexit trade agreement with the EU saw the continent’s firms lose more volume of trade than UK exporters. Smaller UK firms suffered the most however in the first year to January.
Government borrowing halved in the last financial year compared to the 12 months prior as the pandemic eased. As well as that, income from taxes rose.
Associated British Foods said its Primark budget clothing chain will have to raise prices to counter higher inflation. Chief executive George Weston said it, “will implement selective price increases across some of the autumn/winter stock”.
Among the small caps, Gaming Realms said it traded ahead of expectations this year. Licensing revenue in the first quarter of 2022 rose 43% to £3mln compared to last year.
United Oil & Gas doubled revenues and increased profits four-fold as higher oil prices fed through to its bottom line. Realised oil price jumped to 82% per barrel while operating costs remained flat.
Galileo Resources said exploration work has started at the two of its projects in Zimbabwe. The company has an option to earn an initial 51% interest in the two projects by spending just over £1mln on exploration.