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- FTSE 100 up 72 points at 8,258
- NatWest (LON:NWG) rallies on profit boost
- French rail fires cause chaos ahead of Olympics
Virgin Media O2 suffers customer exodus
Virgin Media O2, the mobile and broadband provider jointly owned by Liberty Global (NASDAQ:LBTYA) and Telefónica, saw more than 118,000 mobile contract customers leave its network in the second quarter of 2024.
Attributing the exodus to “wider market trends”, VMO2 said it ended the second quarter with 15.9 million mobile contract customers.
However, a growing customer base across the prepaid, Internet-of-Things and wholesale markets meant VMO2 saw total mobile connections increase by 403,100 to 45.5 million in the period.
In the broadband space, VMO2 celebrated a new milestone in its full-fibre rollout, which now has a footprint of five million premises after adding a further 295,300 homes in the quarter.
NatWest helps push FTSE 100 higher
London's FTSE 100 is continuing to hold onto its early morning gains, up close to 0.8%, leaving the index on track to post a weekly jump of 1.2%.
Doing much of the heavy lifting was lender NatWest after it shares rallied 6.5% in reaction to it hiking both its dividend and profit guidance in its latest interims.
Speaking on the results, Kathleen Brooks at XTB said: "[NatWest's] results are a reflection on the UK economy, and they are a sign that the UK economy remains resilient even in the face of high interest rates.
"These results also suggests that mid-level UK banks are in ruder health than some mid-level US banks that are burdened by losses on corporate real estate portfolios."
Other risers included Anglo American (JO:AGLJ), Burberry and Intertek.
Mercedes warns on weakening car demand
Mercedes has warned that weaker demand from customers is becoming “increasingly noticeable” after the German carmaker saw a decrease in automotive sales in the first half of 2024.
Mercedes-Benz sold 959,700 units in the first six months, marking a 6% decrease compared to the same period in 2023. This decrease was partly due to high order backlogs caused by the pandemic being curtailed.
Sales in China, where cheaper domestic competition is gaining considerable market share, were particularly muted, with Mercedes delivering 9% fewer units in the period.
Chinese sales in the premium and luxury segment were particularly poor, Mercedes conceded.
CrowStrike sensors back online after last week's chaos
CrowdStrike (NASDAQ:CRWD) boss George Kurtz has revealed that 97% of the firm's Falcon agent sensors are back online following a major outage caused by a botched software update on July 19.
The incident impacted over 8.5 million Windows users and resulted in significant global disruptions, including grounding flights, closing businesses, and halting markets.
Fortune 500 companies experienced approximately US$5.4 billion in losses due to the outage.
The company’s shares have fallen by about 25% since the incident.
Kurtz addressed the situation in a LinkedIn post, where he said: “To our customers still affected, please know we will not rest until we achieve full recovery.”
Babcock rises despite defence budget lagging demand
Babcock (LON:BAB), the FTSE 250-listed defence contractor, is up more than 5% today after it benefitted from a sustained increase in global defence budgets in its 2024 financial year.
But the London-based group said that rising geopolitical tensions are causing military demand to outstrip the current growth in defence budgets.
Babcock’s primary revenue drivers are naval shipbuilding and nuclear submarine contracts under the trilateral AUKUS relationship between Australia, the US and the US.
“Babcock is well positioned to benefit from the sustained uplift in global defence budgets, driven by the need to recapitalise, re-equip and modernise militaries, resulting in an increase in our opportunity set,” said Babcock’s chief executive David Lockwood.
Despite this increase in defence spending, Babcock said that “the growth in defence budgets is still not matched by the growth in military demand”.
iPhone drops out of China's top five smartphones
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has lost more ground in the Chinese smartphone market in the quarter to June, knocking it out of the top five.
iPhone shipments in China declined by 3.1% in the June quarter, as local competitors like Huawei Technologies Co. surged ahead.
With an 11% year-on-year rise in Android-powered device shipments, Apple has now been pushed out of the top five smartphone makers in the country for the first time in four years, according to market tracker IDC.
Retailers and Apple itself have resorted to deep discounts to sustain sales.
Meanwhile, Huawei led a resurgence in Android alternatives, with its shipments improving by 50%, which contributed to Apple falling to sixth place in the market.
"We did see a YoY growth in the April-to-May shipments, particularly April, to prepare for the 618 shopping festival. Nevertheless, the offline channel partners, which were more reluctant to burn marketing money, slowed down the pace in the last month of 2Q24 to ensure profitability," said IDC analyst Will Wong.
Motorists pay too much for fuel, claims watchdog
UK drivers are being hit with excessive fuel prices, particularly when using supermarket petrol stations, the UK's competition watchdog has said.
Weakened competition in the sector has led to high prices, which in turn has cost motorists £1.6 billion in the last year alone, the Competition and Markets Authority revealed.
Research found that the profit margins of supermarkets for their fuel businesses had doubled since the start of the pandemic.
“When it comes to road fuel, the simple answer is that drivers are still paying too much," CMA chief executive, Sarah Cardell told the BBC.
RAC said the extra costs for drivers were "nothing short of outrageous."
"Drivers have every right to feel ripped off, especially knowing there is virtually no market competition between retailers," said RAC head of policy Simon Williams.
Drax rallies as it sees top end profits
Drax Group (LON:DRX) rocketed more than 10.5% in today as the power station operator unveiled a £300mln share buyback plus a 13% dividend hike to underline its bullish outlook for the future.
Will Gardiner, chief executive, added he saw the business playing a key role in the new government’s net-zero strategy, especially with its carbon capture scheme (BECCS).
"We look forward to working with the new UK Government to help grow the economy and take steps urgently to deliver a net zero electricity system by 2030.
"We believe that Drax and our partners across the Humber and Scotland can accelerate growth, create thousands of new jobs and channel billions in private investment into carbon capture and green energy projects.”
Drax saw profits jump by 37% to £463 million in the six months to end June 2024, adding result for the full year will be at the top end of market forecasts for underlying profits [adjusted EBITDA] of £881-996 million.
French rail services hit by arson attacks
France's rail service has been plunged into chaos hours before the Olympics is set to start in Paris after several rail lines were set on fire.
SNCF, the state-owned railway company, said it suffered a "massive attack aimed at paralysing the network" after high-speed rail lines experienced "coordinated malicious acts" over the night.
Around 800,000 customers are expected to be affected by the disruption, which is touted to continue throughout the weekend and could potentially cause issues for those attending the Olympic opening ceremony and events over the weekend.
Queues have been seen across France as well as in London's St Pancras International Station, where Eurostar services depart en route to Paris.
Eurostar said services into the French capital are being diverted and delayed as a result of the attack, with journey times increased by 90 minutes due to the damage to the line between Paris and Lille.
Trains between London and Paris are said to still be running on "classic" lines but will still experience a one-hour delay.
One service from St Pancras to Paris at 3.31pm has been cancelled, according to signs at the London station.