(Bloomberg) — Here’s the key business news from London-listed companies this morning:
Associated British Foods Plc: The Primark owner said sales at its budget-clothing retailer gathered pace during the first half but are still below pre-pandemic levels as some shoppers stayed home during the omicron variant’s surge.
- AB Foods also flagged that its broader businesses have faced supply-chain disruption and the company has raised prices in some divisions, including grocery, to offset higher energy and commodities costs
Ferrexpo Plc: The London-listed Ukrainian iron-ore miner has delayed the publication of its full-year results, saying the ongoing conflict in the country is requiring “significant management attention”
- The company said it was “not in the position” to provide a date when 2021 accounts will be published
Bank of Ireland Group Plc: The lender said it delivered its “strongest performance since the global financial crisis,” reporting an underlying profit for 2021 of 1.4 billion euros.
- As a result, the Irish bank is restarting capital distributions to shareholders, with a total of 104 million euros of dividends and buybacks
Outside The City
The U.K. government announced Monday morning that it will “immediately take all necessary steps to bring into effect restrictions to prohibit any U.K. natural or legal persons from undertaking financial transactions” involving Russia’s Central Bank, the Russian National Wealth Fund and the country’s finance ministry.
Meanwhile, the European Union is discussing sanctioning some of Russia’s wealthiest tycoons as well as top officials in state companies and media in a further ratcheting up of its penalties for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.
In Case You Missed It
In a surprise announcement Sunday, BP Plc moved to dump its shares in oil giant Rosneft PJSC, taking a financial hit of as much as $25 billion by joining the campaign to isolate Russia’s economy.
Roman Abramovich has handed direct control of Chelsea Football Club Ltd. to the trustees of the Premier League club’s charitable foundation. Sports investors and private equity firms began drawing up potential takeover offers for the team even before Saturday’s announcement, Bloomberg reported Friday. Chelsea is valued at about 1.9 billion euros, according to KPMG.
Elsewhere, one of the world’s biggest building materials companies, CRH Plc, is nearing a deal to sell its Oldcastle Building Envelope unit to buyout firm KPS Capital Partners for about $3.8 billion, Bloomberg reported Sunday.
Looking Ahead
Man Group Plc will be reporting results tomorrow. The world’s largest publicly listed hedge fund firm runs almost $140 billion in strategies and recently said that it’s considering plans to start a dedicated hedge fund betting on cryptocurrencies, confirming a Bloomberg report. Also on Tuesday, data on new mortgage approvals for January will give an indication on how demand for homes is holding up amid a tight squeeze on incomes.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
