BUSINESS LIVE: Ofgem fines Morgan Stanley for trading comms failures

A TV advert for AB InBev’s Camden Town Brewery has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority for appealing to under 18s.

An unnamed complainant said their young children found the advert engaging and challenged whether it was likely to appeal strongly to people under 18 years of age.

Costain Group is considering the resumption of dividends after revealing a healthy first-half performance and an improved financial position.

The civil engineering firm, which helped construct the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and London’s Thames Barrier, saw flat turnover of £664.4million for the six months ending June.

Hats off to the Competition and Markets Authority’s Sarah Cardell.

The watchdog’s boss took on the might of Microsoft by blocking its original £60billion bid for Activision Blizzard, provoking a barrage of gratuitous criticism from the US tech giant.

Troubled housing provider Home REIT will take control of 100 property leases comprising 418 bed after tenant (Housing & Support) CIC (One CIC) agreed to surrender them.

Mears Limited, guaranteed by housing and social care provider Mears Group, has been occupying the properties on a sub-lease from One CIC.

PwC has experienced more ‘political and economic turbulence’ over the past year than ever before, its UK boss revealed yesterday.

Kevin Ellis was speaking as the UK arm of the accounting and auditing giant published results for a period which has seen three prime ministers and a bond market meltdown, as well as inflation at the highest level for four decades.

Britain’s energy regulator has fined US banking giant Morgan Stanley over £5.4million after its energy traders communicated via private WhatsApp discussions.

The regulator said the group had failed to take ‘reasonable steps’ to ensure its staff did not use ways of communicating that it could not hand over to investigators should they ask for the information.

The FSE 100 is trading higher this morning, helped by mining stocks on the back of gains in metal and gold prices, while Reckitt Benckiser is up after the company said its chief financial officer would retire next year.

Industrial metal miners are up 1 per cent, leading sectoral gains on the back of higher base metal prices.

Shares of personal care, drug and grocery store companies have recovered after a sell-off in the previous session, rising 0.5 per cent, helped by a 0.4 per cent gain in Reckitt Benckiser.

Microsoft has tabled a revised £60billion offer for Activision Blizzard in a bid to secure approval from UK regulators.

The US tech giant had to submit another bid for the video game group after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the original deal ‘to protect innovation and choice in cloud gaming’.

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor:

‘Markets returned to a holding pattern ahead of two key imminent events which could shape the immediate outlook for investor sentiment.

‘The upcoming speech by Federal Reserve Chair Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium is eagerly awaited, as it is expected to provide further colour on the central bank’s current thinking. The probability of higher rates for longer in an attempt to finally quash inflation is increasingly being reluctantly accepted by investors, while the jury remains out as to whether there could actually be more rises to come.

‘In the meantime, US markets drifted, with some weakness in bank shares following a report from S&P Global which revised its outlook for the sector, based on the currently tough operating conditions.

‘Even so, the reaction was muted and did little to move the dial on the strong performance of the main indices in the year to date, where the Dow Jones has added 3.4%, the S&P500 14% and the Nasdaq 29%.

‘The FTSE100 maintained its own sideways shuffle in early trade, posting a marginal gain. Some tentative buying interest in the mining sector provided something of a prop, with investors now likely to return to macro matters as the latest quarterly earnings season moves into the rear-view mirror.

‘In the meantime, the FTSE100 has drifted by 2.2% in the year to date, underperforming many of its global peers and having seen earlier year gains disappear into thin investment air.’

Arm has raised alarm bells about China as it gears up for the biggest stock market listing in the US for nearly two years.

The Cambridge-based chip designer – which is owned by Japanese investor SoftBank – revealed it was ‘particularly susceptible to economic and political risks’ in China, where it rakes in nearly a quarter of its revenues.

Business at Asian food chain Itsu remains below pre-pandemic levels despite a strong recovery last year as workers returned to the office.

The group’s restaurant division saw sales hit £101million in 2022 – below the £114.7million it took in 2019 but up 73 per cent on 2021. Profits reached £6.5million, up 42 per cent on 2021, as commuters flocked back to towns and cities.

Beleaguered homeless housing business Home REIT has agreed to surrender its leases on 100 properties comprising a total of 418 beds as the investment trust attempts to stabilise its portfolio.

Home REIT said the surrender will give it ‘a sustainable income stream’ from a strong tenant covenant and it is expected to generate ‘significantly higher rent collection than has previously been received… despite lower headline rent’.

It added: ‘The transaction is in line with AEW’s strategy as Investment Manager to stabilise the Company’s portfolio. The current occupiers of the Properties will not be impacted as a result of this transaction.’

Marks & Spencer looks set to return to the FTSE 100 after a four-year absence as its turnaround gathers pace.

The High Street stalwart is on course to be one of four companies promoted to the blue-chip benchmark in next month’s quarterly reshuffle, according to an update from index compiler FTSE Russell last night.

Going in the opposite direction could be housebuilder Persimmon, which faces relegation to the FTSE 250 as the property market is battered by rising interest rates.

Energy regulator Ofgem has levied a £5.4million fine on Morgan Stanley for not recording and retaining electronic communications relating to trading wholesale energy products.

The fine was for the period between January 2018 and March 2020.

Cathryn Scott, regulatory director of enforcement and emerging issues at Ofgem, said:

‘This fine sends a strong message to market participants that they must comply with all REMIT rules or face enforcement action.

‘It is unacceptable that MSIP failed to prevent electronic communications which could not be recorded or retained. It risks a significant compromise of the integrity and transparency of wholesale energy markets.

‘We welcome the steps MSIP has taken to ensure the breaches do not happen again.’