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(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Britons face needing a third jab this year amid concerns about the Oxford University and AstraZeneca vaccine's effectiveness against the South African coronavirus variant. UK Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi was forced to defend the vaccine after a new study in South Africa found it was not effective at preventing mild illness caused by the more infectious mutation. South Africa has suspended the rollout of the British-designed vaccine to healthcare staff following the results, which have yet to be peer reviewed. Zahawi urged the public to keep faith with the Oxford jab as scientists working on the vaccine raised the prospect of having a booster dose available by the autumn. The number of people in the UK who have received a first dose of a vaccine passed the 12 million mark, with jabs administered at a rate of almost 1,000 per minute during a one-hour period over the weekend.
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Experian said it is still investigating after recent media reports in Brazil suggested data being sold illegally online might have been sourced from its Serasa business. The London-based credit-checking firm noted "recent media reports" that data, potentially sourced from its Brazilian Serasa unit's non-sensitive marketing data, is being illegally offered for sale online. Experian said it is carrying out a "detailed forensic investigation" into these reports. So far, Experian said it has ascertained that the data for sale "includes photographs, social security INSS, vehicle registrations and social media login details" which its Serasa unit does not hold or collect. Moreover, it said it has seen no evidence of positive or negative credit data being illegally obtained from Serasa, and its "exhaustive investigations" have so far turned up no evidence that its technology systems were compromised.
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Arrow Global responded to TDR Capital's fourth potential takeover bid, this time accepted by the financial firm's founder and chief investment officer. TDR, a private equity firm, is offering 305 pence per share in cash, up from its most recent 290p per share offer, which had been rejected by Arrow's board back in January. "The board of Arrow Global is considering the proposal and a further announcement will be made in due course," the company said. The new 305p per share offer is an approximately 67% premium to Arrow's 182.3p average share price for the three months ended Thursday last week, TDR noted, and a 36% premium to its closing price of 224.0p on Thursday. Arrow Global shares added 3.8% on Friday to close at 231.50p and were up 26% at 290.50p each on Monday morning, valuing the company at around GBP515 million.
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boohoo Group said it has agreed to buy the Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton brands out of administration for GBP25.2 million. The online-only fashion retailer will be buying the e-commerce and digital assets and associated intellectual property rights, including customer data, related business information and inventory of the Burton, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis brands. The deal does not include any stores. The brands are part of Philip Green's Arcadia Group Ltd, which went under back in November, putting 13,000 jobs at risk. Arcadia's crown jewel, Topshop, was snapped up - along with Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT - by ASOS last week.
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Drax Group announced its Canadian subsidiary has signed an agreement to acquire Canadian biomass producer and supplier Pinnacle Renewable Energy. The electrical power station operator said deal values Pinnacle's fully diluted equity at CAD385 million, or GBP226 million, with an implied enterprise value of CAD741 million, including net debt of CAD356 million. The acquisition - which is subject to Drax and Pinnacle shareholder, court and regulatory approvals, and the satisfaction of other conditions - has been unanimously recommended by the board of Pinnacle.
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MARKETS
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Investors in Europe put aside concerns around the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, with investors instead drawing on optimism over a US stimulus package, IG Markets Senior Market Analyst Joshua Mahony noted. US stock market futures were pointing higher, with the S&P 500 called up 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%. The two benchmarks are set to build on Friday's record close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 0.3%.
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FTSE 100: up 0.8% at 6,538.40
FTSE 250: down 0.1% at 21,043.36
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 1,209.54
GBP: weaker at USD1.3696 (USD1.3728)
EUR: up at USD1.2033 (USD1.2025)
GOLD: higher at USD1,815.13 per ounce (USD1,808.40)
OIL (Brent): higher at USD60.04 a barrel (USD59.62)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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US President Joe Biden anticipates the US rivalry with China will take the form of "extreme competition" rather than conflict between the two world powers. Biden said in an excerpt of a CBS interview aired Sunday that he has not spoken with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping since he became US president. "He's very tough. He doesn't have – and I don't mean it as a criticism, just the reality – he doesn't have a democratic, small D, bone in his body," Biden said. "I've said to him all along, that we need not have a conflict. But there's going to be extreme competition," Biden said. "I'm not going to do it the way Trump did. We're going to focus on international rules of the road." China is considered in Washington as the US's number one strategic adversary, and the primary challenge on the world stage.
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Amazon.com and other internet retail giants could be hit with an online sales tax in a move designed to claw back money the UK owes after heavy borrowing during the pandemic. Treasury sources confirmed Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering targeting companies that have done well out of the pandemic in order to pay back UK government debts incurred while supporting industries through the coronavirus crisis. The move is being considered as part of a review into business rates following a consultation last year. The Sunday Times reported that leaked emails showed Treasury officials had summoned tech firms and retailers to a meeting this month to discuss how an online sales tax could work.
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Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Sunday he would be open to an extension of post-Brexit transition period rules for Northern Ireland, the subject of crisis talks between London and Brussels. Coveney told RTE Radio he was "open to advocating for modest extensions of grace periods" but said that scrapping the Northern Ireland Protocol on the movement of goods was out of the question. The Northern Ireland Protocol keeps goods flowing between EU state the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, a part of the UK. The aim is to avoid the creation of a hard border, which could lead to a flare-up in old conflicts. The EU drew international anger last month when it proposed to trigger an emergency clause in the protocol to make controls at the Irish border possible when implementing its new vaccine export register. Following backlash from Dublin, Belfast and London, the EU swiftly backtracked.
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Germany's industrial production data painted a mixed picture, with output lagging market estimates monthly in December, but numbers showed a a more moderate year-on-year decline. According to Destatis, industrial production fell 1.0% annually in December, following a 2.5% slide in November. Monthly, output was unchanged, though 0.3% growth was expected, according to market estimates cited by FXStreet. In November, industrial production rose 1.5%. On a calendar-adjusted basis, output in the whole of 2020 was 8.5% lower.
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European Central Bank Chief Christine Lagarde on Sunday rejected calls to cancel debts run up by eurozone members to buttress their economies during the Covid-19 crisis. The ECB has taken unprecedented steps to cushion the economic blow from the pandemic in the 19-nation euro area, launching a massive bond-buying scheme that has so far totalled EUR1.85 trillion. "Cancelling that debt is unthinkable," Lagarde told France's Le Journal du Dimanche weekly. "It would be a violation of the European treaty which strictly forbids monetary financing of states," she said, calling it one of the "founding pillars" of the euro single currency. She was reacting to a call on Friday by more than 100 economists for the ECB to further boost the economic recovery of eurozone members by forgiving their debts.
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