Source: Sharecast
Stocks to watch
Spire Healthcare said on Tuesday that it had bought Acorn Occupational Health for £3.3m. Acorn provides services to a wide range of corporate clients in multiple industry sectors, as well as public-sector clients, including the NHS, Spire said in a statement.
Packaging group Mondi has finalised the acquisition of certain assets from Schumacher Packaging, expanding its footprint across Germany, Benelux and the UK. The deal, first announced in October for an enterprise value of €634m, adds more than 1bn square metres of capacity when fully operational. “This acquisition significantly strengthens our corrugated packaging business, extending our footprint in Western Europe and offering strong vertical integration opportunities,” said Mondi’s chief executive Andrew King.
Capita announced on Tuesday that it has secured a £107m contract extension with the Education Authority of Northern Ireland to continue providing managed IT and application services to 1,104 schools until March 2027, with an option to extend for up to two additional years. The outsourcing specialist said the agreement covered a wide range of services, including IT consultancy, hardware, software, and related support. It said the extension built on a 13-year partnership, and supported its strategy of delivering large-scale technology solutions to public sector clients.
Newspaper round-up
Millions of households are bracing themselves for a raft of price increases across a range of bills – from energy and water to car tax and the TV licence – that take effect on Tuesday. With so many costs rising at once – prompting some to label this month “awful April” – the government is facing fresh calls to take action to limit the impact of some of the increases. The Liberal Democrats claimed ministers needed to “get a grip” on energy bills. – Guardian
OpenAI said it had raised $40bn in a funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300bn – the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup. It comes in a partnership with the Japanese investment group SoftBank and “enables us to push the frontiers of AI research even further,” OpenAI announced, adding it would “pave the way toward AGI (artificial general intelligence)” for which “massive computing power is essential”. – Guardian
The BBC is to spend £150m less on new shows in the coming year as it warned of an “unprecedented” funding challenge for British television. The public service broadcaster said it plans to spend just over £2.5bn on programming in the current financial year, down from almost £2.7bn last year. It follows industry-wide warnings of a funding crisis for British programmes amid growing competition from streaming rivals such as Netflix. – Telegraph
Almost £8bn has been wiped off the value of the world’s biggest drugmakers after America’s leading vaccine official was ousted by Robert F Kennedy Jr. Shares in Moderna, Pfizer and GSK all fell on Monday amid concerns over the shock exit of Dr Peter Marks from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Moderna tumbled by as much as 13pc in early trade in New York, while Pfizer was down by 1.5pc. In London, AstraZeneca and GSK were also down by 2pc respectively. Shares in Taysha Gene Therapies, Solid Biosciences and Sarepta Therapeutics also fell. – Telegraph
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group believes there are “no more major hurdles to overcome” before it can begin operating trains through the Channel Tunnel after the rail regulator said there was enough space for rival operators to use Eurostar’s London depot. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said that Temple Mills maintenance depot in northeast London would be able to accommodate additional trains after its receipt of an independent report on the issue. – The Times
US close
Major indices turned in a mixed performance on Monday as market participants patiently awaited clarity on Donald Trump's planned tariff measures.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.00% at 42,001.76, while the S&P 500 gained 0.55% to 5,611.85 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.14% weaker at 17,299.29.
The Dow closed 417.86 points higher on the final day of both March and Q1, taking a bite out of losses recorded in the previous session as traders braced for Trump's new 25% auto levy to come into effect on Wednesday, which he has branded "Liberation Day".
Trump did little to quell fears over the weekend, with the US president reportedly pushing his advisors to be even more aggressive with their tariff plans, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump also said he "couldn't care less" if foreign automakers raised prices as a result of his new tariffs.