BUSINESS LIVE: TSB income plummet; Mobile community licence charges assessment

Renault’s chief executive is the latest motor industry big name to cast doubts on the transition to electric cars in the next decade, warning that sales are not on the ‘right trajectory’.

With Labour widely expected to bring forward the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles in Britain by five years to 2030, in Europe the date proposed for car makers to shift to EVs is 2035.

Microsoft has blamed EU red-tape for enabling a dodgy security update that caused a global IT meltdown.

The software company said a 2009 agreement with the European Commission meant it could not make security changes that would have blocked the CrowdStrike update which sparked widespread chaos last Friday.

A firm backed by LVMH has bought a stake in the owner of Bicester Village in a £1.5bn deal.

Private equity group L Catterton, a partner of the French fashion giant, snapped up the 42pc stake in Value Retail previously owned by property developer Hammerson.

Shares in the Royal rat catcher topped the FTSE 100 leaderboard as it emerged as a takeover target.

Rentokil Initial, which won pest control contracts at Buckingham Palace in the 1960s, was in focus following weekend reports that former BT boss Philip Jansen is lining up a £15bn swoop.

According to the Sunday Times he is drumming up private equity funding for a deal that will see him installed as executive chairman.

My partner James and I were driving along a winding country road in north Norfolk a couple of years ago in the peak of summer. The sun was belting down and I was longing to get to our destination so I could jump in the sea.

So I was furious when, as we approached a junction, a huge, hay-laden farm vehicle pulled out in front – forcing us to slow to a snail’s pace.

The FTSE 100 is trading lower this morning as copper miners weigh heavily on the market, tracking lower copper prices, while positive updates from companies help contain declines.

Industrial metal miners lead decline, falling 1.7 per cent with heavyweights like Rio Tinto and Glencore slipping over 1 per cent each as copper prices are pressured by growing concerns over prolonged weakness in Chinese demand.

The sector has hit its lowest level since early April.

Automobile and parts stocks are also down 1.6 per cent, with Dowlais Group, TI Fluid Systems and Aston Martin falling over 1 per cent each, after German automaker Porsche AG cut its sales and profitability outlook.

Energy and precious metal miners have slipped 0.5 and 0.6 per cent, respectively.

On the FTSE 250, SThree has jumped 3.5 per cent after announcing its half-yearly results.

Compass has gained 3.2 per cent after the catering group raised its 2024 profit and revenue forecasts for the second time this year despite easing prices.

Beazley is up 2.2 per cent after the insurer said it had no plans to alter its guidance in the wake of Friday’s global IT glitch.

Investor focus is on Wall Street giants like Alphabet and Tesla that will report quarterly earnings after the closing bell on Tuesday.

US gross domestic product numbers and inflation data, due later this week, could shed more light on the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy path.

Politics continued to make headlines in the U.S. after Vice President Kamala Harris secured support from delegates needed to become the Democrat nominee after President Joe Biden abandoned his reelection bid.

Mitie has nearly doubled the value of its security and cleaning work since this time last year after winning new contracts with the likes of British Airways, Aldi and the Home Office in recent months.

The outsourcer said its total contract value was £2billion for the three months to 30 June, up from £1.1billion the year before, with new contracts and extensions with Lloyds Bank, NHS Property Services and insurer Royal London.

Mitie is one of the UK’s largest outsourcing companies and specialises in so-called facilities management. It also carries out work including deportation, waste removal and maintaining parts of the electrical grid.

In a first quarter update, Mitie said revenue jumped 10 per cent year-on-year to £1.2billion, while net debt more than doubled to £182million, ‘as we pay our supply chain for the increased volume of project works’.

It also won a military contract to maintain the British Army’s estate of military bases in Germany, helping boost its central government and defence arm’s revenues by 4.3 per cent to £217million.

It’s a great coup for the City – and a boost to the LSE, which has suffered an exodus of corporates recently.

The Business Secretary yesterday said he was confident Royal Navy warships will be built in Belfast – despite ruling out a government rescue for troubled manufacturer Harland & Wolff.

Jonathan Reynolds said there was a ‘very substantial risk that taxpayer money would be lost’ if such a bail-out were to happen.

English winemaker Gusbourne has effectively been put up for sale.

Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft, who owns a 67pc stake in the business, has told the board he wants to ‘explore various strategic options for his shareholding’.

Labour will ‘call in’ the £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail by a billionaire dubbed the Czech Sphinx, the Business Secretary said yesterday.

Jonathan Reynolds said he has no objection in principle to the postal service having an overseas owner but added that the deal would be properly scrutinised. And he said he was due to hold talks with wouldbe buyer Daniel Kretinsky this week.

British recruiter SThree has reported a 7 per cent fall in first-half fees, amid sluggish hiring market conditions only partially offset by its cost-control measures.

‘As we enter the second half of the financial year, market sentiment remains largely unchanged. Commitment to new project expenditure is taking longer resulting in continued subdued new business activity,’ the recruiter said while reiterating its annual outlook.

The company, which hires employees for finance, energy, banking, pharmaceutical, engineering and tech sectors, reported a 7 per cent fall in like-for-like net fees of £188.7million for the six months ended 31 May.

Britain’s communications regulator is set to launch a review into the annual licence fees charged to mobile network operators for the use of three mobile spectrum bands.

It follows a request from telecoms giant BT, which asked Ofcom to look into the issue.

Ofcom said: ‘BT wrote to Ofcom to request a review of the [annual licence fees] ALFs we charge for 1800 MHz spectrum.

‘We have now considered BT’s request, and we consider that the evidence suggests that a fee review is justified.

‘As a result of the commonalities in the formula we use to set ALFs, we have decided to begin a review of all of the ALFs we currently charge’

TSB profits slumped by almost a quarter in the first half of the year as the high street lender, which is owned by Spain’s Banco Sabadell, flagged ‘challenging’ mortgage market conditions amid higher interest rates.

The bank posted a pre-tax profit of £111.6million, down 24.5 per cent on the previous year, as income fell by 6.1 per cent to £548.7million.

Income was impacted by lower mortgage margins due to ‘challenging’ market conditions, while TSB also paid out significantly more interest to its savings customers.

Robin Bulloch, TSB’s chief executive officer, said: ‘Our focus in 2024 is making TSB simpler and easier to bank with, and I’m delighted to see more customers choosing TSB.

‘We continue to make good progress against our strategy and I’d like to thank everyone at TSB for their continued efforts to support our customers and communities, helping them feel more money-confident.’