BUSINESS CLOSE: Levels of corporate distress soar; Luxury brand value falls; S4 cheers easing costs

Just before close, the FTSE 100 was 0.4% up at 7,491.96.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 was 1.04% higher at 19,068.11.

More than twice as many British industries reported rising demand last month as falling inflation and stable interest rates gave businesses and consumers more confidence.

Seven of 14 UK sectors saw new orders grow in December, compared to three the previous month, according to the latest Lloyds Bank UK Sector Tracker.

A huge 93 percent of stock market wealth in the US is held by the richest 10 percent of the population – a new record.

While Americans on the whole have been investing in the stock market at a higher rate, the amount of wealth held is still skewed toward the richest households.

The idea of getting something for nothing should appeal to every investor. In fact, for many, it is the sole reason they became stock pickers – to sift through detritus to discover diamonds in the rough.

Eminent financial analyst (and Warren Buffett mentor) Benjamin Graham provided a framework for the process – and he called it value investing.

January is renowned for being the month when many people start their hunt for a new job – or ask for a pay rise.

If you have no clue what a machine learning scientist or a coded welder is, now might be the ideal time to do a spot of research.

Compass Group has agreed to buy rival CH&CO, which provides catering services to the Royal Opera House, for £475million.

The world’s largest catering company said CH&CO has a ‘long track record of strong performance’, and a client base and geographic spread that would complement its British Isles operations.

Trifast shares plummeted on Monday after the components manufacturer warned 2024 profits will come in ‘significantly below’ previous guidance.

The firm, which makes screws, nuts and bolts, told investors that it would cut about 10 per cent of its non-operational staff globally in efforts to bring down costs amid persistently weak demand.

The Government wants us to get heat pumps fitted in our homes and it’s offering up to £7,500 for us to do so.

Now Worcester Bosch is bumping that up by an extra £2,500 – if you pick one of theirs of course.

The youngest cohort of investors outperformed older Britons in the final three months of 2023 with the help of investment trusts and cheap passive funds, data suggests.

The Interactive Investor Private Performance Index shows the platforms’ users in the 18-to-24 category saw their portfolio value go up by an average of 6.4 per cent in the final three months of the year, narrowly edging out a return of 6.2 per cent for 25-to-34-year-olds.

Advertising mogul Sir Martin Sorrell has warned that he does not expect the macroeconomic environment to improve this year after a difficult 2023.

Sorrell’s S4 Capital told investors on Monday that fourth quarter performance was in line with expectations, with the ad group’s 2023 like-for-like net revenue on track for a decline of around 4 per cent.

The number of companies ‘on the edge of collapse’ has continued to soar, with every sector of the economy suffering from high debt costs and weaker consumer confidence.

Over 47,000 UK firms were in ‘critical’ financial distress during the final quarter of 2023, compared to 37,772 during the previous three months, according to Begbies Traynor.

People today have £10,200 less spending money than they would have if pre-2010 disposable income trends had continued in the UK, new research shows.

People are out of pocket in 56 of the UK’s 63 largest towns and cities, the research by Centre for Cities revealed.

London-listed stocks are on the rise this mornign after a record-setting rally on Wall Street in the previous session, which helped outweigh concerns about a slowing British economy and sticky inflation.

Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 hit an all-time high on Friday, fuelled by optimism around artificial intelligence (AI), driving technology stocks higher across the globe.

Both the UK indexes marked their third consecutive weekly decline on Friday, after a stronger-than-expected inflation reading and slump in December retail sales raised recession concerns.

Compass Group has edged down after the catering firm said it had agreed to buy rival CH&CO for an initial enterprise value of £475million.

Martin Sorrell’s digital advertising group S4 Capital is up 8.3 per cent, after the company issued fourth-quarter trading update that was in-line with the its previous forecast.

The economy will pick up this year in a major boost for Rishi Sunak ahead of the general election, a report suggests.

The EY Item Club said it now expects output to rise by 0.9 per cent in 2024, having previously pencilled in growth of 0.7 per cent.

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets at interactive investor:

‘UK markets also joined the bullish turnaround, albeit at a more measured pace. The FTSE100 was buoyed by a broad mark-up which included a broker upgrade for Segro. In addition, retailers recovered some poise with gains for the likes of Ocado, JD Sports and Kingfisher ahead of a week which will see an update from Primark owner Associated British Foods.

‘A broker downgrade to Sage scuppered what little hopes there may have been for strength in UK tech stocks, such as they are.

‘Banks also saw some support ahead of annual updates towards the end of next month, with recent economic data suggesting that the robust capital reserves which the banks have built should be enough for them to withstand any further bumps in the road.

‘Despite today’s bounce, the FTSE100 is already underperforming on the global stage having dropped 3.1% in the year to date, while the FTSE250 is down by 3.6%.’

The boss of Sainsbury’s has spoken out for the first time about the epidemic of retail crime sweeping Britain.

Simon Roberts, 51, chief executive of the UK’s second-biggest supermarket chain, has backed The Mail on Sunday’s campaign for the police to get tough with shoplifters.

Around £43billion has been wiped off the value of Europe’s biggest luxury houses this year so far.

The sector is grappling with a slowdown in demand from wealthy US and Chinese shoppers.

Of the five top luxury giants, including LVMH, Hermes, Kering, Moncler and Richemont, only the latter has not lost ground since the end of 2023.

The number of British companies in ‘critical financial distress’ skyrocketed in the fourth quarter of 2023, with every sector of the economy affected, as firms struggle under mounting debt costs and lacklustre growth, new figures suggest.

Begbies Traynor’s Red Flag Alert report shows the second consecutive quarter of around 25 per cent growth in the number of firms in critical financial distress to 47,477.

Historically, a significant percentage of the businesses identified by Red Flag Alert as being in critical financial distress will enter insolvency over the course of the next year, the group said.

Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies Traynor, added:

‘After a difficult year for British businesses that was characterised by high interest rates, rampant inflation, weak consumer confidence and rising and unpredictable input costs, we are now seeing this perfect storm impacting every corner of the economy.

‘Now that the era of cheap money is firmly a thing of the past, hundreds of thousands of businesses in the UK, who loaded up on affordable debt during those halcyon days, are now coming to terms with the added burden this will have on their finances.

‘For some, a better-than-expected Christmas may kick these concerns down the road for a little longer, but the rapid growth in the levels of critical financial distress point to an economy that is waking up to the danger of debt ladened businesses in a higher rates environment.’