BUSINESS LIVE: NatWest to buy Sainsbury’s Bank assets; YouGov profit warning; Tate & Lyle eyes US takeover

London-listed stocks are treading water in early trading with investors taking a cautious stance ahead of a highly anticipated interest rate decision by the Bank of England.

While it is widely anticipated that the BoE will hold the interest rates steady when its decision is announced at 11am, all eyes will be on the vote-split and the comments from officials to assess the future trajectory of borrowing costs in Britain.

Traders are currently pricing in less than a 30 per cent chance of an initial rate cut in August. This figure could dramatically shift in either direction following the vote.

Among individual stocks, Sainsbury’s has jumped 2 per cent after NatWest struck a deal to acquire most of the banking business of the British retailer.

CMC Markets has soared 8 per cent after the trading platform posted a 52 per cent jump in its annual adjusted pre-tax profit.

Hopes of a summer interest rate cut faded further yesterday despite inflation falling to its 2 per cent target for the first time in nearly three years.

The Bank of England is widely expected to leave rates on hold when officials meet today.

And despite the cheer provided by yesterday’s inflation figures, markets are increasingly convinced they will remain at the same level at their next meeting in August.

UK bankers at JP Morgan could be paid bonuses worth up to ten times their salary as it becomes the latest to lift its cap on bonuses.

The Wall Street titan has scrapped previous rules which were introduced by Brussels that limited bonuses to two times an employee’s annual salary.

It means an employee earning a salary of £200,000 a year at JP Morgan might receive a pay out on top of that of up to £2million as opposed to the previous £400,000 cap.

Tate & Lyle has announced a deal to buy food and drink ingredients business CP Kelco in a roughly £1.4 billion deal.

The FTSE 250 firm told investors it has agreed to buy the pectin and xanthan gum maker from US firm JM Huber.

Nick Hampton, chief executive of Tate & Lyle, said:

‘Following on from the announcement of the proposed sale of our remaining interest in Primient last month, the proposed combination with CP Kelco represents a significant acceleration of our growth-focused strategy.

‘It creates a leading, global speciality food and beverage solutions business, ideally placed to benefit from the structural trends towards more plant-based, clean-label and sustainable ingredients and solutions.

‘The growth potential of the proposed combined business is significant and we look forward to the future with confidence and excitement.’

Polling giant YouGov has warned full-year profits and revenues are set to come in below previous expectations.

YouGov told shareholders on Thursday it had seen ‘lower sales bookings than anticipated’, and it therefore now expects reported revenues to 2024 to come it at £324million to £327million.

It also said that while growth had shown improvement in the second half it had disappointed expectations. YouGov’s adjusted operated profit is now expected at £41million to £44million.

YouGov said: ‘As we move into FY25, we will focus on optimising our cost base and prioritising investment in key growth areas such as upgrading our Data Products, continuing to build out our AI capabilities and enhancing our sales organisation to further capitalise on YouGov’s unique asset: its high-quality global panel and proprietary dataset.’

Hargreaves Lansdown’s co-founder has described its sale to private equity buyers as ‘bittersweet’ as he voiced concerns about their intentions.

Stephen Lansdown, who has a 5.7 per cent stake in the investment platform, has backed the £5.4billion offer by a consortium of investors led by buyout giant CVC.

His comments came after HL’s board said this week it would accept the £11.40 per share deal.

NatWest will acquire most of the banking business of Sainsbury’s, thereby growing the British lender’s assets by £2.5billion in the first major transaction executed by boss Paul Thwaite since formally taking the role last year.

The takeover will also see its customer accounts rise by around 1 million, in line with the lender’s strategy to ramp up its retail banking business.

The deal is the latest banking business disposal by a major British retailer, after rival supermarket chain Tesco offloaded most of its banking activities to Barclays in a 600 million pounds deal earlier this year.

‘As well as a complementary customer base, the transaction is expected to add scale to our credit card and unsecured personal lending business within existing risk appetite,’ Thwaite said in a statement.

‘NatWest Group has a strong track record of successful integration, and we are focussed on ensuring a smooth transition for customers.’