FTSE 100 Live: Shares and oil prices lower as Omicron fears hit European markets

A comment piece from Mike McCudden at CrowdX:

A widely read piece in The Times last week saw Serco boss Sir Rupert Soames lamenting the tsunami of investors who are now demanding that ESG factors – that’s Environmental, Social and Governance – are a key consideration in their portfolios. They’re no longer obsessed with pure profits.

This, says Sir Rupert, is a phenomenon that has only emerged over the last couple of years and risks making it more costly for those companies engaged in what could be seen as “necessary evils” – such as running prisons or building tanks and warplanes – to go about their essential business.

A comment piece from Mike McCudden at CrowdX:

A widely read piece in The Times last week saw Serco boss Sir Rupert Soames lamenting the tsunami of investors who are now demanding that ESG factors – that’s Environmental, Social and Governance – are a key consideration in their portfolios. They’re no longer obsessed with pure profits.

This, says Sir Rupert, is a phenomenon that has only emerged over the last couple of years and risks making it more costly for those companies engaged in what could be seen as “necessary evils” – such as running prisons or building tanks and warplanes – to go about their essential business.

Keywords Studios’ stock was up as much as 7% this morning after the gaming firm told investors full-year profits are set to come in ahead of consensus amid a “buoyant” video games market.

The AIM-listed company, which has worked on titles including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, said it expects to report adjusted pre-tax profits of at least €85 million (£72.6 million) for the year to December 31 – up 55% year-on-year.

The London-listed Irish firm said revenues are likely to be up at least 35% at €505 million.

Read the full update here

JD Wetherspoon has appointed four staff members to its board.

Managers were asked to apply for the positions after shareholders and employees both reported feeling the budget pub chain “would benefit from having more pub experience at board level”, the pubco said. 

Regional managers Debbie Whittingham and Hudson Simmons were selected as employee directors with full director status, while fellow team leaders Will Fotheringham and Emma Gibson have been made associate employee directors. 

All will hold the roles for three years. 

Spoons chairman Tim Martin said having staff voices in board meetings will “help to preserve the culture of the company for the future”. 

Beleaguered e-commerce company THG was one of the few companies to make gains on the stock market as one of its most vocal critics pulled back.

Shares in THG, formerly The Hut Group, surged 28.5p, or 15%, to 218.5p after The Analyst, a private City research firm, withdrew its short recommendation. The same research house helped trigger the collapse in THG’s share price when it first published the report in October.

THG’s share price has sunk over 65% since September amid concerns about governance and transparency. CEO Matt Moulding has blamed short sellers for the firm’s woes.

On Friday analysts at Bank of America said THG’s stock looked “just too cheap” after the recent sell-off.

Plans by Rolls-Royce to develop small nuclear reactors in the UK were today boosted by £85 million of investment from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.

Boss Warren East said the government-backed Small Modular Reactor (SMR) business is now “set up to succeed” after Qatar took a 10% stake in the project.

Rolls expects each SMR power station will have the capacity to generate 470mw of low carbon energy, equivalent to more than 150 onshore wind turbines. They will provide consistent baseload generation for at least 60 years and help to support the roll out of renewable power.

East thinks the venture could create up to 40,000 UK jobs and have the potential to connect to the UK grid by the early 2030s

The project is being backed by £210 million of government investment.

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said Qatar’s support was a clear vote of confidence in the UK’s global leadership in nuclear innovation.

He added: “It represents a huge step forward in our plan to deploy more home-grown, affordable clean energy – ensuring greater energy independence for the UK, highly skilled jobs and bringing cheaper, cleaner electricity to people’s homes.”

The Qatar Investment Authority join Rolls-Royce, BNF Resources and Exelon Generation as shareholders in Rolls-Royce SMR.

East said: “We have successfully raised the capital we need to establish Rolls-Royce SMR and it is encouraging to confirm that the business is now set up to succeed.”

JD Wetherspoon has appointed four pub staff members to its board.

Managers were asked to apply for the positions after shareholders and employees both reported feeling the company “would benefit from having more pub experience at board level”, the pubco said.

West Midlands regional manager Debbie Whittingham and Sheffield area manager Hudson Simmons were selected as employee directors with full plc director status, while Manchester regional manager Will Fotheringham and Exeter pub manager Emma Gibson have been made associate employee directors.

All will act as directors from today, and will remain in place for three years.

Former McKinsey boss Dominic Barton has been named Rio Tinto’s next chairman as the iron ore mining giant continues the overhaul seen since the Juukan Gorge scandal.

Barton, who has been Canada’s ambassador to China since 2019, takes over in May after Simon Thompson said he would not stand for re-election at Rio’s AGM in 2022.

Outcry over the destruction of the sacred Aboriginal site in Western Australia has led to several boardroom departures, with chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques being replaced by Jakob Stausholm.

Barton, whose 30 years at management consultancy McKinsey included nine as global managing partner, said he looked forward to working with Stausholm on “building and sustaining trust with host communities”.

He added that decarbonisation would be at the heart of the business as the board positions Rio “to be a leader in addressing complex global problems”.

The bank should have been more upfront about “additional liquidity expectations” due to market concerns about US dollar outflows.

GSK said Lewis would be named chair designate from 1 January. Earlier this year the pharmaceutical giant announced plans to spin off its consumer division, which makes things like Aquafresh toothpaste, Panadol painkiller and Chapstick lip balm. GSK will sell at least 80% of its stake in the division, which had sales of £10 billion last year. The de-merger will take place in the middle of 2022.

Lewis said in a statement: “GSK Consumer Healthcare is a world-class business with significant prospects and a high-quality leadership team. I am looking forward to being part of its exciting future as an independent company and the very positive impact it can have on people’s health all over the world.”