FTSE closes down at 7,437.93

The FTSE 100 closed at 7,437.93 today, down 0.2%, after falling back into negative territory late in the day.

The index started the day down by as much as 0.8%, but recovered in the late morning and early afternoon following improved August PMI data.

However, it fell back below the mark of 7452 where it started the day around an hour before markets closed.

Big risers included BP and Shell after oil prices surged. B&M, which announced the purchase of 51 Wilko stores today, and Tesco were among the big fallers, following a JPMorgan downgrade of supermarkets.

Post-pandemic travel rebound boosts linens business Johnson Service Group

Hotel linens provider Johnson Service Group upgraded its full-year guidance today as the UK’s post-pandemic tourist rebound helped to drive a 46% rise in its profits to £16.4 million.

In the first six months of the year, revenue jumped to £215 million, thanks to hotels and catering revenue jumping by more than 30% to £143.9 million.

This, CEO Peter Egan told the Standard, was mostly due to a return to normal for hospitality, having still been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic a year earlier.

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The clubs where mums chill to ‘stop going mad with parenting’

A LOT of entrepreneurs report falling into their careers by chance – but Maggie Bolger says she “accidentally fell into parenting” and that triggered her successful career building family clubs.

After growing up in New Zealand, she took a gap year “and went travelling to Australia, Hong Kong and London, then got knocked up at 22 with my first child in London”.

That was in 2000 — and she and her then-husband decided to stay in the capital; Bolger was soon a young mum with three kids under five. “That’s when I began to wonder why a nice place did not exist for parents. Soho House was getting traction, as were lots of celebrity restaurants, but all parents’ offerings were an afterthought.”

Bolger would have her friends with kids over to her flat in Kensington, and do activities with them all.

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Oil surges past $90 a barrel

The price of oil has surged today, crossing the $90-a-barrel threshold, after Suadi Arabia and Russia extended their cuts to supply of the commodity.

Saudi Arabia will continue to cut back its supply by one million barrels a day until December, while Russia will cut its own prduction by 300,000 a day until the same point.

The announcement sent the price of oil surging and boosted the share price of London-listed oil supermajors.

BP shares are up 1.8% today to 510.6p. Shell shares are up by 1.2% to 2,474p.

Man United shares plunge on possibility takeover is shelved

Shares in Manchester United have lost 19% since markets opened in the US, following reports that the Glazer family may opt not to sell the club after all.

The club appeared to be on the verge of a sale, with Ineos founder Sir Jim Ratcliffe and a Qatari group battling to close the deal.

However, recent reports that the Glazers may prefer to keep owning the club have led to shares falling to $19.27, down 19% from yesterday’s close and in line with their level in early June.

Labour plans will boost investment but could squeeze money for new schools – IFS

Labour’s plans would bring above-average investment but could still mean a “squeeze” on budgets for repairing schools and hospitals, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has said.

Against a background of concern about underinvestment in school buildings, the respected think tank suggested Labour’s proposals for a £28 billion “Green Prosperity Plan” would increase investment to 60% higher than the average for the last 45 years.

The plan involves making the UK a “clean energy superpower” by 2030, decarbonising the energy system, setting up a publicly-owned green power generator and investing in areas such as battery factories, clean steel and green hydrogen.

The IFS estimated this would mean, by the end of the next parliament, an extra £20 billion being spent per year on top of the £8 billion the Conservatives have already planned, increasing public sector investment to 2.6% of GDP compared to an average of 1.6% since the late 1970s.

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City Comment: ‘Tourist tax’ campaign comes to Westminster, but don’t get too optimistic

The tourist tax saga finally gets its moment in the parliamentary sun this week.

Despite more than two years of campaigning by business leaders representing huge swathes of the economy, there has been remarkably little engagement by government other than a vague pledge to look at any fresh evidence of the economic harm done.

So the response from the minister put into bat for the Government in Thursday’s Westminster Hall debate on the subject will be illuminating.

Conservative backbench MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown has done well to secure 90 minutes of parliamentary time on an issue that has caused huge concern across London’s tourism, hospitality and retail sectors.

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British newspapers to take multi-million pound knock as Meta pulls plug on European news content deals

British newspapers are braced for a multi-million pound knock as social media giant Meta said it would end its news content deals with publishers across Europe.

The move, which Meta said was part of “an ongoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most,” would also involve the closure of Facebook News – a dedicated tab on Facebook in the bookmarks section that spotlights news – in early December.

Meta has not disclosed the precise sums of money involved in its deals with publishers, but they are thought to run into the tens of millions in the UK, according to the Guardian. Publishers in France and Germany will also be affected.

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Pump price of unleaded petrol climbs to highest level this year

The price of petrol on UK forecourts has risen to its highest level so far this year, figures show.

The average pump price of a litre of unleaded petrol stood at 151.7p as of September 4, up from 150.7p the previous week.

It is the seventh weekly jump in a row.

The rise is being driven by an increase in the cost of oil, which has gone up by nearly 12 US dollars a barrel since the start of July to more than 88 US dollars, due to producing group Opec+ reducing its supply.

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Arm eyes valuation of up to $52 billion in NYSE IPO

British chip designer ARM is eyeing a valuation of as much as $52 billion in its forthcoming New York Stock Exchange IPO.

The Cambridge-based business, whose chip designs feature in the majority of smartphones, is setting a share price range between $47 and $51, it said today. That range is significantly lower than some market analysts who speculated its valuation could be as high as $65 billion.

Only 9.4% of Arm’s shares are set to be freely traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The company was listed in London and New York before SoftBank took the firm private in 2016 for $32 billion.