Royal Mail Q1 revenues slump, Weir submits 'more ambitious' emissions reduction targets

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The FTSE 100 was being called to open 38.5 points higher ahead of the bell on Wednesday after the index closed the previous session 1.01% stronger at 7,296.28.

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Postal service Royal Mail said on Wednesday that revenues had sunk 11.5% year-on-year during the first quarter of its trading year, reflecting weakening retail trends, lower test kit volumes and a return to a structural decline in letters.

Royal Mail stated it had delivered an adjusted operating loss of £92.0m due to the "inflexibility" in its cost base to adjust to lower volumes and a "disappointing performance" in terms of delivering further efficiencies.

Engineering firm Weir has submitted "more ambitious" scope 1,2 and 3 emissions reduction targets to the Science Based Targets Initiative for validation.

Weir said on Wednesday that will now target absolute reductions of 30% in scope 1 and 2 emissions and 15% in scope 3 emissions, versus a 2019 baseline, across its operations and value chain by 2030. The FTSE 250-listed group stated its new targets would make "a significant contribution" to decarbonising the mining industry.

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Netflix reported better-than-expected earnings on Tuesday, seeing a smaller exodus of viewers than originally forecast even as the platform struggles to maintain its meteoric pandemic growth. Though Netflix reported its second straight quarterly drop in subscriber growth, and lost 1.0m viewers in the second quarter of 2022, that number was lower than the 2.0m it had projected in its previous report. Shares were up 10% in after-hours trading. – Guardian

Amazon's core UK division was handed a tax credit of just over £1.0m last year by HM Revenue and Customs despite the online retailer's profits soaring by almost 60% to £204.0m. The tax benefit was part of €1.0bn in tax credits provided to Amazon by governments across Europe, up from €56.0m a year before, according to accounts filed for the US company's Luxembourg-based division. – Guardian

Twitter has been granted a fast-track hearing in its attempt to force Elon Musk to complete his $44.0bn takeover, after accusing the Tesla billionaire of harming the company "every hour of every day". Delaware judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in favour of Twitter on Tuesday, setting a trial date for October. Mr Musk's lawyers had attempted to push the trial back to next year. – Telegraph

Clifford Chance has become the first of London's international "magic circle" law firms to smash the £2.0m pay barrier for partners after it awarded a 10% rise. The company said that the average annual drawing for its full-equity partners was £2.04,, moving the firm at least temporarily to the top of the league table of elite UK commercial practices. The increase meant that Clifford Chance overtook Allen & Overy, which announced average annual pay last week of £1.9m. – The Times

Retail investors will be able to take part in all types of fundraisings under sweeping proposals designed to shake up City rules and help London compete with stock markets overseas. Private investors are often penalised when companies seek to raise money quickly through placings that target institutions. This is because the stakes of individual shareholders who are not allowed to participate are automatically diluted by such deals. Placings are also typically priced at a discount, meaning retail investors miss out on the opportunity of buying cut-price shares. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed in positive territory on Tuesday as the second quarter earnings season rolled on.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.43% at 31,827.05, while the S&P 500 added 2.76% to 3,936.69 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.11% higher at 11,713.15.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com