Clarkson earnings rise sharply, LondonMetric sells seven assets

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open one point higher on Monday, having closed up 0.04% on Friday at 7,947.11.

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Shipping services company Clarkson reported a sharp rise in annual earnings, driven by a strong performance in its broking division. Pre-tax profit for the 2022 calendar year came in at £100.1m, compared with £69.1m a year earlier. The total dividend was lifted to 93p a share, up from 84p.

LondonMetric announced the sale of seven fully-let long-income assets for £33.9m, on Monday, crystallising a 28% profit on cost. The assets included an Aldi store in Weymouth, an urban warehouse in Salford, a self-storage unit in Oldbury, a Premier Inn in Ringwood, a trade unit let to Jewson in Littlehampton, and two IMO car washes. It also completed the sale of a new M&S Foodhall in Derby for £6.2m, which was previously announced in 2021.

Newspaper round-up

Campaigners are calling for an end to the “peak fare rip off”, where commuters in some parts of the country face far higher mark-ups to travel at busy times. The call came after regulated rail fares in England and Wales jumped by 5.9% on Sunday – the biggest hike in a decade – adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of many annual season tickets despite record levels of poor service. – Guardian

Morrisons is planning to ditch at least 83 property maintenance suppliers, many based in its home city of Bradford, putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk as it shifts to a single provider for repairs. The debt-laden supermarket chain, which is battling to save costs after a takeover in October 2021 by the American private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, is also likely to lay off up to 50 staff dealing with property maintenance at its Bradford head office and around the country. – Guardian

Troubled British electric van maker Arrival has been hit by a second winding up petition in less than a month. The business was last week hit with a fresh legal challenge from a creditor, a week after Arrival said it had secured $50m (£41.5m) in new funding. The latest petition comes from Rugby-based Lenoch Engineering, a machinery and robotics specialist. The legal threat, where a creditor demands a court shut down a company for missed payments, was issued on March 1, according to court records. Lenoch Engineering did not respond to requests for comment. – Telegraph

America is significantly more attractive than Britain for energy investment, Shell’s new chief executive has said. Wael Sawan said the government should “take a page from some of the things that the US have done recently, through the Inflation Reduction Act”, a $369 billion package of subsidies to spur green investment in America. – The Times

Increased flexible working would tackle staff shortages that threaten economic growth, experts have said. More of the working-age population would take up work or stay in jobs if they were offered greater flexibility on where and how they worked, analysts said. Central bankers have said a labour supply problem risks cutting the UK’s potential for growth. – The Times

US close

Stocks finished in the green on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.17% at 33,390.97.

The S&P 500 added 1.61% to 4,045.64, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 1.97% at 11,689.01.