Prudential profit better than expected, Burberry appoints new finance chief

London open

The FTSE 100 was expected to open five points lower on Wednesday, having closed up 1.17% on Tuesday at 7,637.11.

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Insurer Prudential reported a better-than-expected rise in annual profit on the back of new insurance sales and said China’s relaxation of Covid restrictions had also provided a boost. The Asia-focused company saw adjusted operating profit rise 8% in 2022 to $3.38bn, beating a forecast of around $3.34bn from a company-compiled forecast.

Luxury fashion brand Burberry has announced the appointment of Kate Ferry as chief financial officer and executive director. Ferry, who succeeds Julie Brown, will join the company by early September at the latest. She will have responsibility for finance and business services functions and will become a member of the board and Executive Committee, reporting to chief executive Jonathan Akeroyd.

Newspaper round-up

The Treasury has performed a U-turn on a planned cut to energy support for households after warnings that it would plunge many thousands more families into poverty. In an announcement on the morning of the chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget speech, the government confirmed that the energy price guarantee would continue at its current rate, which limits a typical annual household bill to £2,500. It is being extended from April, when it was due to expire, for a further three months until the end of June. – Guardian

A ban on the forced installation of prepayment meters by energy companies has been extended beyond the end of March, Ofgem has said. The energy regulator’s chief executive, Jonathan Brearley, told MPs that suppliers would not resume the installations until a code of practice was published and Ofgem was satisfied it was being adhered to. – Guardian

Saudi Arabia is to spend £30bn on a fleet of 72 Boeing jets as it seeks to dominate the Gulf with a new airline. Riyadh Air, launched on Sunday, has agreed to buy the Dreamliners in the plane maker's fifth biggest order of all time amid a scramble to eclipse neighbouring flag carriers Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad. – Telegraph

About 13,000 complaints made to the financial ombudsman have not been resolved after more than a year, the head of the service told MPs, as she admitted there is “more we could do to bring that number down”. Abby Thomas, who joined the Financial Ombudsman service six months ago as its chief executive and chief ombudsman, told an influential cross-party committee of MPs that 7,500 of the cases are subject to legal proceedings or have had to be put on hold because the companies involved have gone into administration. – The Times

Tesco’s imposition of fees for online suppliers has led to widespread calls for a referral to the grocery regulator. The UK’s largest supermarket wrote to suppliers last week informing them it would be introducing Amazon-style fulfilment fees on all products sold on its UK and Ireland websites and app. – The Times

US close

The cost of living in the US continued to ease last month, roughly by about as much as expected last month.

According to the US Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the country's Consumer Price Index advanced at a month-on-month pace of 0.4%, as expected.

But negative base effects meant that the annual rate of increase in CPI slipped from 6.4% for January to 6.0% in February.

Economists had anticipated a decline to 6-0-6.1%.

Food prices were up by 0.4% on the month while those of energy declined by 0.6% despite a 1.0% rise in petrol prices.