Haleon to offload ChapStick brand, St James's Place funds under management expands

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points lower on Thursday, having closed up 0.56% on Wednesday at 7,527.67.

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Consumer health group Haleon, the company behind Sensodyne toothpaste, Panadol and Advil painkillers, has announced it is selling the ChapStick brand for $430m. The divestment, to Suave Brands Company, a portfolio company of Yellow Wood Partners, will also see Haleon receive a "passive minority interest" in the purchasing entity. Haleon's chief executive Brian McNamara said ChapStick was no longer a "core focus" for the company and the sale is "consistent with Haleon being proactive in managing our portfolio, and being rigorous and disciplined where there are opportunities for divestment".

St James's Place reported gross inflows of £15.39bn in 2023 on Thursday, a decrease from £17.03bn in 2022, and net inflows of £5.12bn, down from £9.78bn. The FTSE 100 company's funds under management increased to £168.2bn from £148.37bn, with a funds under management retention rate of 95.3%. CEO Mark FitzPatrick highlighted challenges in the financial industry amid tough economic conditions.

UK bootmaker Dr Martens held full year guidance after third-quarter revenues slumped by a fifth, driven by a poor performance in the US and from its wholesale channel. The company, which issued a profits warning in November, posted revenues of £267m for the last three months of 2023, down 21%.

Newspaper round-up

The government has said it intends to launch a second investigation into the Barclay family’s complex deal to transfer control of the Telegraph, after its Abu Dhabi-backed consortium partner revealed a last-minute corporate structure change that has raised public interest concerns. The culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, said she was “minded to” issue a new public interest intervention notice (PIIN) to call in the regulators Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look at RedBird IMI’s move to create a new UK holding company to house the Telegraph and its sister magazine, The Spectator, when it takes control of the titles. – Guardian

Despite putting a new vehicle on the market, announcing another for 2025 and beating Wall Street’s expectations for vehicle deliveries, Tesla was not able to shake off its disappointing third quarter. The electric vehicle manufacturer brought in $25.1bn in revenue and posted $.71 in earnings a share in the fourth quarter of 2023, missing analyst expectations of 25.76bn in revenue and $0.74 earnings a share. The company’s fourth quarter revenue increased 3% year over year from $24.3bn in 2022. – Guardian

UK electricity prices have risen faster than almost any other developed country since 2019, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has found. Soaring wholesale costs and an increase in net zero levies have led to British households paying more for their power, as they now face the third highest prices in Europe. – Telegraph

AstraZeneca is seeking up to £100 million in government support to expand a vaccine production facility in northwest England. In a potential boost for both British manufacturing and the life sciences sector, the UK’s most valuable public company plans to submit a formal application next month to gain access to public funding to help to develop its nasal flu vaccines plant in Speke, near Liverpool. – The Times

The boss of Boeing said yesterday that the manufacturer would support the operation of its aircraft only if it was “100 percent” confident in their safety after a federal regulator grounded some of its 737 Max 9 fleet. Dave Calhoun, the company’s chief executive, who was in Washington for meetings with senators, said: “We don’t put planes in the air that we don’t have 100 per cent confidence in.” He said that Boeing fully understood “the gravity of the situation”. – The Times

US close

Stocks finished mixed on Wednesday with the Dow slipping into the red by the close, but the S&P 500 notching its fourth straight record close, helped by strong earnings from Netflix and Freeport-McMoRan, along with improving service-sector data.

After starting out strongly, the Dow fell 0.26% by the closing bell, pulling back for the second consecutive session after hitting an all-time high earlier in the week.

However, the S&P 500 edged 0.8% higher to another all-time high of 4,868.55, the Nasdaq gained 0.36%, with the Nasdaq 100 setting a fresh record.

Sentiment on Wall Street was also helped by a much stronger-than-forecast reading from the S&P Global US services PMI which grew to its highest level in seven months.

The PMI rose to 52.9 in January from 51.4 in December, beating the 51.0 consensus estimate.