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UK car sales jump 25% in February; another City firm eyes New York listing – business live | Business


Introduction: UK car sales jumped 25% in February

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

UK car sales jumped by a quarter last month, while the cost of travelling by train across the country has risen again.

British new car registrations rose by a quarter in February, according to preliminary industry data released on Monday.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the new car market grew by 25% last month in a year-on-year basis, despite the economic pressures from the cost of living crisis on households.

Plug-in electric vehicles made up about a quarter of the registrations, meaning that almost half a million plug-in cars are expected to join the road by the end of 2023.

The final data, from trade body SMMT, is due at 9am this morning.

Last weekend, train passengers were hit by the largest increase in fares for more than a decade on Sunday despite record levels of poor reliability.

Fares in England and Wales rose by up to 5.9% on average, adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of many annual season tickets.

It’s the largest increase in annual fares since a 6.1% hike across Britain in 2012, analysis shows. More here:

Also coming up today

Investors are digesting the news that China’s government has set a modest target for economic growth this year, as the annual session of its National People’s Congress (NPC) begins.

Beijing is aiming foreconomic growth this year of around 5% on Sunday, below last year’s goal of 5.5%, but above the 3% growth actually achieved.

The latest surveys of purchasing managers will show how construction firms in the UK, and across Europe, fared last month.

The agenda

  • 8.30am GMT: eurozone construction PMI report for February

  • 9am GMT: UK new car registrations for February

  • 9.30am GMT: UK construction PMI report for February

  • 10am GMT: Eurozone retail sales for January

  • 10am GMT: European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane gives a lecture at Trinity College in Dublin

  • 3pm GMT: UK factory orders for January

Key events

Eurozone construction activity shrinks for 10th month in a row

The eurozone’s construction sector shrank again in February, for the 10th month running.

The S&P Global Eurozone Construction Total Activity Index has risen to 47.6 in February from 46.1 in January – still below the 50-point mark showing stagnation.

The relative improvement in the headline index was supported by softer drops in both residential and civil engineering activity, S&P Global says.

The sector has been hit by rising interest rates since last summer, weak consumer confidence, and increased costs.

Home building dropped again across the eurozone last month, extending a decline that began last May. But more encouragingly, construction firms took on more staff, led by firms in France and Italy.

Annabel Fiddes, economics associate director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said:

The latest PMI data showed that the eurozone construction sector moved closer to stabilisation in February, with firms signalling the softest reduction in overall activity for nine months.

This was underpinned by weaker falls in construction output across Germany and Italy, which offset a more marked decline in France. The downturn in new business also continued to ease, though sales still dropped considerably overall, which contributed to a sustained fall in purchasing activity.

Sir James Dyson warns Britain against tax grabs

Entrepreneur Sir James Dyson is urging the government not to lift taxes on businesses, claiming that a double tax grab will hurt the economy.

In a letter to Jeremy Hunt, seen by The Sun, Dyson warned the chancellor of the “unintended consequences” of hiking corporation tax and bringing in a new global levy on multinationals agreed by the OECD.

Dyson, who has criticised Rishi Sunak’s administration before, told Hunt that the Government has “done nothing but pile tax upon tax on to British companies.”

He reminds the chancellor that pharmaceuticals firm AstraZeneca recently chose to build a $360m advanced manufacturing factory in Ireland, not the UK, and cited ‘discouraging’ UK tax rates.

He writes:

“Is it any wonder that the economy is teetering on recession, or that companies like AstraZeneca are deciding to take their investment elsewhere?”

Dyson wants Hunt to drop plans to lift corporation tax from 19% to 25% in April. He argues that this, and the new Global Minimum Tax on multinationals, “will do nothing” to generate the recovery and growth we need.

In January, Dyson claimed that the “shortsighted” and “stupid” economic policies pursued by Sunak’s government have left the country in a state of “Covid inertia”, and that “growth has become a dirty word”.

Shell CEO: US is more attractive than Britain for energy investment

The boss of energy giant Shell has warned that America is significantly more attractive than Britain for energy investment

Shell’s new chief executive, Wael Sawan, has told The Times that that UK government should “take a page from some of the things that the US have done recently, through the Inflation Reduction Act”.

The IRA is a $369bn (£300bn) package of subsidies to spur green investment in America, which has spurred the European Union to push on with its own subsidy plans.

The UK, though, has claimed that the IRA package is protectionist, and has not yet responded with a similar package of its own.

Sawan says that the IRA provides “ten-year clarity and tangible, fixed incentives that people know to bank on”.

Instead, he warns, the UK’s focus on windfall taxes, planning delays and uncertainty over subsidies make Britain a less attractive market.

Asked how Britain ranked in terms of attractiveness for energy investments, Sawan said the US was “ahead significantly” and that Europe was also ahead of Britain.

Campaigners call for end to ‘peak fare rip off’ on trains in England and Wales

Jess Clark

Jess Clark

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.

Consumer groups are now urging operators to make peak fares – which are not necessarily affected by the 5.9% rise – more equitable across the country and to reduce them on less popular days to combat overcrowding.

The news that London listed big data firm WANdisco is eyeing New York to create a dual listing (see 7.25am) is a reminder of the City’s struggles to attract tech companies.

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, says London is not facing a ‘mass exodus’, but points out that recent technology floats have struggled:

According to Sky News, it has hired bankers from Evercore Partners to help with the preparations. WANdisco’s chairman and CEO David Richards first discussed the possibility of a US listing in 2017.

The news comes after Arm Holdings abandoned London as a potential location for its IPO, FTSE 100 building business CRH also said it was planning to list in the US and Flutter was considering a secondary listing in New York. This has raised concerns about a potential flight of listed businesses away from the London Stock Exchange post Brexit to the United States. However we are far from seeing a mass exodus from the London market as of yet. The City has so far managed to preserve its position as Europe’s leading global financial hub.

One of the biggest challenges for the UK market has been its struggle to attract tech giants. New York continues to be the go-to destination for tech behemoths with the Nasdaq boasting giants like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. While the FTSE 100 enjoyed relative resilience last year in part thanks to its shortage of tech stocks, this has long been a criticism and meant that the UK large-cap index missed out on the gains enjoyed stateside from the tech boom prior to 2022.

There have been some high-profile tech disasters in London including Deliveroo’s calamitous IPO and THG’s share price slide, adding to the sense of caution towards the UK among tech businesses deciding where to list.”

Big data company WANdisco eyes US stock market listing

WANdisco, a ‘big data’ business listed in London, has joined the growing ranks of companies considering a listing on the New York stock exchange.

WANdisco, which is headquartered in Sheffield, England and San Ramon, California, has told the City this morning that it is in the early stages of exploring a listing in the US, to run alongside its London listing.

Yesterday, Sky News reported that WANdisco was preparing to list its shares in the US “amid an intensifying debate about the waning attractiveness of the City to public companies”.

Last week, UK chip designer Arm chose to only list in the US, rebuffing London, and building materials giant CRH laid out plans to move its shares to the US.

WANdisco reminds shareholders that it has been considering a listing in New York for some time, and isn’t planning to quit London.

It says this morning that:

As a dual UK and US headquartered technology company, WANdisco has long-stated its intention to consider an additional listing of its ordinary shares in the United States. The company can confirm that it is in the early stages of proactively exploring this option.

The Company also confirms that it remains committed to London’s Alternative Investment Market (“AIM”) and to maintaining its current UK AIM listing.

Sky News has learnt that WANdisco, a ‘big data’ business, has hired bankers from Evercore Partners to prepare for a listing in New York https://t.co/LaNgQjDO9M

— Sky News (@SkyNews) March 4, 2023

Introduction: UK car sales jumped 25% in February

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

UK car sales jumped by a quarter last month, while the cost of travelling by train across the country has risen again.

British new car registrations rose by a quarter in February, according to preliminary industry data released on Monday.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said the new car market grew by 25% last month in a year-on-year basis, despite the economic pressures from the cost of living crisis on households.

Plug-in electric vehicles made up about a quarter of the registrations, meaning that almost half a million plug-in cars are expected to join the road by the end of 2023.

The final data, from trade body SMMT, is due at 9am this morning.

Last weekend, train passengers were hit by the largest increase in fares for more than a decade on Sunday despite record levels of poor reliability.

Fares in England and Wales rose by up to 5.9% on average, adding hundreds of pounds to the cost of many annual season tickets.

It’s the largest increase in annual fares since a 6.1% hike across Britain in 2012, analysis shows. More here:

Also coming up today

Investors are digesting the news that China’s government has set a modest target for economic growth this year, as the annual session of its National People’s Congress (NPC) begins.

Beijing is aiming foreconomic growth this year of around 5% on Sunday, below last year’s goal of 5.5%, but above the 3% growth actually achieved.

The latest surveys of purchasing managers will show how construction firms in the UK, and across Europe, fared last month.

The agenda

  • 8.30am GMT: eurozone construction PMI report for February

  • 9am GMT: UK new car registrations for February

  • 9.30am GMT: UK construction PMI report for February

  • 10am GMT: Eurozone retail sales for January

  • 10am GMT: European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane gives a lecture at Trinity College in Dublin

  • 3pm GMT: UK factory orders for January





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