BUSINESS LIVE: GSK appeals US court ruling; Lord Ashcroft becomes chairman of Marlowe; Franchise Brands offers guidance

Labor was accused yesterday of plotting to plunder pensions by overhauling tax relief on pension funds.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the party would betray pensioners as he warned of a repeat of 1997 when Gordon Brown targeted pensions.

Lord Ashcroft has been appointed interim chairman of business services firm Marlowe, after his predecessor resigned following the sale of much of the company’s business.

Kevin Quinn has been executive chairman of Marlowe since 2019, joining after a thirteen-year stint as financial director of textile services company Berendsen.

The Barclay brothers have been told to ‘lower their expectations’ as they continue to look for a buyer for Very Group.

The troubled retailer lifted its for-sale sign earlier this year in an effort to tackle its mounting debts.

Brothers Aidan and Howard, who run the Barclays business empire, have agreed to fire the entire company or a stake in it.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘Positive sentiments are driving the FTSE 100 higher as new hopes emerge that rate cuts may not be as far away as feared. Strong trading in Asia has laid the foundation for an upbeat session as investors took their cue from gains on Wall Street on Friday.

‘Signs of weaker consumption patterns have raised expectations that upward price pressures could ease and that the Fed may become less inclined to keep interest rates high for longer.

“With lower borrowing costs on the horizon, this could provide a small boost to oil prices, which are around three-month lows. Brent Crude is trading at around $81 a barrel, despite an OPEC+ agreement to extend production cuts until 2025.

‘At the start of the week there is fresh music in the ears of investors of the Hipgnosis Songs Fund. The board and Blackstone have now agreed to the terms of a larger cash acquisition deal. The offer price of $1.31 per share is a small increase on the agreement reached in April and represents a 49% premium on the closing price of 71p per share, prior to rival Concord’s agreed offer.

“While there may be some minor disappointment that another suitor didn’t make a much higher offer after the bidding war, the deal still represents a turnaround for investors. It follows a volatile run that saw shares fall to record lows after the value of the fund’s music portfolio was slashed by more than 25%.”

Boeing will take years to recover from the latest safety crisis, its biggest customer has warned.

Tim Clark, president of luxury airline Emirates, has said the aircraft manufacturer will struggle to get back on track after the mid-air crash on an Alaska Airlines flight.

London-listed shares have started the week well, following their counterparts in Asia, as investors anticipate a rate cut by the European Central Bank and drugmaker GSK keeps profits in check.

The ECB meets later this week, where investors expect it will cut borrowing costs by a quarter of a percentage point.

Analysts predict that the Bank of England will closely monitor the ECB’s moves and position itself to quickly follow suit in initiating the rate cutting cycle.

The BoE will meet in two weeks to discuss interest rates in Britain.

Investors will also be closely watching a range of economic data set to drop this week, including domestic manufacturing data for May due later in the day.

The Hipgnosis Songs Fund has gained 1 percent after Blackstone cut its bid for the music rights investor by a cent from $1.30 to $1.30 as part of a revised offer.

GSK fell 9.5 percent after a Delaware ruling allowed more than 70,000 lawsuits to be filed over the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac.

St. James’s Place is the biggest gainer on the benchmark index, up 5.6 percent, after JP Morgan upgraded its rating on the stock from ‘neutral’ to ‘overweight’.

GSK will appeal after a US judge ruled that more than 70,000 lawsuits over the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac can go ahead, with expert witnesses allowed to testify in court that the drug can cause cancer.

Friday’s ruling by Judge Vivian Medinilla of the Delaware Superior Court in Wilmington is a setback for GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim, which had argued that the experts’ opinions lacked scientific support.

GSK said in a statement this morning:

“GSK disagrees with the Delaware State Court’s ruling and will immediately appeal.

“The State Court decision contradicts the Federal Court’s MDL ruling under the same legal standard, which dismissed all cases alleging five types of cancer in December 2022.

“GSK will continue to vigorously defend itself against all claims and manage this litigation in the best interests of shareholders. In addition to immediately appealing to the Delaware Supreme Court, the Company will file motions for dismissal, urging additional defenses, termination of cases, and proof of use by plaintiffs; and at the same time, the company will continue to adjudicate individual cases.”

The future owner of Royal Mail, Daniel Kretinsky, has refused to rule out further price rises for first class stamps.

The billionaire – nicknamed the ‘Czech Sphinx’ – has suggested costs could continue to rise in coming years.