BUSINESS LIVE: Energy price gap rises; Virgin Money profits slump; Jet2 sales soar

Small businesses last night welcomed a package of ‘groundbreaking’ measures to boost Britain.

Jeremy Hunt pledged to “end the scourge of late payments” to small suppliers, alongside plans to provide relief on business rates and cut taxes for the self-employed.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said it would ‘help build future prosperity’

Hipgnosis Songs, its investment adviser and founder Merck Mercurladis are facing legal action over allegations of “misdirection of business opportunities”, the struggling music royalty fund said this morning.

Hipgnosis Music, which is in liquidation and where Mercuriadis was previously a director, filed proceedings alleging ‘a diversion of business opportunities’ from Hipgnosis Music Limited to the company and its investment adviser, which is now backed by Blackstone .

Mercuriadis, the investment adviser and the London-listed fund deny the claims and intend to defend them, the fund said.

Soap manufacturer PZ Cussons expects that by the end of the current financial year there will be only minimal surplus cash left in its Nigeria operations, beyond what is required for trading.

The company had previously said the devaluation of the Nigerian currency would negatively impact profits and in September offered to buy out minority shareholders of PZ Cussons Nigeria, amid plans to delist the company from the Nigerian stock exchange.

However, PZ Cussons said first-half trading remained strong in its Nigeria operations and many of its brands have retained or gained market share there.

“We expect to achieve improvement in both gross and operating profit margins in the first half of the year, despite very high inflation,” the company said of its Nigerian operations.

Nissan is set to announce it will build two new electric models at its UK car manufacturing plant in Sunderland, in a major boost for the UK car industry.

The Japanese carmaker will on Friday confirm its plans to make electric vehicles (EV) to replace the popular Qashqai and Juke – both currently assembled at its North East plant – after months of talks with the government.

Jet2 says it is on track to meet annual expectations after a jump in operating profit for the six months to the end of September, helped by continued strong demand for flights and holidays.

While Jet2’s UK customer base has been hit by higher bills over the past two years, holiday companies and airlines have found that consumers have not cut back on holidays.

Pre-nasties profits were 32 percent higher in the first half as more people went on holiday, with more of them opting for higher-margin package holidays.

Virgin Money’s UK profits fell after pressure on lending margins and persistent inflation put pressure on the bank’s returns.

The British lender posted underlying pre-tax profits of £593 million in the past financial year, down 24 percent year-on-year and well below forecasts of £625 million.

Virgin Money, owner of the former Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank, also announced an additional £150 million share buyback plan.