BUSINESS LIVE: Phoenix considers sale of SunLife; AO World profits exceeded forecasts; REVB closed due to budget cuts

The idea that tech-savvy young people are less likely to fall victim to online scams is a misconception, new figures show.

Over the past 12 months, Generation Z and Millennials were responsible for 65 percent of reported scams, according to data from money app Revolut. A fraud expert attributes this to the fact that they do more of their banking online.

Britain’s biggest winemaker could be sold as it tries to meet growing demand for English fizz.

Chapel Down has launched a strategic review to explore ways to raise new funding to pay for its ambitious growth plans.

Shares of Nvidia, a designer of artificial intelligence chips, rose almost 6 percent after the company fell in value by $557 billion (£440 billion) in three days.

In a day of much-needed relief for investors with Nvidia shares or funds that own the company, shares hit almost $125, pushing it back to a market capitalisation of $3trn (£2.4trn).

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor:

‘With much of the heavy lifting completed to revive the business, AO World can now move on to the next phase of its development, although the mobile business will require some care and attention.

‘The unit is currently loss-making due to weak consumer demand and decline in connections/

‘Although the business represents a relatively small proportion of total Group income, AO World continues to fulfil its potential and in an effort to provide additional sales channels, the Group acquired two web domain names during the period, with a strategic focus on selling the full product range to its customers.’

The dust may not have had much time to settle on the party manifestos, but small businesses have already figured out that they will have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to pay for it.

With economic growth and wealth creators at the heart of the major parties’ advocacy, Britain’s self-employed, start-ups and small businesses are ready to cast their votes for the party they believe will drive economic recovery. will put first. at the top of their priority list.

The owner of Vauxhall has warned it could stop making cars in Britain amid a row over sales targets for electric vehicles.

Stellantis – one of the world’s largest car manufacturers – has threatened to close its factories at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire and Luton over government quotas for zero-emission vehicles. The company has 2,500 employees spread across the two locations.

In a dramatic escalation of tensions between the manufacturer and ministers, Stellantis’ UK boss Maria Grazia Davino has notified the government and said the decision will be made in ‘less than a year’.

Cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty returned to profit last year as the company set its sights on a makeover under new management after a turbulent two years.

The company reported a pre-tax profit of £11.4 million for the year to the end of February, compared with a loss of £33.9 million the previous year.

Sales rose just 2 percent year-on-year to a total of £191.3 million, including the impact of clearing unwanted stock to focus on core products.

Lauren Brindley, a former Walgreens vice president who was named CEO of Revolution in August, said the past year was a year of “major strategic and financial progress after two challenging years.”

The company entered a crisis in 2022 due to accounting mishaps, leading to an ongoing dispute with the former boss.

AO World’s profits beat expectations last year as the British online consumer electronics retailer’s plan to focus on efficiency took effect, and it expected to grow at least 6 percent this year despite the tough economy.

AO, which sells washing machines, fridge-freezers, cookers, TVs, laptops and mobile phones in the UK, posted an adjusted pre-tax profit of £34 million for the 12 months to the end of March, compared with expectations in 2013. enter. top end of a range of £28m to £33m.

The group has forecast profits of £36 million to £4 million, on double-digit sales growth.

The company, which has a 15 percent share of Britain’s home appliances market, exited the German market in 2022 and has spent the past year cutting costs, removing lower value products from its range and introducing delivery charges as part of a plan to improve profitability.

AO said it was confident of continued earnings growth in the medium term despite what it called “persistent macroeconomic challenges” after two years of high inflation.

Morrisons is opening more convenience stores as its price war with Aldi and Lidl bears fruit.

The supermarket group says it plans to open a further 400 Morrisons Daily stores, taking the number to 2,000 by 2025.

Insurance company Phoenix Group is exploring a possible sale of its specialist SunLife over-50s business after receiving expressions of interest from potential buyers.

Phoenix told investors it had concluded that SunLife, which reported post-tax profits of £16 million in 2023, is “no longer core to the achievement” of the group’s “vision to be the largest pension savings and income company of Great Britain’.

It added: ‘The board has therefore decided to commence a sale process, having received a number of initial expressions of interest from third parties. However, there can be no assurance at this stage that a divestiture will occur.”