UK stock markets started the week on the right foot, as the FTSE 100 closed up 0.5 per cent to 7,193.5, while the FTSE 250 climbed 1.3 per cent to 20,471.25.
Rio Tinto proposed plans to buy the remaining 49 per cent stake of Canada’s Turquoise Hill it does not already own for about $2.7billion.
The move comes as the Anglo-Australian miner looks to ramp up the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining project in Mongolia.
Aston Martin Lagonda saw operating losses narrow to £77million last year from £323million in 2020, as revenues jumped 79 per cent to £1.1billion.
The firm said performance was lifted by stronger trading conditions, an ‘enhanced luxury customer experience and heightened brand desirability’, which led to ‘significant growth’ in the key markets of the Americas and China.
British insurer Phoenix Group revealed cash generation for the year was better than expected, helped by growing demand for its pension insurance policies.
The company, like other insurers, recovered ground across the board last year after being hit by a pandemic-fuelled slump in business in 2020.
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Executive chairman Lawrence Stroll hailed a ‘landmark year’ in reaching Aston Martin Lagonda’s goal of becoming ‘one of the greatest ultra-luxury brands in the world’
