BUSINESS LIVE: Heathrow eyes 81.4m in traffic; Ofgem could up price cap; Naked Wines losses widen

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘Naked Wines has seen its shares rise 3.5%, despite total revenues in the 26 weeks to 2 October falling 20% to £132.3m, and losses have widened.

‘Potentially more worrying is the double digit decline in repeat revenues, which shows that what should be loyal customers are dropping off. This is a combination of belt-tightening and fierce competition in the online-wine-world.

‘The group’s struggled post-pandemic after the demand surges seen in lockdowns, and issues including attracting new customers and inventory levels have caused problems. The group’s seeing losses from both pipes of the revenue funnel, with both existing and new customers proving fickle and elusive, which makes for an uphill battle.

‘Cost cutting is helping the bottom line, but not enough and it can’t go on forever – a meaningful increase in customer activity will be needed sooner or later. The positive share price bump is likely more a sigh of relief that things weren’t worse.’

Freetrade will this week allow its customers access to UK Treasury bills for the first time, giving DIY investors the opportunity to earn over 5 per cent yield.

Like bonds, Treasury bills are issued by the government to finance its operations, but they have largely been the preserve of wealthy investors with a typical minimum investment of £500,000.

Ofgem is plotting a hike in the energy price cap from April next year in order to help suppliers recover nearly £3billion in debts from customers who cannot pay their bills.

The energy watchdog said it wants energy companies to use the extra funding to support struggling customers and write off bad debts.

It is proposing a one-off price cap adjustment of £16, equivalent to around £1.33 a month, to be paid between April 2024 and March 2025.

Customers on pre-payment meters will not be affected.

Disgraced ex-BP boss Bernard Looney said he is ‘proud’ of his leadership of the oil company despite the board finding him guilty of serious misconduct.

In his first statement since his shock exit in September, he said he was ‘disappointed with the way the situation has been handled’.

Heathrow expects to handle 81.4 million passengers in 2024, up from 79.1 million this year, with Britain’s busiest airport encouraged by a strong recovery in travel demand.

The group said: ‘The strong recovery in traffic at Heathrow continued in the first eleven months of 2023, with a total of 72.5 million passengers travelling through the airport.

‘We saw a significant increase in connectivity across various regions, highlighting an impressive recovery, with Heathrow named the most connected airport in the world by OAG. We remain Europe’s busiest airport, and in October became the 4th busiest airport globally. ‘

Rio Tinto has been dragged into a high-stakes trial pitting the billionaire descendants of Australia’s mining pioneers against each other.

Lawyers for the Anglo-Australian firm have been in the state’s Supreme Court seeking to fend off claims over billions of dollars in iron ore royalties that flowed from discoveries made as far back as the 1950s and 1960s.