BUSINESS LIVE: John Lewis returns to profit; Shell boss scoops £7.9m pay package; Vistry to build more homes

It’s a slow start for the UK market this morning, with some positive earnings reports offset by losses in stocks of companies trading ex-dividend.

US economic data later in the day that could offer hints on the Federal Reserve’s monetary easing plans.

Anglo American is down 2.7 per cent, while NatWest Group has dropped 4.6 per cent as they traded without entitlement for dividends.

Deliveroo has climbed 3.7 per cent after the meal delivery firm reported better-than-expected core earnings and said it expects to generate positive cash flow.

Vistry is flat after the housebuilder said it would build more homes this year, encouraged by resilient demand for its affordable homes after its 2023 profit beat market expectations.

Britain’s housing market picked up in February but property surveyors said uncertainty over the Bank of England’s interest rates path could temper demand, a closely watched industry survey showed.

Trainline Plc has jumped 9.1 per cent after the rail ticketing company’s trading statement showed stronger UK sales.

BP and the United Arab Emirates’ state-owned energy company Adnoc have suspended a deal to buy a £1.6billion stake in an Israeli gas group amid the war in Gaza.

The companies had offered to buy a 50 per cent stake in Newmed a year ago.

But negotiations were thrown into doubt in October after Hamas militants invaded Israel from Gaza.

Vistry expects to build more homes this year, with the housebuilder encouraged by resilient demand for its affordable homes from the private rented sector, after its 2023 profit beat market view.

The British housing market has seen signs of stability at the start of 2024 on easing mortgage rates after battling subdued demand for most of last year, but the Bank of England delaying interest rate cuts and incessant macro-economic concerns have tempered hopes of a better-paced recovery.

‘The easing of mortgage rates at the start of the year has had a positive impact on open market demand and we are optimistic that this trend will continue during 2024,’ Vistry said in a statement.

The company said it was targeting to build more than 17,500 units in 2024, compared with 16,118 homes built a year ago.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan’s total pay package in 2023 was £7.9million, its annual report published this morning shows.

Sawan was appointed to the top job at Shell at the start of 2023, replacing Ben van Beurden, who received total remuneration of £9.7million in 2022.

John Lewis reported a surprise return to profit after a ‘challenging’ year on Thursday, but the retail giant will not pay its staff a bonus for the second year in a row.

The partnership reported a pre-tax profit of £56 million, compared with a £234million loss last year, thanks to an aggressive £900million cost-cutting programme in the wake of three consecutive years of losses.

Chair Sharon White said John Lewis had made ‘significant progress’, giving the group the financial headroom to invest, and she expects ‘profits to grow further’ in 2024.