BUSINESS LIVE: UK outlook worsened; Shell beats forecasts; Standard Chartered buoyed by higher interest rates

Aerospace technology group Melrose Industries saw its revenue rise by 8 per cent year-on-year in its first quarter, its latest update reveals.

The group’s full year guidance remained unchanged, with an expected 33 per cent year-on-year rise in adjusted operating profit to £560million, ‘modestly second half weighted as previously indicated’.

Melrose shares fell 2.35 per cent or 14.60p to 606.60p on Thursday morning, having risen over 47 per cent in the last year.

Hiscox reported a rise in written premiums in the first quarter but warned of a ‘moderate’ loss from the fallout of the Baltimore Bridge crash.

In the first three months of the year, total insurance contract written premiums (ICWP) increased 8.3 per cent to $1.5billion.

It was bolstered by Hiscox’s retail division which saw written premiums grow 5.8 per cent, as well as strong performances in the UK – up 8.3 per cent – and Europe.

Standard Chartered posted higher-than-expected profits after a boost to income from higher interest rates and a strong performance in its trading business.

The bank, which earns most of its revenue in Asia, saw a 6 per cent increase in its reported pre-tax profit of $1.9billion in the first quarter.

This compared with $1.81billion the previous year and beat analyst estimates of $1.4billion.

Shell’s first quarter profit came in at a hefty £6.1billion, beating analyst forecasts, but falling short of the the figure raked in a year ago.

The profit for the latest quarter was around £1billion higher than analysts had predicted.

The FTSE 100-listed group said it benefited from higher refining margins and solid oil trading.

And the FTSE 250 index is currently up 6.88 per cent to 19,933.47.

Shell shares rose on Thursday after the group posted its latest quarterly update.

In early trading Shell shares were up 0.92 per cent or 25.84 points to 2,844.84. In the last year, shares in the FTSE 100-listed oil giant havr risen by over 20 per cent.

Shell has reported first-quarter adjusted earnings of $7.7billion, or around £6.1billion, sharply beating expectations, on the back of strong oil trading and higher refining margins.

The oil major also announced it will repurchase a further $3.5billion of its shares over the next three months, at a similar rate to the previous quarter. Its dividend remained unchanged.

‘Shell delivered another quarter of strong operational and financial performance, demonstrating our continued focus on delivering more value with less emissions,’ chief executive Wael Sawan said.

Overnight, the US Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and signaled it is still leaning towards eventual reductions in borrowing costs, but put a red flag on recent disappointing inflation readings that could make those rate cuts a while in coming.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that after starting 2024 with three months of faster-than-expected price increases, it ‘will take longer than previously expected’ for policymakers to become comfortable that inflation will resume the decline towards 2 per cent that had cheered them through much of last year.