Business news live: Boeing shares sink after India crash and Poundland sold for £1 – UK Times

More details on the Boeing share price from PA:

Shares in Boeing tumbled in pre-market trading on Thursday after one of its planes crashed shortly after taking off in India.

The US-based airplane manufacturer, which has been blighted by safety issues in recent years, saw shares drop as much as 8%.

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft bound for Gatwick airport, carrying 242 people including 53 British nationals, appeared to explode after crashing shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad Airport.

Airline Air India said 169 passengers are Indian nationals, 53 are British, one is Canadian and seven are Portuguese.

Ongoing news this morning is from India where a plane bound for Gatwick, London, has crashed.

Meanwhile, shares in Boeing have dropped 8 per cent in pre-market trading following the news.

The American airliner suffered a spate of issues last year but seemed to have turned a corner, the share price up 15 per cent in a year and 20 per cent year to date in 2025.

A female entrepreneur was left feeling “absolutely humiliated” after she was refused entry to London Tech Week because she was with her 18-month-old daughter.

Davina Schonle had travelled for three hours to get to the event at Olympia, where she planned to meet potential suppliers for her new start-up AI company.

But on arrival on Monday, she said officials prevented her from entering with her daughter, Isabella, who was in a pram.

The re-rise of office work among financial companies continues to increase, with the FT reporting that Panmure Liberum has joined Deutsche Bank and UBS in telling staff they must choose Mondays or Fridays, or both, as at least one of three office-based days.

The move away from work from home flexibility has been particularly noticeable in City firms this year.

Peel Hunt have staff back in four days now.

HSBC reportedly has a shortage of a “few thousand” desks around the country as they get staff back to the office.

After yesterday’s news that Meta are to buy a stake in Scale AI for almost $15bn, today two more tech behemoths are ready to fund further AI-related initiatives.

Much smaller scale this time, but Nvidia are reportedly investing $15m and Samsung $10m into Skild, a company which makes software for AI robots.

The push towards physical AI-related products, like robots, cars or other moving items, is increasingly seen as the next big driver for those firms who have made huge profits so far from chips and software behind AI models.

Most of the major European markets and indices are in the red this morning.

Germany’s DAX is the biggest faller, more than 1.0 per cent down so far, with France’s CAC 40 at 0.4 per cent in the red and the Ibex 35 0.7 per cent down.

The UK’s FTSE 250 is similarly half a percent down, but the FTSE 100 remains bolstered to the flat line by the likes of BT, BP, Halma and Tesco.

FTSE 100 shares remain mostly flat, now just 0.07 per cent in the red, but Tesco is one of the London Stock Exchange-listed companies which is thriving this morning.

“Having narrowly missed closing at a new record high last night, the FTSE 100 held firm at the market open as strength in energy and tech was offset by weakness in banking shares,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Escalating tensions between the US and Iran helped oil prices to a two-month high and gave heavyweight stocks BP and Shell a lift. Precious metal miners were also in demand as investors sought out safe-haven gold-related stocks in the hope of protection against renewed uncertainties in the world.

“Tesco has successfully fought off discount rivals Aldi and Lidl and protected its dominant UK market position, yet at no point can it take its foot off the pedal. The moment Tesco relaxes is the point at which rival operators pounce on the opportunity to eat some of its lunch.

“Its first quarter trading update implies that Tesco is still at the top of its game, achieving moderate but resilient sales growth and continuing to grow its market share. There’s clear momentum in the business with sales of its premium products doing well, plenty of product innovation, non-food sales look encouraging, and it is now selling clothes online.”

Donald Trump last night said he’d be sending out letters to trade partners in two weeks, informing them of trade tariffs on a take-it-or-leave-it basis.

That has partly contributed to shares falling overnight and in Europe today, but it has also seen gold rise once more.

Gold is up around 0.8 per cent to $3,369.

High street discount chain Poundland is set for a “restructuring” process after it was sold to investment firm Gordon Brothers.

The parent firm, Pepco Group, which has owned the brand since 2016, said it has completed the sale of the business for a “nominal” fee.

It comes after an auction by Poland-based Pepco to sell Poundland after a sharp downturn in trading over the past year.

Poundland’s more than 800 stores and roughly 16,000 employees will be transferred to the ownership of Gordon Brothers, which owns brands including Laura Ashley, as a result.

However, as part of the deal, Poundland is set to undergo a restructuring plan.

A falling UK economy was “inevitable” in April, said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell head of financial analysis.

The UK showed 0.3 per cent decline in GDP with the services sector in particular declining 0.4 per cent.

“It’s hard not to look at today’s headline fall in economic growth as anything other than inevitable. Company after company had warned the chancellor that the decisions taken during last year’s Budget would impact business growth and create huge uncertainty about existing staffing levels,” Ms Hewson said.

“The latest jobs figures highlighted the fall in payrolled employees and rising unemployment earlier this week, and all those bill rises in April delivered another knock to consumer confidence, with the latest BRC retail sales figures showing spending on big ticket items has been reigned back.

“Rachel Reeves has said she is determined to deliver growth, and her spending plans have been given a cautious welcome by business groups up and down the country – but the caution speaks volumes.

“The next five months looks set to see the UK become something of a petri dish, where speculation and rumour fester as concern about rising debt levels feeds expectation that further tax hikes are inevitable.”