Business news live: FTSE 100 opens lower after UK-US trade deal is signed – UK Times

Anglian Water has revealed stronger profits on the back of price increases for households, as the water supplier also reported another jump in debts over the past year.

The utilities firm, which provides services to seven million people in the east of England, also revealed an increase in pollution incidents over the year.

Anglian revealed on Friday that revenues grew by 7.5% to £1.75 billion for the year to March 31, compared with a year earlier.

The rise was linked to price increases of 8.6% during the year.

Earlier this year, the company said it was putting up bills by a further 19%, to an average of £626 a year, for the 2025/26 financial year from April.

Nationwide members will vote on a proposed new pay package for chief executive Debbie Crosbie next month, which could see her earn up to £6.9m.

Previous guidelines had seen Ms Crosbie able to earn up to £4.8m, making this a 43% potential increase, depending on achieving criteria for bonuses.

Nationwide say the increase is on the back of both rivals upping their pay levels considerably and on the back of Nationwide’s £2.9bn takeover of Virgin Money, which Ms Crosbie successfully led.

Ms Crosbie is the only woman to lead one of the UK’s so-called big six.

Nationwide returned more than £2bn to customers this year following the Virgin Money takeover.

Insurer Aviva has said its £3.7 billion takeover of rival Direct Line is set to complete next month after “constructive” talks with the competition watchdog.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is not due to report back on its so-called phase one investigation on the takeover until July 10 but Aviva said it was “confident” of receiving the all-clear for the deal.

“Following constructive engagement with the CMA, Aviva remains confident of securing unconditional clearance by the phase 1 statutory deadline,” it said.

Aviva is pressing ahead with plans for a court hearing to sanction a July 1 completion of the takeover, which was first announced on December 23 last year.

The combined group will be a significant force in the motor insurance sector, estimated to cover more than a fifth of the total UK market.

A coalition report by eight green groups has shown that $869bn (£640bn) was handed out as funding by the world’s biggest banks to companies engaged in fossil fuels.

Gas, oil and coal companies reversed the trend which had been a lowering of finance over the previous three years, amid a worsening climate crisis.

JPMorgan Chase lent the most according to the report, at more than $53bn.

Plenty of red out there in the early minutes of trading this morning.

The FTSE 100 is 0.56 per cent down, while for the 250 it’s 0.2pc and for the AIM it’s 0.24pc.

Europe is a similar story, with France’s CAC 40 down 0.8pc, the German DAX down 1.55pc and Spain’s IBEX 35 at the same figure.

Only one company in the UK’s benchmark index is up more than 1 per cent this morning: BP, the biggest riser at 1.4 per cent.

Yesterday we heard news of a potential Metro Bank buyout; today another high street name is on the watchlist.

TSB is owned by Spanish bank Sabadell, but the parent firm has confirmed there is interest from bidders and is set to “assess any potential binding offers”.

TSB was bought by Sabadell from Lloyds ten years ago.

Good morning and welcome back to our rolling business live updates.

Today there’s plenty coming up to start a busy midweek: Ashtead and Informa are among those with financials on the agenda, we’ll hear more about the UK-US trade deal and we’ll have all the stock markets news as it comes too.

Keir Starmer has suggested the trade deal between the UK and US will be in effect “very soon”.

“I’m certainly seeing President Trump today, and I’m going to discuss with him our trade deal,” Starmer told reporters at a G7 meeting.

“I’m very pleased that we made that trade deal, and we’re in the final stages now of implementation, and I expect that to be completed very soon.”

Cars, steel and beef were among the finer points being debated in that tariff deal.