BUSINESS LIVE: GDP grows 0.1%; Unilever ice cream float; BATS tobacco lawsuit

Seven mortgage lenders are cutting rates as lenders battle it out for market share.

Most notably, Barclays has today cut the cost of its home loan deals across its fixed rate products aimed at home movers and first-time buyers.

(PA) – Kurt Geiger is to be sold by its private equity owner Cinven for £289million to fashion company Steve Madden.

Cinven bought the shoes and handbag brand in 2015, and has significantly expanded its presence in the US in recent years.

Kurt Geiger now has more than 70 stores across the UK and US, and a presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Its product range spans across shoes, handbags and accessories, including swimwear, sunglasses, belts, and hats.

Neil Clifford, Kurt Geiger chief executive, said: “We couldn’t be prouder of the progress our team has made over the last few years in building Kurt Geiger London into a globally recognisable fashion brand.”

He said the company is still “in the early stages of our growth journey, with significant expansion opportunities available to us”.

“With its global infrastructure and proven track record of supporting and growing its brands, we believe Steve Madden is the right strategic partner to help us reach our potential,” he said.

Applied Nutrition sales have exceeded forecasts made ahead of the firm’s London IPO in October, aided by a celebrity assist from Coleen Rooney.

The Liverpool-based protein powder company’s London Stock Exchange debut was in high demand late last year, with former JD Sports boss Peter Cowgill and Asda owner Mohsin Issa among the early buyers.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘The ice cream business always looked like the odd one out so scooping it away and listing as a separate entity was widely expected. This division also required a cold storage supply chain which its other popular brands like Dove soap, Marmite or Hellman’s mayonnaise had little need for.

‘But Amsterdam has won the cherry for this big dollop of a newly-listed company. Given that a big part of the action plan is to improve simplicity, listing the ice cream entity in Amsterdam makes sense given that this part of the business is run from Rotterdam. While a previous attempt to shift Unilever’s group headquarters to the Netherlands instead of the UK, went down like a lead balloon among shareholders, there is more justification for this part of the business to list in the country.

‘Making operations simpler and more productive are likely to be higher on the list of priorities than consumption trends or historic ties. However, it is worth noting consumers in the Netherland and in most other European countries consume more ice cream than Brits per head, according to Statista.

‘Unilever also has roots in the Netherlands, having been founded through the merger of Dutch margarine maker Unie and the British Lever brothers. But given the perceived ‘dual nationality’ of Unilever, a decision to list in Amsterdam may still be seen as a setback for London, particularly given the recent exodus of firms from the City. But it still earns the stripe of a secondary listing as consolation, with Unilever opting for the triple ‘neopolitan’ flavour approach, with shares still set to be traded in London and New York as well as Amsterdam.’

The devastation caused by last month’s California wildfires will cost London-listed insurer Lancashire Holdings as much as £132million in payouts.

January’s wildfires killed at least 29 people and more than 200,000 were evacuated, as 18,000 homes and structures were destroyed, and over 57,000 acres of land were burned.

Credit where credit is due. Rachel Reeves may have poleaxed the public finances but the Chancellor has fuelled the booster rockets for British infrastructure.

Overseas-owned Heathrow, with Qatar, Saudi Arabia and China among the core investors, is warmly embracing an application for a third runway at Heathrow.

One of the oldest UK department store chains is shutting its last shop, blaming Budget tax and wage increases.

Beales, which opened in Bournemouth in 1881, said trading at its Poole branch would end in May.

Daniel Mahoney, UK economist at Handelsbanken:

‘UK GDP growth for the last quarter of 2024 has been published today. The figures show economic activity managed to end the year in positive territory, with GDP up by 0.1% on a q-o-q basis.

‘Expectations had been for real output in the UK to shrink marginally in Q4 2024 but a robust m-o-m print of 0.4% in December avoided this outcome. December’s monthly print was driven by the services sector, which advanced 0.4% on a m-o-m basis.

‘While it is welcome that the UK avoided contraction at the end of 2024, other data within this morning’s release continue to suggest that growth prospects look weak in 2025, particularly on the private sector side.

‘For example, on a q-o-q basis in Q4 business investment fell by 3.2% and exports dropped by 2.5%, while the key areas of growth were government consumption and government investment.

‘Additional spending announced at the Budget will help to prop up UK growth this year but negative sentiment being expressed in business and consumer surveys will likely continue to weigh on private sector activity. Our latest global macro forecast suggests growth of just 1% in 2025, with risks to the downside not least due to the potential for escalating global trade disruption.

Barclays’ profits surged by nearly a quarter last year thanks to soaring income growth and a recovery in corporate dealmaking.

The banking giant reported its pre-tax profits climbed by 24 per cent to £8.1billion in 2024, with fourth-quarter profits alone surging from just £110million last year to £1.7billion.

Total income shot up by around £1.5billion to £26.8billion following a strong performance in the UK, where the group boosted their structural hedge earnings and enjoyed a £600million day-one uplift from acquiring Tesco Bank.

It came as the FTSE 100-listed tobacco giant’s boss warned of ‘significant’ headwinds in Bangladesh and Australia this year, after the group missed its annual revenue target.

James Smith, developed markets economist at ING:

‘The UK economy grew…though only because of a surge in inventories.

‘These are a notoriously volatile accounting fixture which, unlike other parts of the GDP breakdown, don’t tell us much about the underlying health of the economy. The areas that do – household consumption, exports, and business investment – were all flat or negative.

‘The latter was a particular disappointment, falling by more than 3% in Q4, having outperformed many other economies earlier in the year.

It’s not all bad. December’s monthly figures were better, helped by certain consumer-facing services.

‘And 2024 as a whole was a reasonable year for the UK economy, even if virtually all of that previous strength was concentrated in just a couple of months. Even more remarkably, all of the increase in GDP across 2024 can be put down to population growth. GDP per capita actually fell slightly across the year.

‘2025 promises to be reasonable too, thanks to a substantial injection of government spending, which will only be partially offset by higher taxes. The jobs market is the major downside risk, but barring a spike in layoffs, real wage growth is also set to remain positive, despite rising household energy bills. That should support some modest consumption growth.’

Retail investors piled into UK government debt last month, as the country’s borrowing costs skyrocketed and traders scooped up a bargain.

The yield on 10-year gilts peaked at almost 4.9 per cent in January as international investors fretted about Britain’s fiscal policy and broader macroeconomic concerns.

But investors who bought at the peak will have already seen solid growth in the value of their bonds, with 10-year yields trading at 4.55 per cent on  Thursday.

Heineken said it sold more beers around the world last year with demand for premium brands growing, but warned of weak consumer sentiment in Europe.

Shares in the Dutch brewer, which owns Amstel, Moretti and Desperados, surged 14 per cent after posting a higher yearly profit.

It reported a 1.6 per cent year-on-year rise in the volume of beer sold globally in 2024, helped by growth for brands it labels as premium, with a 9 per cent jump in Heineken.

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘Early price action for Barclays looks a little harsh after the group set a decent benchmark for the banking sector, closing the year with an impressive final quarter as both its UK and Investment Banking arms delivered.

‘Credit quality remains solid, with loan loss rates comfortably below target, and while there was a dip in the final quarter, stripping out the higher-risk business from the Tesco deal shows that credit performance actually improved. With more exposure to US consumer trends than most UK peers, stable US card default rates should also be reassuring for investors.

‘In Investment Banking, Barclays didn’t disappoint, surpassing…