Tuesday 5 June 2018

Company news, markets and financial talking points, available from 8am Monday to Friday

Government braces for £2bn loss on RBS shares

Ministers are expecting a loss of at least £2bn after pushing ahead with the sale of another batch of its shares in Royal Bank of Scotland. Taxpayers’ holding in the lender dropped from 70% to 62% after last night’s divestment of shares to City institutions. Labour said there was "no economic justification" for the sale.

Unprecedented petrol rise as motorists feel pinch

Petrol and diesel prices both rose by 6p a litre in May, says the RAC. The petrol hike was the biggest monthly increase the organisation has tracked since its records began 18 years ago. It blamed a "punitive combination" of higher crude oil prices and a weaker pound for the increases. It said for many people it is "very difficult to avoid feeling the pinch of rising pump prices".

Have Amazon or Facebook bought football rights?

The Premier League has accepted "lowball bids" for live rights from BT and unnamed new player, says the Daily Telegraph. It is believed that two packages of matches that failed to meet their reserve prices in an auction in February have been sold at a knockdown price. The identity of the second purchaser – rumoured to be either Amazon and Facebook – is set to be revealed on Thursday.

'Sun shines' on high street but small centres bear brunt

The Times says the sun shone on the high street last month, as "droves" of punters helped retail sales to bounce back and grow at the sharpest rate in four years. Data showed retail sales up by 4.1% in May compared with a year earlier - the highest rate of growth since January 2014. In gloomier news, the BBC says smaller shopping centres bore the brunt of store closures last year.

Microsoft to buy GitHub as it continues branch out

Microsoft is buying the code-sharing site GitHub for $7.5bn, reports The Guardian. GitHub is a developer-focused startup that has grown to become a big player in the programming industry. Microsoft chief executive, Satya Nadella, has been trying to move the focus of the firm away from its flagship Windows operating system.

Quote of the day… Is Schultz brewing a bid for office?

"I intend to think about a range of options, and that could include public service. But I’m a long way from making any decisions about the future." Speaking to the New York Times, the outgoing executive chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, does not deny rumours he plans to run for office.

THE NUMBERS... AT 0700 GMT

FTSE 100: up +0.51 to 7,741.29
Dow Jones: up +0.72 to 24,813.69
Dax: up +0.37 to 12,770.75
Cac 40: up +0.14 to 5,472.91
Nikkei: up +0.15 to 22,509.20
Hang Seng: up +0.26 to 31,079.71
US dollar: buys €0.8557 and £0.7515
Sterling: buys $1.3303 and €1.1384
Oil: $75.41 up +0.12