Hot Off The Wires - 09 March 2020

News

• Italy has quarantined 16m people in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus, throwing holiday plans of tens of thousands of Britons into chaos.

• Oil prices registered steepest collapse since 1991 on Sunday night as a Saudi-led price war combined with panic over the coronavirus to send a barrel of Brent down to just $35.

• The haulage, shipping and freight industries are up in arms against the Government after ministers ignored industry requests to seek vital security waivers from the EU needed to smooth cross-channel freight after Brexit.

• Scotch whisky producers are warning that investment plans and jobs could be under threat unless they get a helping hand from the government.

• The European Central Bank in Frankfurt has told most of its 3,500 staff to work from home today to demonstrate its resilience to a widespread outbreak of coronavirus.

Results

• Meggitt (MGGT) - Contract win

• Phoenix Group (PHNX) - Annual Results. PHNX has also announced that Jim McConville, FD, will be standing down on 15 May following the AGM. He will be succeeded by Rakesh Thakrar, current Deputy Group FD

• Bunzl (BNZL) - Acquisition

• Tesco (TSCO) - Proposed sale of Tesco Thailand and Tesco Malaysia

• John Wood Group (WG) - Wood closes deal to sell nuclear business

• Clarkson (CKN) - Preliminary Results

• Impact Healthcare REIT (IHR) - Acquisitions

• Marlowe (MRL) - Acquisition

• OnTheMarket (OTMP) - Directorate change & trading update

Trivia

Which fast-disappearing island nation receives 10% of its income from royalties from the use of its national internet domain suffix?

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