FTSE100 beat a retreat as coronavirus worries overshadowed bumper earnings from several corporate heavyweights. Miners were weak and airlines fell after Morocco’s decision to halt UK flights due to rising covid infections. The index dropped 36 to 3,187.
No such issues for Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), which posted profits of £2bn in its latest quarter, the most the bank has made in a third-quarter period in its history. Jes Staley, chief executive, also primed shareholders to expect bumper dividend payments going forward.
Tesla was another third quarter record breaker. It too reported its biggest quarterly net earnings in history at US$1.62bn as electric vehicle sales last summer surged ahead in spite of chip shortages.
Scottish Power’s chief has called for the energy price cap to be abolished. Keith Anderson said the recent energy crisis had exposed deep flaws in the way the energy market was structured with serious failures on the part of regulator Ofgem.
Sensyne Health said licence and development partner Excalibur has received European regulatory certification for a coronavirus testing system that uses its technology. Sensyne said it will work with Excalibur to roll out the system for lateral flow testing across the UK and Europe.
Quadrise Fuels said it will monitor the situation in Morocco after the country banned flights from the UK until further notice due to rising UK Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases. The company is slated to start trials at a client site in Morocco in the fourth quarter.
W Resources announced record tungsten recovery rates, grades and production in the third quarter from the La Parrilla mine in Spain and expects output in the fourth quarter to be even better. The AIM-quoted company said the tungsten recovery rate was 58%, up from 47% in the second quarter.
