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FTSE 100 opened lower after a sell-off in the US sparked by New York mayor Bill de Blasio’s closure of schools in response to rising COVID-19 cases. London’s leading index dropped 47 points to 6,337 in early trading.
The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) provokes a strong immune response in the over-60s according to data published in The Lancet medical journal. This comes just a day after Pfizer and BioNTech announce its coronavirus vaccine was 94% effective among adults over 65 year of age.
Royal Mail PLC (LON:RMG) posted a 90% plunge in half-year profits despite booming parcel sales. Letters activity continues to fall and there were higher safety costs.
Jet2 PLC (LON:JET2) expects to fly just 50% of last year’s winter capacity and remains cautious for its summer 2021 prospects. The travel agent slumped to a £119mln loss for the six months to September.
Better news from Naked Wines Plc (LON:WINE), which has upgraded its sales forecasts after first half revenues jumped 80%. The online retailer is raising its 'central case' growth assumptions to 55%-65% for the 12 months to the end of next March.
AccessoTechnology-Group also expects revenues for the whole of 2020 will be comfortably ahead of previous guidance. The ticketing and virtual queuing group had previously indicated that full-year revenues would be at least US$48mln.
Guild Esports PLC (LON:GILD) has signed up top-ranked professional gamer ‘Flikk’, as its first player for Fortnite, the hugely popular ‘battle royale’ game. Flikk is expected to be the first of several player appointments for Fortnite, which is now the fourth eSports game segment for Guild.
