FTSE 100 edged higher as France and the UK said they were near to ending the freight ban which has led to hundreds of lorries queuing outside Dover. London’s blue-chip index added 13 to 6,429 in spite of rising concerns over the new strain of COVID-19.
Mixed news for the UK economy today with government borrowing in November jumping to £31.6bn, the highest ever for this particular month. Borrowing this year has now reached £241bn.
The UK economy bounced back strongly in the three months to September with GDP rising by a record 16%. That was better than expected but still less than the 18.5% drop in the second quarter.
Vodafone has offered to pay over €2bn to settle a long-running dispute with minority shareholders of Kabel Deutschland. Elliot Advisors and two other hedge funds have agreed to the offer in returning for dropping legal action.
Among the small caps, Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BEZ) is to buy Metrock Resources and the Kanye Manganese Project in Southern Botswana. The miner will pay £405,000 after issuing shares and options.
Supply@ME Capital PLC (LON:SYME) has named Italian private equity group Quadrivio as the partner in its first inventory project. Quadrivio will become a cornerstone investor in Supply@Me's wider inventory funding programmes.
Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) has renewed a contract for its consultancy services with a top-3 global pharmaceutical client. The deal will now run until December 2021.