BUSINESS LIVE: UK wages up 5.9%; De La Rue agrees £263m takeover; Sports Direct to launch in Australia

BP’s embattled bosses received a much-needed boost yesterday thanks to an oil discovery in the Gulf of Mexico.

As chairman Helge Lund and chief executive Murray Auchincloss brace for a rebellion at its AGM on Thursday, the energy giant reported success at an exploration well 120 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

Halfords has appointed a new chief executive as it reported rising revenues despite a ‘very challenging’ trading environment and rising costs from the October budget.

Henry Birch, former boss of retailer Very Group, takes the post immediately to replace Graham Stapleton, Halfords’ boss of seven years.

The group said like-for-like sales rose 2.3 per cent in the year to 28 March compared with the previous year, while profit will be at the higher end of previous guidance of £32million to £37million.

That is despite making more than £30 million of cost savings across the group in what Stapleton called a ‘very challenging trading environment’.

Birch cautioned that the current ‘challenging consumer and economic outlook appears unlikely to subside in the short term’, but added that Halfords is ‘well-positioned for success in the years ahead’.

Lindsay James, investment strategist at Quilter:

‘The UK GDP data out on Friday was somewhat reassuring, supported by signs that the service economy continues to grow, with recent surveys pointing to an uptick in activity.

‘However, the economy faces significant risks and while the UK has avoided a recession thus far, it is not yet out of the woods.

‘The same surveys have also shown that the outlook for employment remains a weak spot.

‘Rising payroll costs are making job creation increasingly less attractive for employers, particularly as the changes to employer national insurance have now come into play, and the extreme levels of economic uncertainty we are currently facing are also leading to companies holding off on hiring.

‘Additional tax rises in the autumn seem increasingly likely, and the near doubling of GDP forecasted by the OBR for 2026 before ‘Liberation Day’ has fast become a significant challenge in light of a potential slowdown in global trade. With the full economic impact of Trump’s tariffs yet to play out, employers will be even less likely to commit to expansion plans.’

LVMH is looking to boost its manufacturing in the US to cushion the blow of Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Boss Bernard Arnault said in January he was ‘seriously considering’ adding to the French luxury goods giant’s existing facilities across the Atlantic, which includes a Louis Vuitton workshop in Texas and two in California.

Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown:

‘This a snapshot taken in the china shop before the tariff bull was let loose. The jobs market was in decent shape, with steady wage growth and a rising employment rate. However, there were some early signs of shakiness as vacancies fell for a 33rd consecutive quarter, and finally dropped below their pre-pandemic levels.

‘On the plus side, we’re still seeing wages rise, and they’re still well ahead of inflation, so workers will be feeling slightly better off with each passing month. The most recent HL Savings & Resilience Barometer shows the average household now has £196 left at the end of the month, which is why people are able to put aside 5.5% of their income for the future.

‘There were some signs of resilience in the jobs market. The inactivity rate was down over the quarter, the unemployment rate steady and the employment rate has risen. However, things looked less positive when it came to vacancies.

‘The looming hike in employers’ taxes in April is very likely to have persuaded employers to hold back on hiring. This is the simplest lever for businesses to pull when they want to slow things down. It’s far cheaper and damaging than letting people go, so may be a sign of things to come. Business investment figures don’t inspire a great deal of hope, down 1.9% at the end of last year.’

The boss of Goldman Sachs warned the firm faces a ‘markedly different operating environment’ despite a bumper start to the year.

The Wall Street banking giant reported a 15 per cent surge in first quarter profits to £3.5billion as market volatility helped it rake in record equity trading revenues.

But while the turmoil unleashed by Donald Trump has been a boom for Goldman’s traders, investment banking fees fell 8 per cent as deal-making dried up.

Sports Direct will launch in Australia and New Zealand after Frasers Group came to an agreement with Australian footwear retailer Accent Group.

Accent Group will launch and operate Sports Direct across the countries, with plans to open 100 stores.

Frasers boss Michael Murray said: ‘Since acquiring a strategic shareholding in Accent, we have developed a robust partnership between Frasers and Accent.

‘Accent has an impressive, well-established platform with various sneaker concepts and a strong distribution of brands.

‘This reaffirms our commitment to drive growth of the Sports Direct brand internationally and marks a significant step forward in our ambition to becoming the leading global sporting goods retailer.’

US private equity firm Atlas Holdings will buy British banknote printer De La Rue for £263million, the companies said on Tuesday.

The 130p per share all-cash deal was at a 16 per cent premium to De La Rue’s closing price on Monday, and has been recommended by the company’s board as ‘fair and reasonable’.

De La Rue, which printed the new King Charles’ currency notes in the UK, received a 125p a share takeover proposal from a consortium of British financier Edi Truell’s companies in January, and launched a formal sale process a few weeks later.

Clive Vacher, De La Rue CEO, said: ‘De La Rue has undergone a fundamental transformation since 2020, in which we have successfully delivered on our Turnaround Plan to create more efficient and agile operations, while enhancing profitability in our industry-leading Currency business as demonstrated by the strength of our order book.

‘Atlas is the right partner to take De La Rue into its next phase of growth. Most importantly, under Atlas’s ownership we can ensure long-term stability for our customers and our people, and best position the business for its next chapter. I look forward to working closely with Atlas and both our teams to deliver on this exciting opportunity for De La Rue.’

Thomas Pugh, economist at RSM UK:

‘The biggest drop in payroll numbers since the pandemic suggests that firms started trimming their workforce in March ahead of the significant increase in employment costs which came into effect in April.

‘More importantly for the Bank of England, private sector wage growth eased off as well. That would have made a rate cut in May more likely even without the economic turmoil unleashed by President Trumps’ tariffs. A rate cut next month now looks like a sure bet.

‘The official measure of employment rose by 206,000 in the three months to February and the unemployment rate remained at 4.4%. However, the official data are so unreliable at the minute that we can take little solace from that. More important was the 78,000 drop in payrolls in March.

‘However, pay growth remains far too strong for the MPC to relax. Indeed, at 5.9% in the three months to February private sector regular pay growth is about double the 3% that the MPC estimates is consistent with 2% inflation.

‘Overall, there are now clear signs that the labour market has weakened and that should feed into slowing wage growth through this year. This, combined with the drag on growth and employment which will inevitably come from the tariff chaos means a rate cut in May is likely and that there will probably be two more cuts after that, leaving rates at 3.75% by the end of the year.’

Weekly UK wages before bonuses grew by 5.9 per cent in the three months to February, slightly behind forecasts of 6 per cent growth, fresh data from the Office for National Statistics shows.

The Bank of England has been keeping a close eye on wage growth and the impact on total inflation as it considers the outlook for interest rates.

Separate ONS data showed an easing of the UK labour market, with the number of vacancies falling below their pre-COVID pandemic level for the first time since the three months to May 2021 in the three months to March.

Provisional data given by employers to the tax authorities showed the number of employees fell by 78,000 in March and February’s figure was revised to show a drop of 8,000 compared with a previous estimate of a 21,000 gain.