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Good morning.
There’s no shortage of news for Unilever at the moment.
After its disastrous £50bn move on GSK’s consumer arm – which was firmly rebuffed by the pharmaceutical giant and lambasted by shareholders – it’s now planning to slash thousands of jobs.
The cuts are said to target numerous regional and divisional roles that chief executive Alan Jope believes have slowed innovation.
Unilever is facing huge pressure to lay out its growth plans after the GSK bid fell through. This week it also emerged that billionaire activist Nelson Peltz had taken a material stake in the company, sparking speculation of further overhaul.
5 things to start your day
1) Govia Thameslink races to avoid nationalisation Sources confident of extending deal with franchise operator Go-Ahead despite accounting woes
2) ITV bolsters evening news as Piers Morgan prepares attack The broadcaster’s 6.30pm update will transform into an hour-long show in its biggest expansion in news for 20 years
3) UK to import record levels of liquified natural gas as Ukraine tensions mount Britain braces for new energy crisis amid concerns of upcoming shortages
4) Staff at City watchdog ballot for strike action over pay and bonuses Financial Conduct Authority staff could go on strike over new pay structure which includes new salary grades that vary depending on location
5) Rishi Sunak has room to delay national insurance raid, says IFS Delaying the national insurance increase by a year would be be ‘fiscally fine’, says director of the IFS
What happened overnight
Asian markets tumbled on Tuesday following a highly volatile day on Wall Street fuelled by fears about the Federal Reserve’s plans to hike interest rates. Tokyo was down two percent, while Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei were off more than one percent.
Coming up today
- Corporate: Capricorn Energy, TI Fluid Systems (Trading update)
- Economics: Government borrowing (UK), house price index (US), consumer confidence (US)
