Guten morgen: After the schmoozing of last night (for those not delayed by the traffic chaos here in a very, very snowy Davos) the talking begins in earnest today.
Let’s hope it wasn’t a late one for Gavin Patterson, chief executive of BT. He has an early start with a panel session this morning on the digital economy.
Jes Staley, chief executive of Barclays, and Anne Richards, chief executive of M&G, are among those discussing whether overheated markets are heading towards another financial crisis.
“In technology we trust” is the subject with which Sir Martin Sorrell (among others) will wrestle during a panel debate. This afternoon, Centrica’s chief executive, Iain Conn, who was delayed by the traffic chaos, is discussing the politics of energy.
Narendra Modi, prime minister of India, will give the opening address at 10am UK time. Katherine Griffiths will be hanging on every word . . . of his translator. The Canadian prime minister (and Davos man) Justin Trudeau addresses the conference at the end of the day on corporate responsibility and the role of women in a changing world.
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For the very latest from Davos follow the Times business team on Twitter: @fletcherr, @PhilAldrick and @KGriffithsTimes.
Markets snap
The Nikkei closed up 1.3 per cent at 24,124.15. The FTSE 100, which closed at 7,715.44, opened up 12 points. At 6.38am, Brent crude was trading at $69.45 per barrel.
Good morning: Regulators have provisionally ruled against 21st Century Fox’s takeover of Sky. The Competition and Markets Authority has concluded that the £11.7 billion deal, which would see Fox buy the 61 per cent of Sky it does not already own, “is not in the public interest due to media plurality concerns”.
Despite warnings from campaigners, the CMA says that it reached its preliminary finding “not because of a lack of a genuine commitment to meeting broadcasting standards in the UK”. It will seek views on proposed remedies such as selling off Sky News or insulating it from the influence of the Murdoch family.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp, owner of The Times, is also co-chairman of 21st Century Fox. Last month he announced that he had struck a deal to sell most of Fox to Disney, including its stake in Sky, for $66.1 billion (£49.3 billion). The CMA will publish a final decision by May.
Perhaps now is a good place to note that the market value of Netflix crossed $100 billion for the first time last night after the streaming service added 8.3 million subscribers in the last quarter; well ahead of its forecast of 6.3 million.
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Easyjet’s first quarter revenue has jumped more than 14 per cent to £1.14 billion as it benefited from the collapse of Monarch, Air Berlin and Alitalia as well as Ryanair’s flight cancellations. Johan Lundgren, who became chief executive in December, is bullish about growth in the year ahead.
The spread-betting company IG Group reports a 29 per cent rise in first-half profits to £136.2 million on revenue up 10 per cent to £268.4 million. The company says that it is taking action to mitigate the potential financial impact of a regulatory crackdown on the sale of contracts for difference.
Pets at Home has reported like-for-like merchandise revenue growth of 6.8 per cent after cutting prices to support sales volumes. Ian Kellert, chief executive, said the division had a good Christmas. We’ll see what the market thinks.
Sterling crossed $1.40 in the early hours, the first time since the Brexit vote. It has since slipped back slightly and a short time ago was trading at $1.399 against the dollar and €1.141 against the euro.
The Financial Reporting Council has fined Arrandco Audit £1 million over a financial statement made by Quindell. Jeremy Filley, a partner involved, has been fined £80,000. “Their conduct fell significantly short of the standards reasonably to be expected,” the watchdog says.
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And finally: Remember Stapleton Capital? We told you yesterday that the London-listed telecoms investor was jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon by renaming itself Blockchain Worldwide. The shares closed up 39 per cent. This morning there is another peculiar tale. Kodak sent its shares up 245 per cent this month when it announced that it was launching a digital currency — a day after it handed hundreds of thousands of share options to board members. The company insists that the timing was coincidental.
That’s all from us. Please do keep sending your thoughts and observations to richard.fletcher@thetimes.co.uk and callum.jones@thetimes.co.uk. We’ll be back in your inbox tomorrow. Have a great day.
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