1 Energy bills for most households in Britain will fall by £238 to an average of £1,690 a year from April 1, the lowest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ofgem lowered the price cap after a fall in wholesale gas prices, which have been eased by a supply of liquefied natural gas imports from America and high levels of European gas storage.
2 Patrice Pastor, the chairman of JB Pastor & Fils, is said to have spent tens of millions of dollars in Carmel, California, since 2015. He has bought more than a dozen properties in the small town of 3,200 people, including one for $22 million last year.
3 Bill Winters, the boss of Standard Chartered, admitted that the share price of the FTSE 100 bank was “crap” as he unveiled a $1 billion share buyback and a new cost-cutting drive in an effort to lift its stock market value.
4 Tyler Loudon, the husband of a former BP executive, has pleaded guilty to insider trading after listening in to his wife’s work-from-home calls about the energy company’s planned takeover of a truck stop operator.
5 London’s listed companies remain undervalued compared with their peers on American and European exchanges, an imbalance that has prompted private equity firms to draw up plans that would take another wave of British companies into private ownership.
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6 Marks & Spencer is withholding a multimillion-pound payment to Ocado Group after their grocery delivery venture missed key performance targets. The companies joined forces in 2019 to create Ocado Retail, a £750 million tie-up.
7 The clearing of euro-denominated derivatives has become the only City service granted so-called temporary equivalence by Brussels, meaning that the EU’s policymakers are satisfied that the existing UK supervision and rules can be relied upon.
8 Dtek, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, is planning to build Europe’s largest wind farm. The first €200 million phase of the Tyligulska wind project, capable of generating 114 megawatts from 19 turbines, was completed last May. Construction is said to begin this year.
9 The shares of Domino’s Pizza Group jumped after analysts at Jefferies identified at least 360 potential new stores in the UK. However, just three days later they slumped after Barclays downgraded the stock to “equal weight”.
10 Foxtons is back on top of the rankings in London thanks to Guy Gittins, its chief executive. Gittins, 43, took over 18 months ago, after being with the company for 20 years. He has sought to revive the brand by reinstating sales leaderboards, ski trips and the signature Minis.
