McDonald’s buys hundreds of Israel franchise restaurants after Hamas war triggers boycotts

Thanks for joining us today. Chris Price will be back tomorrow. I’ll leave you with some of our latest stories from elsewhere on The Telegraph website:

• Why the threat of a ‘nightmare’ Chinese supercomputer just got a step closer
• Mini-nukes to be built in Hartlepool under multimillion-pound proposal

European house prices have dropped for the first time in a decade after Germany and France suffered stagnant economic growth.

In the final quarter of 2023, house prices fell 0.7pc in the euro zone and 0.3pc in the EU compared with the previous quarter.

Prices in France fell 2.7pc, Denmark by 2.3pc and Germany by 2pc. However, eastern European countries tended to do better, with prices in Poland rising 4.8pc.

Ricardo Amaro at Oxford Economics told the FT that slow growth in Germany, where house prices dropped 7.1pc over a full year, “is adding to caution from actual and prospective buyers and the strong house price surge during the pandemic also left the German market vulnerable to a correction.”

McDonald’s is to buy out its Israeli franchise operator after it generated controversy by giving free meals to Israeli soldiers.

The fast food giant has faced protests and calls for boycotts as a result, and has said that “misinformation” is harming sales.

It has now has agreed to buy the 225 restaurants run by franchisee Alonyal in Israel.

In January, McDonald’s boss Chris Kempczinski said: “Several markets in the Middle East and some outside the region are experiencing a meaningful business impact due to the war and associated misinformation that is affecting brands like McDonald’s.

“This is disheartening and ill-founded. In every country where we operate, including in Muslim countries, McDonald’s is proudly represented by local owner operators who work tirelessly to serve and support their communities while employing thousands of their fellow citizens.”

The majority of McDonald’s restaurants around the world are run by franchisees.

McDonald’s operators in countries including Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Pakistan have publicly said they don’t support the actions of the franchised restaurants in Israel.

McDonald’s international president Jo Sempels today said: “McDonald’s remains committed to the Israeli market and to ensuring a positive employee and customer experience in the market going forward.”

Omri Padan, owner of Alonyal, said: “For more than 30 years, Alonyal Limited has been proud to bring the Golden Arches to Israel and serve our communities. We’ve grown the brand to be the leading and most successful restaurant chain in Israel and are grateful to our management, employees, suppliers, and customers who made this possible. We are encouraged by what the future holds.”

Bloomberg said that McDonald’s plans to find a new franchisee for its business in Israel, according to an Israeli media report.

The agreement is subject to conditions and could take several months to be completed.

McDonald’s has been approached for comment.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.5pc today. The biggest riser was gambling company Entain, up 5pc, followed by miner Antofagasta, up 4.7pc. The biggest faller was Ocado, down 5pc, followed by investment firm St james’s Place, down 2.4pc.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 rose 0.6pc. The biggest riser was magazine and digital publisher Future, up 15.9pc, followed by cleaning group Mitie, up 7.2pc. The biggest faller was OneSavings Bank (OSB), down 3.4pc, followed by property owner Hammerson, up 2.5pc.

A 133-year old central London department store is to be redeveloped after Westminster City Council approved a Foster + Partners scheme for new owners Lazari Investments. The redevelopment will create new shops, offices and a rooftop garden.

Fenwick opened on Bond Street in 1891 but closed in February, saying that the sale of the site would fund “significant investment” in the company’s online business and other stores.

New fees that will be imposed on animal and plant products coming through the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel from the end of the month have been attacked by business leaders.

The charges, published by the Government yesterday, will fund biosecurity checks.

The Cold Chain Federation’s chief executive, Phil Pluck, told Sky News: “Ultimately, this will increase business costs and food prices and potentially lower choices for the shopper.”

The Government has “failed to listen” to business over the flat-rate charges, the British Chambers of Commerce has claimed. Will Bain, the body’s head of trade policy, said: “Importing a small consignment of goods with only five different meat, poultry, egg, milk or some fish products in the medium risk category will now face a bill of £145 per package under these proposals.

Elon Musk’s X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has begun restoring free blue ticks for some of its users in a reversal of Mr Musk’s move to make people pay.

For years, Twitter’s blue ticks were largely reserved for celebrities, politicians and other influential accounts to provide verification that the user was genuine. That changed months after Musk bought the platform for $44bn (£35bn) in October 2022.

Last year, X began issuing verification checks only to those who paid the starting paying for it, and stripping verification badges from many celebrities and other prominent accounts.

But now, numerous users have reported seeing the blue ticks return to their accounts, or appear for the first time, despite the fact that they were not paying for the premium service on X.

Levi shares have leaped 17pc today after the company reported better margins, as a restructuring programme begins to pay off.

Revenues for the quarter ending February 25 were $1.6bn (£1.3bn), a drop of 8pc compared with the year before. The clothing company made a loss of $11m compared with a profit of $115m. This was as a result of $116.2m of restructuring charges after cutting its workforce by 12pc.

Investors responded positively to an increase in full-year profit guidance.

Co-op is to launch a crackdown on a surge in middle-class shoplifting after it suffered a £70m hit from store thefts last year. Hannah Boland reports:

Matt Hood, the Co-op Food managing director, said it was installing more artificial intelligence (AI) technology in its convenience stores to help monitor what customers were putting in their shopping bags at its self-service checkouts.

He said: “We are looking at what we can do around AI and what we can do with that linkage to our CCTV cameras.”

This would help them to “reduce the potential increase in middle-class crime”, Mr Hood said, adding there was “some evidence” that self-service machines led to more theft.

It follows moves by US rivals to start pulling the technology from stores in a bid to reduce shoplifting rates.

Read the full story...

Goldman Sachs’ gender pay gap has widened to its worst level in six years, with women paid less than half what men earn. Michael Bow has the details:

Women employed at Goldman Sachs International, which has offices in London, Birmingham and Milton Keynes, earned 54pc less per hour than men on average in 2023, according to the group’s latest gender pay report.

In pounds and pence terms, it means a typical female Goldman employee earned 46p for every £1 earned by a male colleague.

The Wall Street bank’s gender pay gap widened from 53.2pc in 2022. Last year’s figure was the worst since Goldman first began publishing data on the issue in 2017. Then, the gender pay gap stood at 55.6pc.

The gulf between the size of men and women’s bonuses stood at 67.4pc last year, though more women than men received performance-linked payouts.

Goldman has the worst gender pay gap of all the big Wall Street banks based in London.

JP Morgan’s ratio fell to 47pc last year and Morgan Stanley’s figure also declined to 48pc.

The data is based on the average of what Goldman pays all men and women in the UK, regardless of their role. Men and women working in similar roles are paid equally.

Goldman has more male staff in higher paying senior roles, which leads to the imbalance. Staff in lower paid roles are overwhelmingly women.

A Goldman spokesperson said: “Importantly, this gender pay gap report does not account for pay in similar roles or tenure, but we know that we need to do more to increase representation of women at the senior-most levels of the firm.” 

Thanks for joining me today. Alex Singleton will take over the stream of live updates from this point.

I’ll leave you with a quick look at the markets, where the FTSE 100 has climbed 0.5pc after the latest economic data showed the UK’s dominant services sector grew at a slower pace in March, raising hopes for interest rate cuts.

Meanwhile, the pound has climbed 0.1pc against the dollar to more than $1.26 after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell indicated policymakers in the US still plan to cut interest rates three times this year.

On the commodities market, European gas prices have edged higher amid signs of demand from Egypt, where the Government is trying to avoid chronic power outages.

Dutch front-month futures have gained as much as 2.8pc to more than €26 per megawatt hour.

Brent crude oil remains flat on the day at more than $89 a barrel.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves has visited Britain’s biggest train factory as it prepares to lay off hundreds of staff after completing its final production run with no prospect of further work in sight.

Managers at the Alstom plant in Derby have restarted a voluntary redundancy process that was paused in January amid optimism about new government contracts.

Talks with the Department for Transport (DfT) have since stalled, and Alstom is now expecting to announce cuts among its 3,000-strong workforce.

Google’s parent company could make an offer for online marketing software company HubSpot.

Alphabet has reportedly begun talking to advisers about making an offer for the $32bn (£25bn) tech business.

It has met with Morgan Stanley to discuss a potential offer and whether such a move would make it past competition regulators, according to Reuters.

US stock markets opened higher as recent economic reports boosted the prospect of monetary policy easing later this year.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.5 points, or 0.6pc, at the open to 39,343.6. 

The S&P 500 rose 32.6 points, or 0.6pc, at the open to 5,244.05​, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 141.1 points, or 0.9pc, to 16,418.567 at the opening bell.

The US company eyeing a multibillion-pound takeover battle for one of Britain’s biggest packaging companies has said that it would establish a European headquarters in London and seek to list its shares in the City.

International Paper said that if it is successful with a potential bid for DS Smith it would keep the company’s existing headquarters.

It said that “key elements” of the functions at DS Smith’s London office would be maintained, subject to “consultation with impacted employees”.

International Paper would also “seek a secondary listing of its shares on the London Stock Exchange”, it said.

The Memphis-based company had previously said it might be interested in making a £5.7bn offer for DS Smith, which would be paid in shares. 

It came after DS Smith already agreed a £5.1bn deal with London-listed rival Mondi in principle.

The business said that if a deal goes ahead it expects that it could save around $514m (£407m) a year within four years through savings on freight and the size of its purchases when negotiating deals with suppliers.

DS Smith shares rose 1.4pc.

The number of Americans applying for jobless benefits rose to their highest level in two months last week, but layoffs remain at historically low levels as the labor market remains resilient despite elevated interest rates.

The Labor Department reported that filings for unemployment claims for the week ending March 30 climbed by 9,000 to 221,000 from the previous week’s 212,000.

The four-week average of claims, which evens out some of the weekly volatility, rose modestly to 214,250, an increase of 2,750 from the previous week.

In total, 1.79 million Americans were collecting jobless benefits during the week that ended March 23, a decline of 19,000 from the previous week.

Weekly unemployment claims are considered a proxy for the number of US layoffs in a given week and a sign of where the job market is headed. They have remained at historically low levels since the pandemic purge of millions of jobs in the spring of 2020.

The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark borrowing rate 11 times beginning in March of 2022 in an effort to bring down the four-decade high inflation that took hold after the economy roared back from the Covid recession of 2020. Part of the Fed’s goal was to loosen the labour market and cool wage growth, which it believes contributed to persistently high inflation.

However, commentators think that workers are enjoying “the best jobs market in the past half century with wages now outpacing inflation”:

The boss of the private equity giant behind London Southend airport has been handed a $187m pay packet in his first year in the job.

Our reporter James Warrington has the details:

Harvey Schwartz, who has served as chief executive of Carlyle Group since February last year, was paid a base salary of $838,462.

However, his total pay soared after receiving long-term share awards of almost $180m, which will vest over the coming years and are subject to performance.

Mr Schwartz was also handed a bonus of $6m, which was twice the target level and the maximum possible award.

Read how directors on Carlyle’s board justified the payout.

Union bosses have threatened to disrupt petrol supplies across Britain later this month as tanker drivers prepare to go on strike.

Our retail editor Hannah Boland has the details:

Unite claimed transport company JW Suckling “failed to come to the table” to discuss better pensions for its drivers, who transport fuel to garages.

Drivers who are members of Unite have now voted to take industrial action in the row over retirement benefits and pay. In total, 39 drivers across London, the South East and Scotland are expected to take part in continuous strikes from April 16.

Unite claimed this could hit supplies in some parts of the UK, although it is not expected to cause widespread issues.

The threat of petrol disruptions is yet another headache for beleaguered drivers, who have faced a series of issues at the pumps in recent years.

The competition watchdog has found that women needing hormone replacement therapy (HRT) might see higher prices if a deal between two businesses is allowed to go ahead.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said that an initial investigation had found that the plan for Theramex to buy the European rights to two drugs could reduce competition.

Last year, the London-based women’s health company said it would buy the rights to Duphaston and Femoston HRT from US company Viatris.

Theramex is already one of the largest players in the UK’s market for “systemic” HRT. Systemic HRT drugs treat the whole body, rather than just a localised area.

It supplies oestrogen patches as well as oestrogen and progestogen patches and pills.

“The CMA is concerned that the deal could reduce competition in this important market, the cost of which is often covered by the NHS, by reducing incentives to bring new products to the market and improve and promote existing products,” the watchdog said.

“The reduction of HRT alternatives in a market that is already highly concentrated could reduce choice and also lead to potential price increases, as well as raising concerns about the security of supply.”

The companies have five days to respond to the concerns with “meaningful solutions” or risk facing a phase 2 investigation from the watchdog.

Planned strikes by London Underground drivers on Monday April 8 and Saturday May 4 have been called off, the Aslef union announced.

The union said that after a series of meetings at the conciliation service Acas, its negotiating team has received a proposal that resolves the key issues in the dispute.

An official said: “Management have confirmed that they have disbanded their ‘Trains Modernisation’ team and will not be implementing their plans to change drivers’ working arrangements without agreement.

“They have also agreed to reinstate annual refresher training stopped during the pandemic.”

Inflation in Britain will fall to 1.2pc in June, according to HSBC, before rising again before the end of the year.

The pace of price rises is expected to decline sharply as a result of the fall in the Ofgem price cap on energy bills in April, as well as from the passing of statistical “base effects,” the lender said.

Inflation has dropped from 11.1pc in October 2022 to 3.4pc in February as interest rates remain at 16-year highs of 5.25pc, squeezing businesses and consumers.

However, HSBC warned that wage growth and “sticky” inflation in the services sector threaten to increase inflation back above the Bank of England’s 2pc target.

It said inflation would reach “the target mark on a more ‘sustainable’ basis next year”.

HSBC said: “To be clear, we do not see a re-acceleration in cost and price pressures ahead. 

“But we are assuming a degree of persistence in our forecast such that, after the energy-driven dip this year, UK inflation will pop back slightly above 2pc later this year, before only reaching the target mark on a more ‘sustainable’ basis next year.”

Two Chinese banks are to determine the fate of Thames Water as lenders await a crucial £190m payment.

Ben Marlow and Luke Barr have the details:

A consortium of lenders to Thames Water’s parent company Kemble is made up entirely of foreign banks, including the Bank of China and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China – both of which are owned and controlled by the Chinese state. 

Dutch bank ING and Allied Irish Bank are also part of the creditor group.

The revelations will prompt fresh fears about Thames’s future amid concerns over China’s involvement in critical British infrastructure. 

Last year the UK intervened eight times to block, reverse or impose conditions on takeovers that involved Chinese buyers under the National Security and Investment Act.

This chart shows how Thames Water is drowning in debt. 

US stock indexes have gained in premarket trading after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said he still expects there to be three interest rate cuts in the US this year.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed higher on Wednesday after data showed the US services industry growth slowed further in March, strengthening the case for rate cuts.

Mr Powell did warn that rate cuts would happen only when policymakers “have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down” to the Fed’s 2pc target.

Stocks fell earlier in the week on the back of some strong economic reports, including manufacturing activity and job openings data that raised questions about the three rate cuts widely priced in for the year.

Money markets are currently seeing a near 59pc chance of at least a 25 basis point rate cut in June, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

In premarket trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.3pc and the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.4pc.

The owner of the Go Compare is the biggest gainer on the FTSE 250 today after revealing it returned to organic revenue growth.

Shares in media publisher Future have risen 14.2pc after the company said its return to growth in the three months to the end of March was driven by a strong performance by the price comparison site.

It said in a trading update before its half year results that it also managed resilient performance in its magazines busienss, which include Ideal Home and Country Life.

Bosses said it remains on-track to deliver on market expectations for the full year.

Oil prices remain close to their five-month high after a rally brought the price of Brent crude close to $90 a barrel.

The Opec cartel of oil producing nations and its allies decided on Wednesday there would be no changes to its policy of cutting supplies over the course of this year.

Brent, the global crude benchmark, is up by about 16pc this year as the wars in Russia and the Middle East threaten supplies and as global economic recovery leads to an increase in consumption.

Sophie Lund-Yates, lead equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “At the same time, the US demand outlook looks very healthy and broader supply disruptions from global events continue to add to the anxiety.”

British bosses expect inflation to decline over the next year and are forecasting their weakest price rises in two and a half years, according to a survey by the Bank of England.

Executives in March thought that prices rises over the next 12 months would fall to 3.2pc, down from 3.3pc in February, the Bank’s monthly decision maker panel showed.

Businesses expect to increase their own prices over the next year by 4.1pc, which is the lowest reading since October 2021, before the energy price shock caused by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The survey also found that firms expect their wage growth to decline by 1.5 percentage points over the next 12 months.

Over the next year, bosses expect the average interest rate on their borrowing to decline to 6.2pc from 7.1pc in March.

However, this still remains significantly higher than the interest rate of 3.6pc that companies had previously reported paying at the end of 2021.

US rock band Kiss have sold their music catalogue to the company behind Abba’s hologram concerts.

The group, known for their black and white make up and metallic outfits, have also allowed Pophouse Entertainment Group to buy its trademark and face paint designs.

The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and reported to be worth around $300m (£237m), includes master recordings and publishing rights to the band’s songs such as God Gave Rock ‘N’ Roll To You II and Crazy Crazy Nights.

There are plans for a biopic and Kiss-themed experience following the sale.

The company, founded by Abba singer Bjorn Ulvaeus, previously made a deal with Kiss to turn the members of the band into avatars, similar to those in the Abba Voyage arena show concerts.

Kiss bassist Gene Simmons said: 

We have always been breaking new ground in popular culture, and this partnership will ensure that we continue to do so for years to come because what Pophouse is doing is breaking rules.

We already have several plans in development, where the avatar show is one, a biopic another and a Kiss-themed experience a third. The future could not be more exciting.

Amazon has said it is cutting hundreds of jobs in its AWS cloud computing unit as part of a strategic shift.

The online retail giant said it is axing “a few hundred roles” in the team that oversees technology used in its physical stores, and follows the announcement that it is ending its use of its self-service checkout “just walk out” tech in grocery stores in the US.

The company said it is also cutting several hundred roles in the sales, marketing and global service teams at AWS.

“These decisions are difficult but necessary as we continue to invest, hire and optimise resources to deliver innovation for our customers,” AWS said in a statement.

It added that it will continue to hire in other, priority areas and that it has thousands of AWS job openings posted online.

The company has not said in which countries the layoffs will take place, but said it will also try to find internal opportunities for employees whose roles are affected.

The owner of Thames Water has had its credit rating cut to junk status as doubts grow about its ability to repay its debts.

Kemble Water had its senior secured debt rating downgraded to ‘CC’ from ‘CCC’ by Fitch Ratings after shareholders last week refused to provide a £500m cash injection to prevent the collapse of the troubled supplier.

As a result Kemble said that it will not be able to cover its upcoming interest payments or repay a £190m loan due at the end of this month.

Fitch said: “We believe that some form of default is probable and even if lenders agree to amend and extend (A&E) the upcoming loan, it is highly likely that the agreement would constitute a distressed debt exchange (DDE) under our criteria, which would trigger a downgrade of Kemble to ‘Restricted Default’ (RD) on completion.”

A consortium of pension funds and foreign states last week announced they would stop funding Thames Water and accused Ofwat, the regulator, of rendering it “uninvestable”.

The car industry has urged the Government to offer incentives to buy electric cars after new figures showed a decline in the market share of EVs.

Some 15.2pc of new cars registered in March were pure electrics, down from 16.2pc during the same month last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

The industry body urged the Government to halve VAT on the purchase of new electric vehicles (EVs), amend plans to introduce vehicle excise duty for EVs, and reduce VAT on public EV charging to bring it into line with home charging.

Under the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, at least 22pc of new cars sold by each manufacturer in the UK this year must be zero-emission, which in most cases means they are pure electrics.

The threshold will rise annually until it reaches 100pc by 2035.

Manufacturers who fail to comply or make use of flexibilities - such as carrying over allowances from previous years or purchasing credits from rival companies - will be required to pay the Government £15,000 per polluting vehicle sold above the limits.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: 

Manufacturers are providing compelling offers, but they can’t single-handedly fund the transition indefinitely.

Government support for private consumers - not just business and fleets - would send a positive message and deliver a faster, fairer transition on time and on target.

Britain’s dominant services industry grew for a fifth month in a row, according to a closely-watched survey, in a sign that the economy is on its way out of its shallow recession.

The S&P Global UK Services PMI - considered a key measure of business output for the largest section of the UK economy - gave a reading of 53.1 in March.

This was down from 53.8 in February and the slowest rate of business activity expansion since November - but crucially above the 50 mark which separates growth from contraction.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global, said:

Business activity has now expanded for five consecutive months, supported by sustained improvements in new order
intakes. 

The solid growth rate achieved in March reinforces the view that a rebound in service sector performance is helping the UK economy to pull out of last year’s shallow recession.

Survey respondents once again commented on a turnaround in business and consumer spending, despite constraints on clients’ budgets from strong inflation and elevated borrowing costs.

Eurozone business activity expanded last month for the first time since May last year, according to a closely-watched survey.

HCOB’s composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) climbed to 50.3 in March from February’s 49.2, improving on a preliminary 49.9 estimate.

That bounce moved the index back above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.

Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, said: “Finally some good news again. The service sector in the euro zone is gradually finding its footing, with activity stabilising in February and showing signs of moderate growth in March.” 

The services PMI jumped to 51.5 from 50.2, above the flash estimate of 51.1 and its highest reading since June. 

Ocado has the announced the departure of its chairman after he took up his new role at NatWest replacing the beleaguered Sir Howard Davies.

NatWest appointed Rick Haythornthwaite, known in City circles as “Slick Rick,” to replace Sir Howard following the Nigel Farage debanking scandal.

Mr Haythornthwaite took up the new position this month after a series of gaffes by his predecessor, including backing the bank’s former boss Dame Alison Rose hours before she resigned over the debanking furore.

Sir Howard was also accused of being out of touch earlier this year after claiming it is not “that difficult” for first-time buyers to get on the housing ladder.

Mr Haythornthwaite said that he would not seek re-election to Ocado’s board in April next year due to his “increasing commitment to NatWest”, allowing the retailer time to find his successor. He said: 

With the benefit of time and greater visibility of the expected growth in requirements of the publicly-listed portfolio, it has become evident that pressure on my time is likely to increase over the medium term. 

Given that Ocado has a strong and stable board, a high-quality management team as well as good momentum in business performance, I have made public my intention to step down a year from now to ensure that the company has sufficient time for a measured chair succession.

Ocado shares fell 1.2pc. Chief executive Tim Steiner added: “Needless to say, we will be disappointed to lose Rick but we fully understand the reasons why he is stepping down as chair to focus on his new role at NatWest.”

British stocks edged higher as precious metal miners were boosted by gold hitting a fresh record high.

The resource-heavy FTSE 100 and the more domestically focused FTSE 250 both rose 0.2pc.

Precious metals miners advanced as much as 1.4pc as gold prices reached a record high above $2,300 an ounce as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell indicated US policymakers will still cut interest rates three times this year.

Investors also grew cautiously optimistic after a report showed US services industry growth slowed further in March, potentially giving the Fed the confidence to make cuts this summer.

Among individual stocks, Cab Payments gained as much as 15.6pc after the fintech company got a payment service provider licence in the Netherlands.

Entain’s interim boss will become its new chairman later this year as the boardroom shake-up at the gambling giant continues.

Stella David will take over the role at the Ladbrokes owner from chairman Barry Gibson, who will retire by the end of the end of September.

The company has been searching for a new chief executive following a difficult 2023, during which it agreed to pay a penalty of £585m linked to a bribery scandal in its Turkish business – which has since been sold.

Shortly after the penalty was announced, its chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen stepped down after three years in the role.

Mr Gibson could leave earlier than September, depending on the timing of the appointment of its new chief executive, which Entain said is “progressing well”.

Entain shares rose 1.3pc in early trading.

Volvo has reported record-high global sales in a single month, rising by 25pc in March from a year earlier to 78,970 cars.

The Sweden-based group, which is majority-owned by China’s Geely Holding, said in a statement sales of fully electric cars were up 43pc and accounted for 23pc of all sales globally in the month.

Shares in the company rose 4pc in early trading on Stockholm’s stock exchange.

Total sales in Europe, Volvo Cars’ biggest market, grew 33pc, with sales of fully electric cars increasing 66pc from a year ago.

In the United States, total sales rose 50pc, while sales of fully electric cars declined 66pc.

British consumers are not buying electric vehicles because they are too expensive, a car dealership boss has warned.

Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu Motors, said the Government needs to offer the same financial incentives to individuals as it offers to companies to buy EVs.

He told BBC Radio 4:

There is this big legislative push on battery electric vehicles and that is really not getting traction in the retail market.

There are incentives in place by the Government for companies to buy battery electric vehicles for their employees as company cars but there are no incentives at all in the retail market.

The average cost is about £50,000 for a battery electric vehicle and clearly you’ve got all the issues we’ve discussed about range anxiety and things like that, though the range is getting a lot better.

The private individual is not moving into mass adoption into battery electric vehicles in the retail market.

Stock markets in London edged higher in early trading after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said last night that policymakers in the US still plan to cut interest rates three times this year.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.1pc to 7,947.65 while the midcap FTSE 250 gained 0.1pc to 19,768.73.

The Co-op Group saw sales dip over the past year as it grappled with “highly turbulent” conditions, including grocery price inflation and rainy weather affecting convenience shopping, the retailer said.

The retail-to-funeral business revealed revenues fell to £11.3bn in 2023, from £11.5bn the previous year, partly driven by slipping food sales.

But the company said that if it excludes the impact of selling its petrol forecourt business, which was taken on by Asda in the second half of 2022, sales edged up by nearly 5pc year on year.

It also reported a sharp reduction in group net debt to £82m, from £322m the prior year.

Co-op’s chief executive Shirine Khoury-Haq said the company’s “relentless focus on strengthening our financial position has enabled us to navigate a highly turbulent external landscape”.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it will launch a so-called phase 2 probe into the Vodafone and Three merger.

It said both companies told the regulator that they would not be offering any measures to ease its concerns.

The CMA said last month that the tie-up could lead to higher prices and reduced quality.

It gave the companies until April 2 to address its worries.

Vodafone and Three first announced the £15bn merger last summer in a move that would create the UK’s largest mobile phone network.

Vodafone’s £15bn plan to merge with Chinese-owned rival Three will face an in-depth investigation by the competition regulator.

The telecoms giant last year agreed to merge with Three in a deal that will create the UK’s largest mobile network with more than 27 million customers.

However, the tie-up has attracted scrutiny due to concerns that Three’s Hong Kong-based parent company CK Hutchison could be granted access to sensitive national infrastructure.

The Competition and Markets Authority said the potential merger would face an in-depth probe as it could “result in a substantial lessening of competition within a market or markets in the United Kingdom”.

Bet365 has been fined £582,120 for anti-money laundering and social responsibility failures at its online business.

The Gambling Commission said the company had failed to carry out “meaningful” checks on potentially vulnerable customers during an assessment carried out in March 2022.

The review also found that the company had not carried out financial sanctions checks on new customers.

The regulator added that Bet365 had failed to make independent verification checks and over relied on customers’ annual self-verification.

Kay Roberts, executive director of operations at the Gambling Commission, said: 

The policy and procedural failings may not have been as severe as those at other gambling businesses in recent years but they were failings nonetheless.

We expect high standards from operators in terms of keeping gambling safe, fair and crime-free, and will always take action to correct any failings. This operator is very aware that a repeat of these failings will result is escalating regulatory action.

Google could charge users for some of its AI-related services in what would be the biggest shake-up of its commercial model.

The search giant, which is owned by Alphabet, has never before put any of its core products behind a paywall.

However, the company is grappling with how to capitalise on the artificial intelligence revolution in technology without threatening its advertising business, which funds its search engine.  

It also faces stiff competition from Microsoft-backed ChatGPT and the likes of Elon Musk’s xAI project.

As a result, bosses are considering charging for new “premium” features powered by AI, according to the Financial Times.

It is reportedly weighing up whether to add some AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services, which already offer access to its new Gemini AI assistant in Gmail and Docs.

A Google spokesman said: “We’re not working on or considering an ad-free search experience. 

“As we’ve done many times before, we’ll continue to build new premium capabilities and services to enhance our subscription offerings across Google. We don’t have anything to announce right now.”

Google added: “For years, we’ve been reinventing Search to help people access information in the way that’s most natural to them. 

“With our generative AI experiments in Search, we’ve already served billions of queries, and we’re seeing positive Search query growth in all of our major markets. We’re continuing to rapidly improve the product to serve new user needs.”

Under the plans to charge for premium AI-powered content, Google’s search engine would reportedly remain free.

Engineers are developing the functionality needed for the changes but executives have not made a decision on whether or when to launch the plan, according to the Financial Times.

Google’s revenue from search and related advertising reached $175bn (£138bn) last year, which accounted for more than half of its total sales.

Thanks for joining me. Google is reportedly considering charging users for content generated by artificial intelligence.

The search giant is mulling a paywall option as AI threatens its advertising business, according to the Financial Times.

5 things to start your day 

1) Activist investor Nelson Peltz defeated in Disney board battle | Entertainment giant wins the support of enough investors to see off proxy battle

2) Why Royal Mail’s second-class shake-up won’t save it from losses | Plans to scale back the second-class service risk falling flat

3) Britain’s biggest train factory to lay off hundreds of staff | Alstom plant in Derby prepares for redundancies after running out of work

4) Thames Water to hold crisis meeting with unions | Supplier warned against job cuts after withdrawal of £500m lifeline

5) Cindy Yu: China’s stagnating economy has forced Xi Jinping into a humiliating global retreat | Beijing’s slowing growth is bringing it back to the negotiating table

What happened overnight 

Asian shares mostly rose after a firm finish on Wall Street, as expectations remained solid for US interest rate cuts this year.

There was also action in commodities as gold reached another record, oil a five-month peak and copper a 13-month top, helping lift shares in basic materials and energy companies.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.7pc to 40,120.11. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4pc to 7,813.80. 

South Korea’s Kospi added 0.8pc to 2,728.82. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.2pc to 16,725.10, and the Shanghai Composite slipped nearly 0.2pc to 3,069.30.

Analysts say Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC) facilities may get quicker-than-expected relief — easing concerns about production halts — after a powerful earthquake struck Wednesday, killing at least nine people. 

Trading was closed in Taiwan on Thursday and Friday for national holidays.

American stocks performed slightly better on Wednesday, a day after their worst drop in weeks.

The S&P 500 inched up by 0.1pc, to 5,211.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 leading US companies slipped 0.1pc, to 39,127.14, and the Nasdaq Composite index added 0.2pc, to 16,277.46.

In the bond market, Treasury yields fell. The 10-year yield slipped to 4.34pc from 4.36pc late on Tuesday.

Asian shares rallied on Thursday while the yen slid against everything except the dollar and boosted Japanese stocks.