Following the resignation of Dominic Raab, Stephen Barclay was named as the new Brexit Secretary on Friday. Barclay’s appointment comes as Theresa May attempts to replace various resignations as ministers quit following the publication of the proposed Brexit agreement. Friday saw two senior ministers and junior ministers and aides quit following the proposed Brexit agreement. So who is the new Brexit secretary? Barclay has been the minister of state in the health and social care department since January and a public Leave voter. It was reported that before Barclay was appointed, Environment Secretary Michael Gove and Attorney General Geoffrey Cox declined the role. Barclay said he was “delighted to accept” the role. “We now need to keep up the momentum to finalise the withdrawal agreement and outline political declaration and deliver a Brexit that works for the whole UK,” he said. “Looking forward to working with a talented team of ministers and officials to do just that.” For some, the new addition to the Brexit party means very little. “Stephen Barclay’s appointment changes absolutely nothing,” said Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer. “After two years of negotiation, the prime minister has failed to deliver a Brexit deal that can command the support of Parliament.” “A new face in the Brexit department will do nothing to bring this divided government back together,” he added. Meanwhile, Amber Rudd replaced Esther McVey and has been named the new work and pensions secretary. Rudd resigned as home secretary seven months ago. On the news, Dianne Abbot tweeted: “Amber Rudd resigned because of her mismanagement of Windrush scandal. Now Theresa May puts her in the DWP. Let’s hope she shows more concern for the victims of this department’s unfairness and cruelty than she did at the Home Office.”

Industry watchdog Ofcom has fined EE and Virgin Media for overcharging customers. The regulator fined EE and Virgin Media £13.3 million for charging 500,000 customers who wanted to leave contracts early. EE faced a £6.3 million fine for overcharging 400,000 customers and Virgin media faced a £7 million fine for overcharging 82,000 people. “EE and Virgin Media broke our rules by overcharging people who ended their contracts early. Those people were left out pocket and the charges amounted to millions of pounds,” said Gaucho Rasmussen, who is the director of investigations and enforcement at Ofcom. EE racked up a total of £4.3 million from overcharging customers. Virgin Media hs not taken the fine lightly and said that it plans to appeal the decision made by the watchdog. “We profoundly disagree with Ofcom’s ruling. This decision and fine is not justified, proportionate or reasonable,” said the chief executive of Virgin Media, Tom Mockridge. “A small percentage of customers were charged an incorrect amount when they ended one or more of their services early and for that we are very sorry.” “As soon as we became aware of the mistake we apologised and took swift action to put it right by paying refunds, with interest, to everyone affected.” “For those few people we could not locate, we have made an equivalent donation to charity,” he added. A spokesperson from EE said that recognised the mistake and apologised. “We accept Ofcom’s findings and recognise that we have made a mistake,” said the spokesperson. “We apologise to customers with discounted tariffs who paid more than they should have when cancelling their contracts early.” “We’ve already refunded customers and changed the way we calculate early termination charges, and we will continue to focus on ensuring our policies are clear and fair for all customers.”  

Johnston Press has fallen into administration after failing to address debts of £220 million. The group, which owns titles including the i, the Scotsman and Yorkshire Post put itself up for sale last month but was unable to find a suitable buyer. David King, Johnston’s chief executive, said: “There were offers for the whole group, as well as for some individual titles.” “Each approach was examined carefully. Yet none of these offers, or combinations of offers, would have raised enough money to repay the £220 million debt that we are obliged to settle in June 2019, nor did they allow the defined benefit pension scheme to remain attached to the company.” According to an email sent out to staff from the chief executive, the jobs of the company’s 2,000-plus staff remain safe for the moment. “Our operations will continue uninterrupted and so it is important that you turn up for work as normal – your employment contract will be transferring to the new company and you will continue to be paid as normal,” King said in the email. “The newspapers and websites will continue to be published as usual. As I have stressed on several occasions, our business is profitable with good margins. Our debt has constrained us,” he added. Since administration, the group has revealed a detailed rescue plan. The group plans to file for administration and believes that the firm’s assets will then immediately be bought by its lenders. Johnston Press said in a statement: “This is the best remaining option available as it will preserve the jobs of the group’s employees and ensure that the group’s businesses will be carried on as normal.” “The group hopes that this transfer will be completed within the next 24 hours.” Johnston Press was founded in 1767 and has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1988. Shares in the group (LON: JPR) closed -30.56% on Friday’s close.  

AstraZeneca has published an update on its cancer drug Friday morning. AstraZeneca and Medlmmune, its global biologics research and development arm, said that data showed its cancer treatment failed to meet its primary objective. The primary objective of the trial was to improve overall survival compared with the standard of care. The trial aimed to examine the efficiency of Imfinzi monotherapy and the Imfinzi and tremelimumab combination in previously-untreated patients with Stage IV non-small cell, inoperable lung cancer. However, data shows that the cancer treatment did not improve overall survival, which is one of the key metrics measured by the trial. AstraZeneca has an abundance of experience in oncology. Indeed, the biopharmaceutical company boasts an impressive portfolio of innovative treatments. Between 2014-2020, the company has planned to launch six new medicines in this field. Equally, the company has a committed focus on lung, ovarian, breast and blood cancer medicines. In addition to its commitment to oncology, the company also focuses on cardiovascular, renal and metabolism and respiratory treatments.

AstraZeneca currently operates in over 100 countries and its treatments are impacting the lives of millions.

Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Chief Medical Officer, Sean Bohen, commented on the failed treatment: “We are encouraged to see that Imfinzi monotherapy activity is in-line with that of the anti-PD-1 class in previously-untreated patients with Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer; however, we are disappointed that these results missed statistical significance. We remain confident in Imfinzi as the cornerstone of our IO programme and continue to evaluate its potential in ongoing non-small cell lung cancer trials, including Imfinzi and Imfinzi plus tremelimumab in combination with chemotherapy.” Earlier this week, AstraZeneca announced that it will sell its US rights to its respiratory tract infection treatment to a Swedish company. Moreover, it also sold the rights to its acid-reflux medicine Grunenthal at the end of last month. Furthermore, it recently published its third quarter earnings and outlines a Brexit contingency plan. At 12:42 GMT today, shares in AstraZeneca plc (LON:AZN) were trading at -3.09%.

The release of the US retail sales for October should have been one of today’s major market movers. However, the markets remain concerned with the developments in the UK concerning Brexit. US retail sales surged last month following the first back-to-back declines since 2015. The retail sales data implies that the US economy is on a strong path of growth. The data has revealed that motor vehicle and building material sales soared. Some have connected this trend to the rebuilding of infrastructure following the disastrous Hurricane Florence.

US retail sales increased by 0.8% in October.

Additionally, September’s data was revised down to a 0.1% decrease instead of the 0.1% increase previously disclosed. October’s 0.8% increase is above the predicted 0.5% by economists. The total figure of retail and food services sales is 5.4% higher than this time last year. In comparison to this time last year, furniture and home furniture store sales were up by 4.3%. Equally, electronics and appliance store sales increased by 4.3%. The highest jump from this time last year is sales from Gasoline stations, jumping by 15%. Interestingly, spending at sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores dropped by 3.6%. The strong US labour market, with unemployment levels at only 3.7%, is driving consumer spending. With the lowest unemployment rate in almost 49 years, wages are being boosted. Today, the GBP has suffered a significant loss as a result of Brexit chaos. The GBP/USD is trading below 1.2800, a decrease of almost 1%. With all eyes on Theresa May, the markets seem ultimately concerned with UK press releases. Against the EUR, the USD is trading round 1.1300. The pair also remains impacted by the UK’s political chaos, but moving to a lesser extent. The Italian budget crisis has been placed on hold until next week. However, US retail sales did come in mixed here. Though the October figure was above the 0.5% expectation, the September statistic was downwardly revised. Elsewhere in the markets, the USD/JPY continue to slide towards 113. This is despite the positive US retail sales, which were not taken advantage of. The pair have been losing roughly 0.4% on a daily basis.

Royal Mail plc has revealed a 25% drop in first-half profits on Thursday morning. The company’s half-year results outline that the company suffered from lower UK revenue. Following the announcement, shares in Royal Mail dropped over 6%. The 25% drop in profits was as a result of declining letter volumes, weak UK productivity performance and higher than expected cost pressures at the GLS European logistics arm. Revenue was up 1% on an underlying basis. Equally, GLS revenue increased 9%. Adjusted operating profit margin, after transformation costs of 3.9%, were down by 150 basis points. Moreover, adjusted basic earnings per share of 13.6p decreased by 6.5p. Interim dividend per share was 8.0p, 4% down from the 7.7p recorded in the 2017 first-half results. Adjusted operating profit, prior to transformation costs of £242 million, had decreased by 25% on an underlying basis.

At the beginning of October, Royal Mail released a profit warning and saw its shares plunge by almost 18%.

Group Chief Executive Officer, Rico Back, commented on the half-year results ended 23 September: “We have put in place a range of actions to improve our performance. We are reconfirming our commitment to our revised £100 million cost avoidance target and adjusted Group operating profit before transformation costs of £500 million – £550 million for the financial year.” “We will update the market next year on our strategy. There will be a greater emphasis on how we connect customers, companies and countries through our domestic and international businesses. There will be a clearer focus on financial performance and management accountability. In March, we will host our first Capital Markets day since IPO in 2013. We will share more detail then about our direction for the next five years.” In September, the company purchased the Canadian parcel delivery firm, Dicom Canada, for roughly £213 million. Later in the month, the Chairman stepped down in order to focus on the estate agent Countrywide (LON:CWD). Shares in Royal Mail plc (LON:RMG) are currently down by 6.91% (1423GMT).

Antofagasta plc has announced the expansion of its subsidiary Minera Los Pelambres on Thursday morning. The expansion, which received approval, is expected to add roughly 60,000 tonnes of copper yearly to the mine’s production. Minera Los Pelambres is 60% owned by Antofagasta and 40% by consortiums led by JX Nippon. The project is valued at $1.3 billion. Additionally, construction is expected to begin at the beginning of 2019. The first production is expected to be delivered in the second half of 2021. Following the plant’s expansion, throughput is set to increase from the current 175,000 capacity of ore per day to 190,000. Moreover, annual copper production will increase from 40,000 tonnes in the first year to 70,000 tonnes after 15 years. Over the full 15-year period, production is predicted to average roughly 60,000 tonnes.

Antofagasta is a Chile-based copper mining group that has a significant by-product production and interests in transportation.

It has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 1888. 65% of ordinary share capital is controlled by Luksic family of Chile with 35% free float. CEO of Antofagasta plc, Ivan Arriagada, has commented on the confirmed expansion: “The expansion of our world-class Los Pelambres mine is an important step forward in the advancement of the Group’s organic growth pipeline. The expansion project will add 60,000 tonnes a year of low cost copper production at this long-life operation and will ensure that it remains a first quartile producer for many years to come.” “The project includes the construction of a desalination plant and water pipeline which will also benefit the existing operation in cases of prolonged or severe drought, and for a potential further phase of expansion.” At the end of October, CEO Ivan Arriagada addressed the copper outlook, telling Bloomberg that it was “quite positive”. Indeed, he highlighted the physical demand of copper in emerging markets, using China’s over 5% as an example. In October, we reported that Antofagasta announced a downgrade in their full-year output guidance for copper. This decision was made following an on-year production and grade dip in copper gold. Equally, in July we took a look at the company’s half year performance. At 13:46 GMT today, shares in Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO) were trading at +4.41%.