The number of people in employment in the UK hit a record of 32.54 million, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

According to the figures, UK unemployment saw a small increase of 8,000 between September and November to 1.37 million. Average earnings, not including bonuses was up 3.3% in the year to November, with wage increases offsetting inflation levels. Last week, the latest official figures reveal inflation fell to 2.1% in December, driven largely by a fall in petrol prices. Moreover, there was a record number of job vacancies during the three months to November, helping to push unemployment to its lowest level since 1975. ONS head of labour market David Freeman commented: “The number of people working grew again, with the share of the population in work now the highest on record. “Meanwhile, the share of the workforce looking for work and unable to find it remains at its lowest for over 40 years, helped by a record number of job vacancies. “Wage growth continues to outpace inflation, which fell back slightly in the latest month.” Employment Minister Alok Sharma said of the latest figures: “Our pro-business policies have helped boost private sector employment by 3.8 million since 2010, and as the Resolution Foundation’s latest report shows, the ‘jobs-boom has helped some of the most disadvantaged groups find employment’, providing opportunities across society.”

Dixons Carphone reported an increase in third quarter sales, despite a fall in mobile sales. The group said group like-for-like revenue up were up 1% during the Christmas period. In the UK and Ireland, electrical like-for-like were up 2%. The company said it enjoyed share gains across all categories online and in store, despite a general decline in the market. Nevertheless, like-for-like mobile sales in the UK and Ireland down 7%. Across international markets, like-for-like were up 5%, with the Nordics up 3% and Greece up substantially at 19%. As a result, Dixons Carphone said that its headline guidance of approximately £300 million remains unchanged. Alex Baldock, Dixons Carphone Group Chief Executive, said: “Peak trading was solid and in line with expectations, producing record sales against a tough backdrop. We continued to grow our leading electrical market positions in all territories, online and instore. In UK mobile, performance was as expected. Overall, our Peak trading was disciplined and well-executed, with stable gross margins.” He added: “We continue to make good early progress with our long term plans to deliver more engaged colleagues, more satisfied customers and a more valuable business for shareholders. It will take time and much hard work to unleash the true potential of this business, but we’re on with it. I owe a big thank you to 42,000 capable and committed colleagues for all their tremendous hard work to deliver this resilient Peak performance while getting our transformation underway.” Back in December, shares in the electrical consumer company tumbled after reporting a £440 million loss for the half-year to 27 October. Dixons Carphone was formed in August of 2014, as a result of a merger between mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse and Dixons Retail. Shares in Dixons Carphone (LON:DC) are up +3.49% as of 10:29AM (GMT).

Pharmaceutical company Shield Therapeutics (LON:STX) released a stock market announcement on Tuesday outlining the appointment of a new Chairman. Indeed, James Karis has been appointed as the new non-executive Chairman of Shield Therapeutics. James Karis has been on Shield Therapeutics’ board of directors for almost three years. He brings to the pharmaceutical company over 35 years of experience in the pharmaceutical, healthcare services, technology and medical device industries. The former Chairman, Andrew Heath, stood down from his position at the company’s AGM. James Karis commented on his appointment as Chairman of Shield Therapeutics: “It is exciting to take on an expanded role as Chairman of Shield Therapeutics during a time when the Company has several important milestones on the horizon. I look forward to working with the rest of the Board and management team in continuing our efforts to provide a unique therapy benefiting patients around the world while making Shield a success for its shareholders.”

Shield Therapeutics is a commercial stage, pharmaceutical company with an initial focus on iron deficiency.

CEO of the company, Carl Sterritt, also commented on the announcement: “I am very pleased to see James appointed as our Chair. The understanding of the business and the opportunity for Feraccru that he has developed over the last three years of Shield Therapeutics, combined with his extensive leadership experience and multiple exposures to licensing, mergers and acquisitions, not least in the USA, will, I am sure, prove to be of significant value to Shield’s shareholders. I look forward to working closely with and benefitting from his counsel as we look to execute on our strategy to crystallise the significant value that exists in our excellent product portfolio.” In December 2018, the company announced that it would expand its iron deficiency treatment for children, introducing child trials in 2019. The company’s product Feraccru is undergoing a process of US approval. A decision is expected to be made by the 27^th July.

Sirius Minerals plc (LON:SXX) announced a fourth-quarter trading update on Tuesday. In the update, Sirius Minerals has agreed to revise the terms of a potential $3 billion funding round for its flagship fertilizer projects in Yorkshire, United Kingdom. The company said it has been communicating with prospective lenders throughout the process, revising certain aspects of the proposed $3 billion “stage 2” senior debt financing. This is in order to modify the credit risk allocation amongst the company’s prospective lenders. The original financing structure planned to equally divide the financing between one commercial bank tranche, and one IPA (Infrastructure and Projects Authority) guaranteed tranche. The latter is a scheme from the British government that aims to support infrastructure projects. The new structure will divide the financing in three ways – the first will be an uncovered debt capital markets tranche, the second a commercial bank tranche, and the third will be the IPA guaranteed bond tranche. What the new financing structure essentially indicates is that the UK government will play a smaller role in financing the project.

On the 31^st December 2018, Sirius Minerals’ cash balance was £290 million.

£230 million of which is unrestricted, providing sufficient liquidity to fund project progress. Managing Director and CEO of Sirius Minerals, Chris Fraser, commented on the trading update: “2018 was a year of significant progress for the Company. Completion of procurement to support the stage 2 financing and the signing of an additional 4.8 Mtpa of take-or-pay supply agreements, have been substantial achievements. Considerable progress has been made across all our construction sites and development activities are advancing at pace. More than 800 people are now employed on the Project, demonstrating the transformational potential for jobs and growth in the local area. “Executing our stage 2 financing plan remains our priority. We continue to make progress towards obtaining stage 2 financing commitments and are working constructively with all relevant parties to achieve this. The process with the lenders is continuing this quarter as we work through the due diligence reports with the lending group and progress discussions on the revised debt structure.” In September, Sirius Minerals agreed a potash supply deal with Cibra. Recently, it showed off its mineral transport tunnel at its £4 billion Woodsmith fertiliser project. At 09:33 GMT Tuesday, shares in Sirius Minerals plc (LON:SXX) were trading at -2.55%.

EasyJet revealed on Tuesday that the Gatwick drone sightings cost the airline £15 million. In a trading update, the budget airline said that it spent £10 million in customer welfare costs and lost £5 million in revenue. The chaos around the drone sightings forced the airline to cancel 400 flights over the Christmas period, affecting 82,000 passengers. “With 82,000 customers disrupted we were disappointed it took such a long time to resolve. It was a criminal act, an illegal activity, and to some extent, you can’t always protect yourself from that,” said Johan Lundgren, the chief executive. “We can never guarantee these things won’t happen again but the airports now are better prepared – Gatwick has acquired the sound system that is in place and there is general readiness and preparedness in place by the authorities,” he added. Despite sharing the financial hit of the drone chaos, the EasyJet trading update shared positive news and confidence amid Brexit uncertainty. The airline said it has seen a “robust” demand from passengers, with numbers rising by 15% to 21.6 million for the last three months of 2018. Passenger revenue grew by 12.2%. Pre-tax profit is expected to be in line with market expectations of £580 million. “For the first half of 2019, booking levels currently remain encouraging despite the lack of certainty around Brexit for our customers,” said Lundgren. “Second half bookings continue to be ahead of last year and our expectations for the full year headline profit before tax are broadly in line with current market expectations.” Shares in the group (LON: EZJ) are trading +4.22% (0925GMT).

Global media and entertainment business, Time Out (LON:TMO), announced on Tuesday that it has completed the sale of its stake in Flyt Limited. Indeed, it has sold its share in the leading systems integration platform provider to the global online takeaway delivery market place, Just Eat. Time Out has received £9.6 million proceeds for its entire stake in Flyt Limited, which represents a £4.5 million profit on disposal. Tom Weaver, CEO of Flyt, said: “I would like to thank the team at Time Out for their support over the last three years. During this period, we have significantly grown the business which now supports thousands of restaurants in both Europe and North America. We are excited to be part of Just Eat and look forward to working with them and our other partners to further develop the business”. Time Out invested in Flyt back in July 2015. Over the period of Time Out’s investment, Flyt significantly scaled its operations. Its revenues have grown and it expanded to more than 3,000 quick service and branded restaurants. The company has said it will use its proceeds from the sale to invest in one of its leading strategic priorities – the global rollout of Time Out Market. This is following the success of the first site in Lisbon, attracting 3.6 million visitors in 2017. Time Out is set to open five new Time Out Markets in North America alone in 2019. These will be located in Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago and Montreal. The company has lined up “some of the cities’ top chefs” for the loction set to open in Miami, New York and Boston. CEO of Time Out, Julio Bruno, commented on the sale: “We would like to thank Flyt founders Tom Weaver and Chris Evans and the wider team for their excellent work in developing their business during the last three years. Just Eat’s investment announced today proves that this is a success story and we are proud to have been part of it. We wish them all the very best as they take the business forward to the next phase of growth in partnership with Just Eat”. Just Eat has been in the spotlight recently following the unexpected resignation of its chief executive. Shares fell 2.3% on the back of the announcement, following a trend of decline as shares dip 18% over the past year. Despite this, Just Eat has remained positive on its trading, suggesting that group earnings will be ahead of market expectations.  

Veterinary and pet product business, Pets at Home (LON:PETS), released a trading statement on Tuesday outlining it figures for its third-quarter. For the 12 weeks to the 3^rd January, revenue increase has put the company in a strong position to meet its annual profit guidance. Shares in the company began to rise during early Tuesday trading. Group revenue grew 6.3%, compared to the same period a year earlier, up to £237.2 million. For its retail division, revenue was up 5.5% to £213.4 million. Additionally, its vet group revenue increased 13.6% to £23.8 million. Group like-for-like revenue grew 5.1%. Retail like-for-like revenue grew 4.7% whilst vet group like-for-like revenue increased by 9.1%.

Pets at Home has said that it may consider increasing its inventory, holding by up to £8 million, in light of the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.

These results are an initial sign of recovery compared to the 81% crash in profits during the first half of the company’s financial year. The 81% drop meant that profit before tax fell from £40.8 million a year earlier to just £8 million. Likewise, its full-year results for its previous financial year were also disappointing, with a 17% fall in pre-tax profits. The company still expects to produce an annual pre-tax profit between £80 million – £85 million. Peter Pritchard, Croup Chief Executive Officer, commented on the results: “Momentum in Retail accelerated over the festive period, culminating in the biggest trading day of our entire history on the Saturday before Christmas. Our omnichannel business delivered exceptional performance, benefitting from investments made earlier in the year, including a new mobile website. This resulted in 4.7% like-for-like growth in Retail, an impressive 11% growth on a two year basis. In such a challenging climate, this performance was only made possible through the hard work of our colleagues across the business.” “We saw good customer revenue growth across our entire Vet Group. In November, we reiterated the big opportunity to accelerate the maturity of our vet practices, but this needs to be achieved in a more sustainable way. As such, I am particularly pleased with how the recalibration of the Vet Group is taking shape; the engagement from JVPs has been positive and we have made good progress in our discussions with buyback practices.” “We also celebrated another milestone as we reached £10m raised for national and local animal charities through our VIP loyalty club since its launch in 2012, another fantastic achievement.” “We are working closely across the Group to maximise our assets and data as a pet care business, delivering initiatives that are resulting in an even better experience for customers. With the Executive Team appointments now complete, I know that we enter 2019 with growing momentum and we are well placed to deliver on our plans and commitments.” At 08:28 GMT Tuesday, shares in Pets at Home Group plc (LON:PETS) were trading at +5.99%.

House of Fraser has revealed a sharp drop in sales over the Christmas trading period. Figures from Kantar Worldpanel, as reported by The Sunday Telegraph, reported a 60% fall in sales in the 12 weeks to 18 December. This is the first Christmas results from House of Fraser since Sports Direct (LON: SPD) boss Mike Ashley bought the chain in 2018 in a £90 million deal. Ashley has also recently acquired Evan’s cycles and is in talks to buy music chain HMV. Evans was bought by Ashley in October. He said at the time: “We are pleased to have rescued the Evans Cycles brand.” “However, in order to save the business we only believe we will be able to keep 50% of stores open in the future. Unfortunately some stores will have to close.” Christmas sales were generally weak across the board, with Debenhams (LON: DEB) reporting a 5.7% fall in like-for-like sales over the festive period.