Bloomsbury Publishing has posted strong first-half year results, sending shares up 2.24%. Growing profits were helped by the surge in sales of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, as well as the continuing demand for Harry Potter books. “It was unexpected; there were a lot of ebook downloads, a lot of people wanted to read his master work,” said Nigel Newton, the chief executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, about the recent demand in Kitchen Confidential sales following the death of TV chef and writer, Bourdain. On the Harry Potter demand, Newton said: “Last year’s Harry Potter anniversary generated one of the highest levels of revenue since the initial publications, and we’ve been pleased to build on this momentum in the first half.” Sales in Harry Potter were up 5% in the first six months of this year. Total revenues for the group rose 4% to £75.3 million, up from £72.1 million a year earlier. “I am very pleased with the performance of our business over the last six months,” said Newton. “These strong results, following our excellent results for the interim and full year last year, demonstrates the underlying strength, resilience and further potential of our strategy.” “We have made very good progress in all seven of our Bigger Bloomsbury initiatives focusing on our key growth drivers with targeted strategies across the Group to help grow our revenues and improve our margins over the next five years,” he added. The group has confirmed that it is trading in line with expectations for the full year. Shares in the group (LON: BMY) are trading at 199,70 (1503GMT).

Uber has announced plans to charge London passengers an extra 15p per mile to help its drivers buy electric cars. The new clean air fee aims to raise a £200 million fund to encourage many of its drivers to invest in electric vehicles. “It represents our wanting our partnership in London not only to be a strong partnership but trailblazing in solving air pollution, which every great city in the world is struggling with, and our mayor here in London is looking to improve,” said Uber chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi. The rise in journey price for London passengers will be 45p for the average three-mile journey, all of which will go to help drivers buy electric vehicles. The ride-hailing app hopes for 45,000 drivers to convert to electric cars by 2021 and for every single driver of the London fleet to be electric by 2025. “You’re going to see many initiatives but what it adds up to is us moving from being a simple ride-sharing service to transforming to an on-demand mobility service,” said Khosrowshahi. “We ultimately want to be that go-to mobility platform – whether you’re going to move with the car or a bike or ultimately a bus or the tube service. All this is aimed at eventually replacing car ownership itself.” “Cars are unused 95% of the time and take up enormous amounts of space, in parking etc – we want to give that space back to the city.” “It’s our goal to help people replace their car with their phone by offering a range of mobility options – whether cars, bikes, scooters or public transport – all in the Uber app,” he added. The initiative from Uber comes soon after the government has cut for buying greener cars and abolished support for new hybrids. The RAC and AA (LON: AA) motoring groups called the move a backward step. Uber’s decision comes in an attempt to prove itself to Transport for London, which initially decided not to renew its licence to operate last year.

The FTSE 100 fell on Tuesday in tandem with global equity markets and hit a 7-month low building on October’s declines. The FTSE 100 sell-off was broad with poor company results and sharp declines in oil dragging the index well beneath the 7,000 level. Brent and WTI oil fell as much as 2% after Saudi Arabia said they were prepared to step in and ramp up production to fill the gap left by Iranian sanctions. BP (LON:BP) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) were down 1.5%-2.1% accounting for a large proportion of the Footsie’s fall. Oil also fell as Turkish President Erdogan delivered a speech on his government’s investigations on the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi which implicated the Saudi leadership in the murder but stopped short of any major threats. This would suggest that Turkey didn’t have the backing of allies such as the USA for any major action that could destabilise the flow of Saudi oil to the global economy.

Poor corporate results

The market has also been unnerved by a string of disappointing corporate releases adding to the downside in London. St James’ Place were down over 5% following an update revealing the wealth firm had hit £100bn in assets under management but the pace of new business had slowed. CEO Andrew Croft commented on the results: “We have delivered this continued growth despite both tough comparatives and a more challenging environment for the industry, once again demonstrating our resilience in these market conditions. “There remains growing demand for high-quality financial advice, notwithstanding the current macro and geo-political uncertainty.” Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust was also a big drag on the index after US indices finished heavily in the red overnight. The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust counts major tech stocks Amazon, Alibaba and Netflix as top ten holdings. The FTSE 100 was down 1.05% to 6,979 at 14.35 in London.

Intu Properties (LON: INTU) has taken a £300 million hit to its property valuation in the most recent quarter. The shopping centre chain revealed on Tuesday that the hard-hit retail sector and the collapse of House of Fraser and Coast have cut the rental income guidance. David Fischel, the group’s chief executive, said: “Intu has continued to deliver a strong and resilient operational performance through a period which has been particularly challenging for UK retailers, demonstrating the clear differentiation between winning destinations such as Intu owns and the rest.” “The top twenty shopping centres in the UK account for some three per cent of UK shoppers’ annual spend and we own eight of them, representing 76% by value of our UK portfolio.” “We are however confident our business and assets are resilient and can weather the challenges we are currently seeing,” he added. House of Fraser collapsed earlier this year and was soon rescued by Sports Direct (LON: SPD) boss Mike Ashley in a £90 million deal. Women’s fashion retailer Coast fell into administration earlier this month after it took a hit from the House of Fraser collapse. Intu Properties is considering a £2.9 billion takeover offer from a consortium including British billionaire John Whittaker, Saudi investment group Olayan, and Brookfield Property Group. On rumours of the Whittaker deal, shares in Intu soared almost 30%. The group said in a statement: “Intu confirms that it has not received an approach from the consortium. The board of Intu has formed an independent committee comprising all directors of Intu other than John Whittaker, who is connected to the consortium. The independent committee will consider any approach from the consortium, if made, and a further announcement will be made if and when appropriate.”  

Dyson said on Tuesday that it will build its new electric car in Singapore. The group will start working in the plant in 2020, with plans for the first car to be launched in 2021. In a memo to staff the chief executive, Jim Rowan, said that Singapore was chosen due to the “high-growth markets” and the decision was “complex, based on supply chains, access to markets, and the availability of the expertise that will help us achieve our ambitions”. He added that despite Singapore’s “comparatively high-cost base”, there is the availability of engineering talent. The company, which was founded by the billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson, plans for invest £2 billion into the project, including £200 million on research and development in the UK. Dyson has said the decision to move electric car production to Singapore was nothing to do with Brexit. James Dyson is a prominent advocate for leaving the EU and has said that leaving without a deal would “make no difference”. This is unlike other manufacturers, who have recently warned of the negative impacts that will be caused by Brexit. BMW (ETR: BMW), Airbus (EPA: AIR) and Jaguar Land Rover have all warned against Brexit. Jaguar boss, Ralf Speth, said that a no-deal Brexit was “horrifying”. “Any friction at the border puts business at jeopardy,” said Speth in September. We are absolutely firmly committed to the UK, it’s our home. But a hard Brexit will cost Jaguar Land Rover more than £1.2bn a year – it’s horrifying, wiping our profit, destroying investment in the autonomous, zero-emissions, we want to share.” Likewise, Toyota (TYO: 7203) UK has said that a no-deal Brexit would temporarily halt output at its plant in Burnaston. Marvin Cooke, managing director at Burnaston, said: “My view is that if Britain crashes out of the EU at the end of March we will see production stops in our factory.”        

Legoland has received a negative review following the examination of the food it sells for children by researchers. The theme park was ranked second-to-last in a league table. This league table ranks attractions based on the nutritional quality of the food and drink they offer. The research was conducted by the Soil Association, a charity that promoted healthy and nutritional eating. It sent undercover diner parents to 22 of Britain’s top attraction and found that adult meals were often heathier than child meals. Coming first in the rankings was Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Garden. It offers children a wide range of organic options grown in its own garden as well as locally sourced ingredients. Legoland was ranked second to last. Soil Association’s campaign manager, Rob Percival, has commented: “It’s unacceptable that popular attractions are denying children healthy choices.” “The attractions at the top of the league table are showing that healthy and high-quality food can be fun and affordable. The attractions at the bottom are not giving families the opportunity to enjoy a balanced meal.” “Some of the food on offer is simply junk. Legoland should be renamed ‘Deep Fried Crap Land’.”

Legoland currently offers an all-inclusive entry ticket that provides children with bottomless fizzy drinks and lunch at one of the park’s restaurants.

All of its food outlets offer burgers, fried chicken and chips. None provide children with nutritional vegetables, despite appearing on the adult menu. Legoland has responded to the survey. It told Sky News: “We recognise the importance of offering healthy eating options, along with the fun treats that you would expect to enjoy during a visit to a theme park.” “We are committed to providing healthy options for our guests and when we reopen for our 2019 season, we will be enhancing our children’s meals with a vegetable or salad option in each restaurant.” Earlier in October, Legoland’s operator, Merlin Entertainments, suffered a sell-off after a disappointing summer. This is as a result of Legoland’s like-for-like sales falling short of expectations over the summer period. At 09:35 BST today, shares in Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL) were trading at -1.75%.

Trustpilot has hired Morgan Stanley to assist in raising funds ahead of its stock market floatation. Indeed, one of Europe’s fastest-growing internet start-ups has hired the bankers to secure new funding. The online review website for consumers and businesses alike hopes to raise tens of millions of pounds from investors. So far Trustpilot has raised about $140 million from investors. Additionally, sources have said that the latest round of funding could boost its valuation to over £1 billion.

It has not been made clear the exact amount Trustpilot hopes to raise in its latest round of funding.

Likewise, the timing or place of the eventual initial public offering has also not been specified. The company’s current portfolio of investors includes Index Ventures, Northzone and Vitruvian Partners. Trustpilot was founded in 2007 by Danish entrepreneur Peter Muhlmann. Today, the review platform may be one of the biggest names in Europe’s online economy. It employs roughly 700 people and an estimated 1,000,000 new reviews are posted each month. The company last raised money last year. At that time, it has reported a recurring revenue run rate of £39 million. In addition, it had 34 million reviews of 180,000 businesses which were being viewed at almost two billion times a month. Trustpilot generates revenue by selling software as a service to companies. These companies pay for premium services relating to data insight. Equally, they pay for their reviews to be posted on Trustpilot’s website. Trustpilot have not released a comment. Last week, consumer group Which? found that various online sellers were offering free goods in return for positive product reviews. Additionally, earlier in April a BBC 5 live investigation revealed it was able to purchase a false, five-star recommendation on Trustpilot’s website. Trustpilot is not the only company with an anticipated IPO. Indeed, last week Uber revealed it may be targeting a $120 billion (£91 billion) valuation. At 19:57 GMT -4 yesterday, shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) were trading at -2.84%.

Netflix announced on Monday that it plans to raise a further $2 billion in debt, totalling $30 billion. The US streaming giant is heavily investing in new content as it keeps rivals including Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) at bay. The money will be used for “general corporate purposes”. Netflix is one of the Faangs (with Facebook, Apple, Amazon and Google) thanks to its impressive results and high growth rate. The group operates across 190 countries across the world and has 130 million subscribers. Its stock market capitalisation is over $145 billion. Richard Miller, who is the managing partner at Gullane Capital, “This is further proof of Netflix’s need for capital to fund short-term operations and content.” This is the third time Netflix has raised money in this way. It carried out $1.9 billion fundraising in April, after fundraising $1.6 billion a year ago. The group expects to spend $8 billion this year on content, alongside $2 billion on marketing. It also plans to invest around $1.3 billion in technology and development. The group hope to create 700 original TV shows and 80 movies this year alone. Earlier this year, the streaming giant signed up Barack and Michelle Obama to produce films and documentaries. Netflix has released strong third-quarter results of the year. It added just under seven million new subscribers in the three months ending in September. Tom Harrington, an analyst at Enders, said: “They need to keep on borrowing as they are investing so much so quickly in content and have to stay ahead, there’s nothing else they can do.” “They have to stay ahead of Amazon and Apple, and soon Disney. They are at the moment but there are very well funded, larger, competitors starting to get their act together.” Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) shares are up 78% this year. Shares closed on October 22 at 329,54.  

According to reports, O2 is planning to delay its stock flotation until after Brexit. The mobile operator was due to float on the London Stock Exchange in 2018 but the Press Association reported a delay due to Brexit uncertainty. O2 is owned by Spanish parent Telefonica, which has declined to comment. Analysts have valued the company at between £9 billion and £10 billion. Telefonica chief executive Jose Maria Álvarez-Pallete said in August that he was “under no pressure” to sell O2 in an initial public offering but would monitor the stock market. “It would be a sizeable IPO, [which] would need attractive conditions, but it doesn’t look like the financial markets are ready,” he said at the time. Earlier this month, Funding Circle (LON: FCIF) and Aston Martin floated on the stock market and shares sank. The luxury carmaker saw its initial offer price fail to hit the top end of the £17.50 to £22.50 valuation range that it put forward in September. When Funding Circle floated, the initial share price fell by almost a quarter, before regaining to 17% below the 440p opening price.