European markets opened lower on Tuesday morning, as potential crises in both Italy and Spain spook investors. The FTSE 100 is currently down 0.93 percent at 7658, with Germany’s Dax sinking 1.52 percent. The CAC40 index in France has also been affected, trading down 1.69 percent by 0904GMT. Italy, one of the countries in the spotlight over the bank holiday weekend due to a political crisis currently unfolding, has seen its stock market tumble 1.9 percent to its lowest level since August last year. Spain, the other country under investors’ watchful eyes, saw its Ibex35 fall 2.44 percent. Italy’s likelihood of leaving the Euro tripled over the weekend from 3.6 percent to 11.6 percent, after its President used its veto against the new proposed finance minister. This is likely to dissolve government talks and reinforce populist sentiment. Spain is also facing its fair share of uncertainty, with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy set to face a vote of no confidence later this week.

UK-based takeaway sandwich chain Pret A Manger is set to be sold to private equity firm JAB Holdings for a cool £1.5 billion. The chain confirmed the sale on Tuesday morning, on the back of an exclusive report by the Financial Times on Monday. JAB Holdings, who have been rapidly buying up companies in the coffee market, will acquire Pret after the chain chose a sale over a public listing. Bridgepoint, the company’s current owners, will make a tidy profit on the business, which they bought for £364 million including debt ten years ago. William Jackson, chairman of Pret and managing partner of Bridgepoint, said: “We’re proud of what we’ve achieved over the last 10 years with Pret and its management team.” Clive Schlee, chief executive at Pret, confirmed the sale and said his company achieved the ninth consecutive year of like-for-like sales growth in 2017. Olivier Goudet, JAB Partner and chief executive, said management had a “proven track record” that was crucial for the business and that they would continue to invest in new products as consumer taste evolves. Pret owns 530 stores worldwide, including the UK, Asia and France, and generates group revenues of £879 million. Its sale is expected to be completed this summer.

Shares in Dixons Carphone (LON:DC) sunk over 20 percent at market open on Tuesday, after reporting a weak performance in the UK for both the electrical and mobile division. The company warned that full-year profit would fall by 21 percent, expecting pre-tax profits of £382 million for 2017-18, down from £501 million last year. The company’s UK & Ireland business saw revenue fall 1 percent, despite rising 2 percent on a like-for-like for basis. The group warned that the weakness in the UK was due to a “challenging UK mobile market and current contractual constraints”. Looking at the company as a whole, revenues rose by 3 percent for the full year, while like-for-like revenues rose 4 percent supported by strong international performance. The UK’s weak performance was offset by a strong performance in the Nordics and Greece, which reported revenues of 10 percent and 18 percent respectively. “With a softer computing market, our category mix during the year shifted towards consumer electronics and white goods, and online sales saw another year of double digit growth, ahead of the market,” Alex Baldock, Group Chief Executive, said. “Right now, with our international business in good shape, we’re focusing early action on the UK. In electricals, we’re focused on gross margin recovery. In mobile, we’re stabilising our performance through improvements to our proposition and network agreements”. For the 2018-2019 financial year, the group expects headline profit before tax to come in at around £300 million. Shares in Dixons Carphone (LON:DC) are currently trading down 23.74 percent at 178.00 (0810GMT).

Gambling company GVC (LON: GVC) is facing a shareholder rebellion following the £67 million paid to its two bosses. The owner of Foxy Bingo and Ladbrokes Coral has awarded its chief executive £45 million in share option since 2016. The chairman has gained £22.5 million. Pirc and Glass Lewis, shareholder bodies, are advising shareholders to vote against the “excessively disproportionate” pay to bosses Kenny Alexander and Larry Feldman. “Clearly they’ve completely disregarded the strong vote against last year and are continuing with a similar approach to pay. You’d hope that there will be an even stronger vote against this year,” said Luke Hildyard, a director of the remuneration thinktank the High Pay Centre. “This case demonstrates that even when shareholders do oppose egregious awards, which doesn’t happen often enough, the company doesn’t have to do anything about it.” The high payments in share options paid to Alexander and Feldman is about 550 times that paid to average employees. Shares in GVC reached a record high of £10.15 last week. Similar huge pay deals to company bosses have sparked anger this past year. The chief executive of housebuilder Persimmon, Jeff Fairburn, returned over £25 million of his £100 million-plus bonus after anger and protest.  

New figures have shown the UK’s economy to grow at the slowest rate since 2012. The Office for National Statistics revealed GDP growth to increase by just 0.1 percent in the first quarter of the year. “Overall, the economy performed poorly in the first quarter, with manufacturing growth slowing and weak consumer-facing services,” said Rob Kent-Smith from the ONS. The ONS has maintained the view that the Beast from the East had little impact on the economy with figures showing increased online sales and energy production during the colder period. “While the bad weather had some impact on the economy, particularly in construction and some areas of retail, its overall effect was limited, with partially offsetting impacts in energy supply and online sales,” the ONS said. John Hawksworth, the chief economist at PwC, remains more hopeful for the second quarter. “We expect some recovery in the second quarter, with GDP growth of around 1.3 percent for 2018 as a whole,” he said. The figures are likely to raise concerns for the British economy as it prepares to leave the EU. “The Bank of England has been keen to stress that the weakness in the first quarter was temporary, while also pointing out that it has historically been prone to upwards revisions,” said David Cheetham, the chief market analyst at brokerage group XTB. “Unfortunately for [governor Mark] Carney and his fellow Monetary Policy Committee members, there has been no such upwards revision today and while there’s still the final reading to come, it is unlikely we see much improvement there.” The Bank of England has been hesitant raising interest rates this month following the weak first GDP estimate. Threadneedle Street said the effects of the cold weather snap were limited and the ONS said it had seen a longer-term pattern of slowing growth.