Haydale (LON:HAYD) and the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating are now contracted to develop wearable advanced technology. Indeed, the English Institute of Sport (EIS) awarded the contract, which will develop wearable technology for 2020 Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The apparel range for elite athletes will incorporate flexible, printable coatings and Haydale’s advanced materials. In fact, during the run up to 2020, athletes will wear the clothing during training and competitions. Director of Performance and Innovation for the English Institute of Sport, Dr Matt Parker, said: “The EIS performance innovation team is continually looking for external expertise that can help us optimise athlete performance,” “We believe the partnership with Haydale and WCPC will allow us at the EIS to make significant advances in our use of wearable technologies.” Additionally, the EIS is “delighted” to be working with Haydale and the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating. At 12:35 BST Haydale shares were trading at -1.65%.

BMW has announced plans to shut its UK factory for one month on the same day Britain plans to leave the EU. The car manufacturer said on Tuesday that it will stop making cars from 29 March 2019 in order to minimise the potential disruption a no-deal Brexit. A BMW spokesperson said on Tuesday: “Planned annual maintenance periods at BMW Group production sites allow essential updating and equipment replacement to be completed over several weeks, while there is no production taking place.” “As a responsible organisation, we have scheduled next year’s annual maintenance period at Mini Plant Oxford to start on 1 April, when the UK exits the EU, to minimise the risk of any possible short-term parts-supply disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.” “While we believe this worst-case scenario is an unlikely outcome, we have to plan for it.” The news from BMW comes amid several warnings from car manufacturers with factories in the UK. On Monday, Jaguar Land Rover announced that it was introducing a three-day week at its Castle Bromwich plant due to “continuing headwinds impacting the car industry”. The reduction of worker hours will impact the 2,000 employees based at the factory. Jaguar has said the reduction in hours will preserve the jobs of its employees rather than axing the roles. On Tuesday, Honda (TYO: 7267) warned that a no-deal Brexit would cost tens of millions of pounds. Last week Jaguar boss Ralf Speth warned that tens of thousands of jobs in the motor industry will be at risk if a no-deal Brexit goes ahead. The BMW spokesperson said that the car manufacturer would remain committed to the UK, adding: “We remain committed to our operations in Britain, which is the only country in the world where we manufacture for all three of our automotive brands.” Shares in BMW (ETR: BMW) are trading at 82,50 (1343GMT).  

Phoenix Global Mining Ltd (LON:PGM) has produced results for its ongoing drill programme at the Empire Copper Mine in Idaho. Phoenix Global Mining is a metal explorer and developer, and is US-focused. Its main focus is the advancement of the Empire mine into an open pit copper oxide production. The results include several highlights. First, they outline extensive evidence that copper sulphides lie below the Empire mine. Likewise, just north-west of the Empire pit lies a new zone of mineralisation. This “Red Star” outcrop holds heavy oxide/sulphide mineralisation. Furthermore, the results show that five drill hole intercepts contain predominantly chalcopyrite and bornite copper sulphide mineralisation. CEO Dennis Thomas commented: “These results are “game changing” for the Company given they provide extensive evidence that a high-grade feeder system exists below the Empire oxide resource and demonstrate the existence of such a sulphide system within the Empire Mine.” Moreover, Thomas added: “To date, we have focused on the oxides at surface but these results will inevitably require following up with further exploration of the sulphide system. We now have five drill holes that have intercepted predominantly chalcopyrite and bornite copper sulphide mineralisation in high-grade vein structures. This batch of results has given us renewed confidence to explore the sulphides in more detail. Also, quite significantly we have reported material gold and silver grades that would boost project economics. In addition, the CEO explained: “We are pleased to report the discovery of a new zone of surface mineralisation in the Empire block, now referred to as Red Star. Red Star is located approximately 330 metres north-west of the northern end of the Empire resource area and is a 20-meter-wide surface outcrop across the structure.” At 12.23 BST today, Phoenix Global Mining shares were trading at +12.79%.

Aviva PLC (LON:AV) has announced that it has successfully completed its share buy-back programme. As a result, Aviva has acquired 119,491,188 shares at an average price of £5.02 per share. Aviva announced the share buyback programme earlier this year in May. This was as a result of its 2017 results which highlighted a significant excess of capital. Aviva had committed to deploy £2 billion of the excess capital in 2018. The deployment includes three parts. First, £900 million for debt reduction. Next, £500 million for bolt-on acquisitions. Finally, a £600 million ordinary share buy-back. Additionally, Aviva had entered into an agreement with Citigroup Global Markets LTD to conduct the buy-back programme on its behalf. Under the agreement, Citigroup conducted the share buy-back programme on Aviva’s behalf, making trade decisions independently of Aviva. The programme was expected to last from 1 May 2018 to 31 December 2018, but it has been completed ahead of schedule. At 11:59 BST today, shares in Aviva were trading at -0.23%.

Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) has released its Unaudited Results for the six months ended 30 June 2018. Union Jack Oil specialises in onshore oil and gas production, development and exploration, focusing on the UK. Additionally, its investment strategy emphasises the acquisition of late stage exploration projects with approved planning consent for drilling wells. Notably, the results highlight an increase in the company’s losses. For the six months through June, losses reached £419k. In comparison to the £316k loss for the six months ended in June 2017, this is a considerable increase. That said, the results highlight a successful workover programme on production wells at Fiskerton Airfield Oilfield. Additionally, it notes the commercial partnership entered into with Humber Oil & Gas Limited. Executive Chairman, David Bramhill, said: “The addition of material interests in the Biscathorpe and Wressle projects during the period under review both materially enhance Union Jack’s oil reserves and resources”. As a result, this significantly increases “risk value potential in the fully funded prospective high impact conventional well at Biscathorpe-2”. “The Company will benefit materially if either of these key projects is successful given the considerable upside value potential in each to Union Jack.” “I look forward to commenting further on each of these drilling and development projects during the coming months.” “The future of Union Jack remains bright.” At 08:09 BST today, shares in Union Jack Oil were trading at +0.82%.

Jaguar Land Rover will move to a three-day working week at its Castle Bromwich factory, the Telegraph has reported. This decision has been made amid its decreasing sales and Brexit fears. Indeed, the move to a three-day week is set to last until Christmas. The reduction of worker hours will impact 2,000 staff working at the factory. By reducing their hours, Jaguar aims to preserve the jobs of its employees rather than scrapping roles completely. The company sad it will be making “temporary adjustments to our production schedules” at the factory. Additionally, the company added that it was normal to “regularly review its production schedules to ensure market demand is balanced globally”. Several have blamed Brexit uncertainty for the move, the BBC reports. Notably, Assistant general secretary of the Unite union, Tony Burke, said: “This is the continuing effect of the chaotic mismanagement of the Brexit negotiations by the government” Moreover, Theresa May’s handling of the situation “has created uncertainty across the UK’s automotive industry and the manufacturing sector generally”. Jaguar Land Rover directly employs 40,000 in addition to the 260,000 working in its supply chain. In 2017, the company produced over 600,000 cars. Mainland Europe purchased a fifth of these.

Swiss bank UBS will move operations to Frankfurt post-Brexit. The lender’s chief executive told Bloomberg TV that the lender had been forced to prepare for a no-deal Brexit. Sergio Ermotti said it had chosen Frankfurt as the group’s “main hub, it will carry out what is described as a multi-location strategy, doing business from offices in Paris, Milan, and Madrid.” “The financial system is already operating on the assumption that there is no agreement,” he said, referring to the deal on which Britain will leave the EU. “Whatever is going to happen from now onwards, it’s not going to make the exercise less expensive.” Ermotti went onto describe how Brexit had impacted many companies across Europe. “It’s a complication that undermines the willingness to make investments. In the UK and in general in Europe this has been something that has prevented people taking action and investing for the future.” There has not been an indication of the number of staff that UBS plans to move from the UK, although senior bankers have said that the number of employees moved from London post-Brexit will be smaller than initially expected. The UBS chief executive said that despite concerns, he did not think Brexit would lead to another financial crisis. “I think the system is well prepared. I don’t think the next crisis is going to be a banking crisis. The banking system is very resilient,” he said, before adding that Brexit would trigger the economy to slow down. “That is clear,” he said. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief, Christine Lagarde, warned on Monday that no conceivable Brexit deal would be as beneficial as staying in the EU. “Whatever the deal is will not be as good as it is at the moment,” she said. “Let me be clear, compared with today’s smooth single market, all the likely Brexit scenarios will have costs for the economy and to a lesser extent as well for the EU.” “The larger the impediments to trade in the new relationship, the costlier it will be. This should be fairly obvious, but it seems that sometimes it is not,” she added. Shares in the group (SWX: UBSG) are trading at 15,14 (0943GMT).  

Aldi has reported a strong quarter, as the discount supermarket’s sales grew faster than its UK competitors. Sales in the retailer jumped 12.5 percent, higher than Lidl’s 9.1 percent sales growth, which put the group in second place. According to Nielsen data, sales in Co-op and Iceland also grew by 7.1 percent and 6.1 percent respectively. The big four supermarkets also saw a growth in sales but at a lower level. Asda and Morrisons saw sales grow by 3.9 percent and 2.8 percent respectively, whilst Tesco (LON: TSCO) saw sales increase by 2.5 percent. “While there is still pressure on the consumer wallet, we continued to see shoppers spend freely on indulgences, celebrations and events up until the end of August. The hot summer has been a windfall for most food retailers,” said Nielsen’s UK head of retailer insight, Mike Watkins. “However, with summer turning to autumn in the last couple of weeks, sales growths have mellowed. Even so, shoppers are maintaining their grocery spend and opting instead to make savings on overall household expenditure, including clothing and homewares.” “The exceptional summer has given the industry some much-needed momentum and with a recent small uptick in inflation, the improved growth we’ve seen in the first half of the year are likely to continue for the second half, even if the last few weeks have seen a pause for breath,” he added. Supermarket sales grew at their fastest rate this year, boosted by the World cup and warmer weather over summer. Market research firm Kantar Worldpanel said that food and drink sales in the 12 weeks to 15 July increased by 3.6 percent compared to the same period a year earlier. “Football-frenzied customers visited supermarkets an extra 13 million times as they hurried to stock up on World Cup-viewing essentials, with alcohol in particular the stand-out winner,” said Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel.

Donald Trump has imposed a further $200 billion worth of import tariffs of Chinese goods arriving in the US. The US President’s new round of tariffs will not only affect businesses but hit thousands of consumer goods and increase costs. “For months, we have urged China to change these unfair practices, and give fair and reciprocal treatment to American companies,” said Trump in a statement. “We have been very clear about the type of changes that need to be made, and we have given China every opportunity to treat us more fairly. But, so far, China has been unwilling to change its practices.” The tariffs will increase the costs of many consumer items including electronics, food, houseware items and luggage. The latest round, which Trump has blamed on “unfair policies and practices”, will affect half of all Chinese goods coming into the US. Investors were expecting Trump’s latest move and therefore the blow to the market was not as big as it could have been. Chang Wei Liang of Mizuho Bank said: “Given that markets have been bracing for this tariff announcement, we expect a muted rather than dramatic sell-off in Asian equities and currencies today.” Earlier on Tuesday, Trump tweeted a warning to foreign countries of higher tariffs if they failed to agree on “fair” trade agreements. “Tariffs have put the US in a very strong bargaining position, with Billions of Dollars, and Jobs, flowing into our Country – and yet cost increases have thus far been almost unnoticeable. If countries will not make fair deals with us, they will be ‘Tariffed!’” he tweeted. The US President also took to Twitter to describe the benefits the latest round of tariffs would have on the US economy. “Our Steel Industry is the talk of the World. It has been given new life, and is thriving. Billions of Dollars is being spent on new plants all around the country!” he wrote.