Audioboom shares rose on Monday after reports by Sky News that Amazon and Spotify were preparing rival bids for the podcasting company chichis listed on London’s AIM.

Sky reported Amazon had appointed an investment bank to work on the deal which Sky say could see bids as early as this month.

Audioboom shares traded briefly above 2,150p before the rally faded to trade 11% higher on the day at 1,960p.

Exclusive: The technology giants Amazon and Spotify are considering rival takeover bids for Audioboom, the London-listed podcasting group which has seen revenues and its public market valuation surge amid a boom in audience figures during the pandemic. https://t.co/YL72xLlU1H

— Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) February 13, 2022

Audioboom have experienced a significant increase in the number of people listening to podcasts and recorded their maiden annual net profit of approximately $1.4m.

“2021 was a phenomenal year for Audioboom. In my second year leading the business we have delivered an incredible set of results, the culmination of our focus on content expansion and platform development,” said Stuart Last, CEO of Audioboom.

Audioboom posted a 39% increase in average global monthly downloads to 113 million in Q4 2021, up from 81.7 million in Q4 2020.

The pandemic has dramatically increased the popularity of podcasts and Audioboom would be a deft acquisition for the tech giants and they seek to grow their audience.

Spotify launched podcasts in 2020 and made big investments in growing their presence in the market by securing a $100m deal with Joe Rogan for exclusive distribution of his Podcast which has featured guests such as Elon Musk. Spotify has splashed out $1bn on Podcast rights and securing shows so AudiBoom’s platform and audience would be the perfect addition to further monetise their investment.

Audioboom has previously received a bid from All Active Asset Capital but appeared dead in the water as All Active shares were delisted.

Shares in Russia-focused mining company Evraz sank on Monday as fears grew Russia was on the verge of invading Ukraine.

Evraz shares were down over 30% in early trade on Monday as investors fled the stock to avoid the impact of any economic consequences from sanctions imposed by the west if Russia invaded Ukraine.

Evraz has operations across Europe and North America but earns the majority of its revenue in Russia from the production of steel.

The company produced 2.9m tonnes of steel in Russia in Q4 2021 and 480,000 tonnes in North America.

Evraz shares fell in a broad market sell off as investors scaled down their risk positions after comments from US officials over the weekend that Russia could begin an invasion at any moment.

“We continue to see signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border,” said Jake Sullivan, the US president’s national security adviser.

Russia have denied they are preparing an attack but after the weeks of growing tensions, Monday finally saw sharp moves in markets as investors repositioned portfolios.

“Just as the storm of Covid appeared to be receding, the growing expectation of an invasion of Ukraine is the fresh threat now unnerving investors, with confidence plunging in many parts of the world,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

Today’s drop in Evraz shares will be particularly painful for Chelsea-owner Roman Abramovich who owns 29% of the company.

The FTSE 100 eased on Friday after a strong week of gains that saw the index trade at the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic.

The FTSE 100 was trading 7,627, down 0.4% going into the close on Friday. Although the index was down on Friday, the FTSE 100 rebounded from sharper selling earlier in the session to trade marginally above key support levels around 7,620.

Trade was led by US equities which sank overnight on fears around inflation and interest rates. This meant the FTSE 100 opened lower, but later tracked the recovery in US futures higher during the session.

UK GDP

Markets learnt of the UK’s strong economic performance in 2021 on Friday but the bumper reading did little to inspire confidence.

Investors seemed unimpressed with the UK’s 7.5% growth in 2021 with domestic facing sectors such as housebuilders barely moving.

GDP is backward looking economic indicator and despite grinding out 1% growth during the ‘lockdown by stealth’ in Q4, both households and investors will be looking forward to conditions in 2022 with soaring inflation and the prospect of multiple rate hikes.

“Will 2022 see the UK quickly shake itself off after December’s blip or will supply constraints and those rising prices keep the lid on things?  One percent growth in Q4 is pretty good going when you think about those empty high streets dressed up for a Christmas party that never took place.  Household consumption has been a key factor in the UK’s growth story, the question is will households still have the fire power as additional budget pressures exert a choke hold,” said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell financial analyst.

Overseas earners

With the majority of shares in the FTSE 100 down on Friday, those that showed some signs of positivity were predominately companies that earn a large proportion of their revenue overseas.

Unilever rebounded from selling yesterdays as investors contemplated the company’s strategy and decision to proceed with share buybacks and hold off on any major acquisitions. Unilever shares were 3.3% higher at the time of writing.

Energy companies continued their rally on Friday as BP and Shell gained. Miners were mixed as copper miner Antofagasta pushed 2% higher but Rio Tinto, Glencore and Anglo American fell.

Betting companies Entain and Flutter also gained as investors positioned for the relaxation of betting laws in the US.

AstraZeneca revenues surged in 2021 as the Pharma giant rolled out the COVID-19 vaccine and saw strong growth in oncology and immunotherapy drugs.

AstraZeneca revenue rose 41% (38% at CER) to $37.4bn including COVID-19 vaccine sales and 26% excluding vaccines sales.

“Astrazeneca’s results showed  a total revenue increase of 41% to $37,417m including COVID-19 vaccine revenues. The company managed to achieve 14 positive Phase 3 readouts across nine medicines in 2021, and 22 regulatory approvals and authorisations in major markets which further boosted its market dominance in the field,” said Walid Koudmani, market analyst at financial brokerage XTB.

Astra will create a new business unit for their COVID-19 vaccines but in an interview with Bloomberg TV, the Astra CEO said they expected volumes to fall as we move out of the pandemic. Although vaccine sales boosted Astra’s sales, the overall impact of the pandemic on profitability was negative.

“Covid vaccine sales added $4bn to sales at AstraZeneca, but coronavirus had the opposite impact on profits. Outfitting staff with PPE and providing tests together with increased investment in vaccine and treatment development all weighed on the bottom line,” said Laura Hoy, Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Hoy also highlighted the impact of acquisitions on Astra’s profit but was confident growth would support a dividend hike in the future.

“The real driver for Astra’s profit decline was the Alexion acquisition. The purchase brought Rare Diseases under the Astra umbrella and our fist glimpse at performance for this sector wasn’t too shabby. Management were confident enough in the promise of future growth that they announced a dividend hike,” said Hoy.

Astra shares were up 2.3% at the time of writing on Thursday morning.