Shell eyes profit windfall

Good morning Square Mile watchers,

Heading into the market open this morning, we’ve had news from Shell that it is poised for a major boost from its refining operations. That’s down, of course, to the surging price of fuel - with oil stubbornly above $100 a barrel and diesel way up at $42 a barrel. Brits are wincing at diesel prices above 200p a litre.

Meanwhile in Birmingham, Kemi Badenoch is (presumably) putting the final touches on her leader’s speech at Conservative party conference. She is set to frame the coming years as the biggest fight the Tories have faced for 50 years, and the clearest political battle of ideas that Britain has seen in decades.

PLUS: Our deputy sports editor Matt Hardy has a big exclusive this morning, on a senior City Football Group official who attended the Labour party conference days after Manchester City was found guilty of over 100 Premier League charges. The official has told City AM he was there in a personal capacity. 

So, here’s everything you need to know this morning. We’ll be back in your inbox at noon with Midday Markets.

Matt

Jeremy Clarkson quipped on Monday that “a lot of people seem to have come dressed as seats” as he surveyed the hall from the main stage, but there’s no denying that luring the nation’s most famous farmer to address what’s left of the Conservative party was something of a coup.

But what’s on offer beyond the celebrity guests and novelty embroidery? Well, quite a lot, actually, writes City AM Editor-in-Chief Christian May.

The FTSE 100 is set for a dip on open as tensions in the oil market catch up.

Futures data from IG points towards the blue-chip index falling 0.2 per cent at open. It comes as oil keeps the pressure on markets as it remains well over the three-digit as we enter mid-week.

This tees the firm up for a bumper quarter in its products division, which focuses on turning raw crude oil into finished fuels such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil and jet fuel. Shell will release its full third-quarter results at the end of October.

The margin expansion follows the leaders of G7 nations agreeing to release a 100m emergency supply of diesel and oil in a bid to stave off a brewing supply crisis. The cohort of advanced economies said on Friday they would work with the International Energy Agency to ramp up releases from their emergency stockpiles “in light of ongoing market pressures”.

The average house price in London fell by 2.2 per cent to £531,548 in the year to September, according to the Lloyds house price index, marking a worse drop than August’s 1.5 per cent.

Across the UK, house prices were unchanged in the month to September as well as year on year, marking an improvement from last month’s 0.3 per cent drop in values. 

Two of London’s top advisory firms considered buying Global Counsel out of administration after the lobbying shop founded by Peter Mandelson collapsed amid revelations over its ties with Jeffrey Epstein.

FGS Global and Flint Global were among several major consultancies presented with an offer to acquire Mandelson’s failed boutique by administrators, two people familiar with the matter said, in a deal that could have allowed them to inherit Global Counsel staff and some of its remaining client contracts.

It is approaching a decade since Mike Coupe, then Sainsbury’s boss, was caught on a hot mic singing “we’re in the money” as his supermarket announced its impending takeover of rival grocer Asda. 

He was forced to apologise for the outburst, which was caught on camera while he waited to be interviewed by ITV News. “This was an unguarded moment trying to compose myself before a TV interview,” he then explained. “It was an unfortunate choice of song, from the musical 42nd Street which I saw last year and I apologise if I have offended anyone.”

The moment later marked the beginning of the end for Sainsbury’s £7.3bn deal to take over Asda, which was eventually blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) over fears it would restrict choice for British shoppers.

Chris Anderson, head of regulatory affairs at Manchester City parent company City Football Group, was among the delegates in Liverpool for the four-day conference, which began less than 48 hours after news of the guilty verdict emerged.

It comes amid close scrutiny of the relationship between Andy Burnham’s government and CFG’s Abu Dhabi owners, after the Prime Minister said he would be concerned if punishment of Manchester City caused them to sell up. 

In the world of watch collecting, time does not stand still. That’s the joy of it: you never know what might be the prize of tomorrow, says Andy Blackmore.

Would you like to advertise with us or become a sponsor? Please reach out to: [email protected]