Business news live: Diageo profits drop and BP faces shareholder pressure as ex-fund manager Neil Woodford and firm fined £46m

The financial watchdog said Neil Woodford put investors’ money at risk.

It said it will ban Mr Woodford from holding senior manager roles and from managing funds for retail investors.

Mr Woodford will be fined £5.89 million and Woodford Investment Management (WIM) will be fined £40 million.

Aldi has lost its title of cheapest supermarket in the UK for the first time in nearly two years, with rival Lidl taking its place.

Price analysis by consumer group Which? looked at an average basket of 76 grocery shopping products across July, including both popular brands and own-brands, with Lidl edging out its discount rival by less than £1 overall – or slightly more if loyalty cards were used.

Lidl’s total price was £128 with the loyalty card and £128.40 without, while Aldi came in at £129.25.

More notably, both those supermarkets worked out to be around £17 cheaper than Tesco and £40 cheaper than Waitrose, which was the most expensive at £170.91 overall.

Several banks on Wall Street are cautioning clients that a stock market pullback could be on the agenda.

Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank are among those suggesting the S&P 500 – the index of America’s top firms – is likely to face a near-term drop.

President Trump’s trade war, weaker economic growth and the potential for rising inflation are all cautionary markers.

The S&P 500 is up 7.6 per cent year to date and set to rise this afternoon when markets open.

Analysts are forecasting between a 10 and 15 per cent pullback this quarter.

Saudi Aramco has again recorded lower profits than the previous quarter – the tenth straight time it has done so.

“The decrease in revenue was mainly due to lower crude oil prices and lower refined and chemical products prices,” the company said in its report.

Dividends from Aramco are a key revenue for the nation which is trying to pivot away from reliance on oil, towards tourism, sport and business.

The Saudi government and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) are estimated to own 97-98 per cent of Saudi Aramco between them.

Renewables generated more than half of the UK’s power for the first time in 2024 in a new record high for clean electricity sources.

Official figures show wind, solar, hydro and biomass generated 50.4% of UK power last year, up from 46.5% in 2023, due to record high levels of wind and bioenergy power.

At the same time fossil fuels – mainly gas – fell to a record low share of 31.8% of generation, with Britain’s last coal plant shutting in September 2024, the figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero show.

Energy giant BP has announced its biggest oil and gas field discovery in 25 years after a drilling off the coast of Brazil.

The company’s vice president for oil production, Gordon Birrell, said it was a “significant discovery” and the largest since 1999, when a giant gasfield in the Caspian Sea was discovered. It is expected to contain a mix of gas and oil as well as condensate, which is a liquid form of natural gas.

The size of the field in the Bumerangue prospect is more than 300 square kilometres – about three times the size of central Paris.

Former fund manager Neil Woodford, who notably lost billions of pounds of investors’ money through risky bets across his Woodford Equity Income Fund, has been fined and banned by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Mr Woodford himself has been fined £5,888,800 and banned from senior manager roles as well as managing funds for retail investors.

The FCA also fined Woodford Investment Management, the overall business, £40m.

The two entities were responsible for managing liquidity in the fund, the FCA says, which fell in value from £10bn to £3.6bn before it was suspended, leaving investors’ money trapped and unable to be withdrawn.

Mr Woodford “made unreasonable and inappropriate investment decisions [and] disproportionately sold more liquid investments (those that are easier to sell) and bought less liquid ones over this period,” said an FCA statement.

“This meant that at the time of suspension only 8% of the investments held by WEIF could be sold within 7 days. Under rules in place at the time, investors should have been able to access their funds within 4 days.”

Yesterday we brought you news that Elon Musk was handed a $29bn payday by Tesla, in the form of company shares.

Essentially, two years from now he’ll be able to ‘buy’ them for a little over $23 each – they currently trade for $310, making it a massive haul for him if he remains in place as CEO.

“Only time will tell whether this latest award is excessive or inspired,” Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, told The Independent.

“Designed to keep the CEO at the company by increasing his share stake, some uncertainty has been removed by the award. That being said, the shares have suffered on falling sales across many of its geographies as Musk’s political involvement with the White House was badly received politically, as well as being a distraction for the individual.

“Historically, Musk has been seen as being the main driver and muse of the electric car company. While the shares are currently down by 19% so far this year, over the last 12 months the price remains up by 54%. Even so, the price is also significantly lower than its record high which was achieved in August 2020, such that repayment and justification of this huge award would be hard-earned.”

High street store River Island’s fate rests with a judge after some creditors, including landlords, rejected restructure plans.

The company wants to shut some shops and reduce rents on others but needed 75% agreement from creditors to push ahead with the turnaround plan – which the Times reports it failed to get.

River Island has said it could run out of money by September if a plan is not approved.

A spokesman said: “In combination with the company’s transformation strategy, the plan is a proactive measure to place the company on a firm footing. We have been having positive conversations with key stakeholders and are confident that we will achieve approval of the plan in the coming days.”

Diageo shares are up 6.5 per cent this morning after announcing their results – that’s based on slightly beating estimates and announcing further cost cuts.

Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, says there’s still a tough road ahead all the same…starting with needing to find a new CEO.

“Diageo’s full-year results managed to stumble past analysts’ conservative forecasts, despite a weak underlying alcohol market. Guinness remained a stout performer, with yet another year of double-digit revenue growth,” Chiekrie said.

“Sales figures late in the year were helped by customers stocking up on booze before tariffs were expected to kick in. These ongoing tariff headwinds are expected to add around $200mn of extra costs annually. To help offset this, Diageo’s looking to streamline operations elsewhere in the business, with the group upping its guidance by $125mn, hoping to find a total of around $625mn of cost savings over the next three years.

“The hunt for a new leader remains ongoing. The sobering fact is that no matter who takes the reins, wrestling the group’s leverage down is likely to remain a key target. Diageo could look to sell a few brands to bring in some cash and speed up the process, but it’s hard to call which brands will fall on the chopping block. Given the group’s focus on delivering higher and more sustainable free cash flows, any future sales would likely be of lower-growth and lower-margin brands.”