BUSINESS LIVE: UK GDP flatlined in April; DFS makes profit warning; Legal & General unveils new strategy

With summer finally approaching, I was keen to buy a cheap desk fan to keep me cool.

If you pop into John Lewis, the cheapest one you can find is £15; on Amazon you can get one for £12.99.

Severn Trent’s boss raked in £3.2million in the last financial year after pocketing a bumper bonus despite rising sewage spills.

Amid a crisis engulfing the water industry, Liv Garfield was handed a £584,000 bonus on top of her £799,600 base salary.

Oxford Instruments surged ahead as it closed in on the takeover of a rival and outlined plans to restructure its business.

The FTSE 250 firm, which makes and sells X-ray cameras, microscopes and magnets to academic researchers and commercial customers, is buying a Zurich-based company for £15million.

Raspberry Pi shares soared by more than 40 per cent yesterday on a bumper debut on the London stock market.

The Cambridge-based computer-maker listed at 280p a share to give it a value of £542million.

The UK economy recorded no growth in April, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Gross domestic product (GDP) was flat during the month, following growth of 0.4 per cent in March, the ONS said.

Nicholas Hyett, investment manager at Wealth Club, comments on the altest UK GDP figures:

The market had low expectations for the UK economy in April, and it duly delivered.

Economic growth was flat, held back by a third month in a row of contraction in the construction industry and weakness in the manufacturing sector. Admittedly the numbers aren’t helped by rain that was 155% of the long term average.

That will be no surprise to anyone who’s lived through the wet and gloomy start to 2024, but has nonetheless severely dented output in house building and associated industries. After strong growth in March it’s a return to a less than compelling trend.

In an election month, where every data release will be being watched closely, there’s little here to change the narrative.