Key events
Royal Mail to deliver on alternate days; Shell profits down
Good morning, and welcome to our live coverage of business, economics and financial markets.
Royal Mail is set to be allowed to deliver second-class letters only on alternate weekdays and not on Saturdays after the industry regulator announced a shake-up of postal service rules.
Communications regulator Ofcom has proposed that Royal Mail would still be required to deliver first-class letters six days a week and the price cap on second-class stamps would remain, but the company will be allowed to make cost savings by cutting the number of days it goes to every address.
The changes could save Royal Mail between £250m and £425m each year. The cuts would be a boon to Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s EP Group, as it nears a £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail’s FTSE 250-listed parent company, International Distribution Services.
Shell profits fall, but investor payouts rise
Shell has handed its investors a multibillion-dollar windfall despite reporting weaker than expected profits of $23.7bn for last year due as global oil and gas prices tumbled.
Shareholders of Europe’s biggest oil company are in line for a 4% dividend hike alongside share buybacks of $3.5bn for the last three months of the year.
This marks the thirteenth consecutive quarter in which Shell has handed its investors buy backs of more than $3bn, despite falling earnings from its oil and gas.
European Central Bank expected to cut interest rates
The European Central Bank, led by Christine Lagarde, is widely expected to cut interest rates today in an effort to support economic growth.
We will get a good picture of the economy’s momentum this morning, with Eurozone GDP figures.
Reuters reported:
The European Central Bank is all but certain to cut interest rates on Thursday and is likely to keep open the door to further policy easing as concerns over lacklustre economic growth supersede worries about persistent inflation.
The agenda
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9am GMT: Germany GDP growth (fourth quarter; previous: 0.1% quarter-on-quarter; consensus: -0.1%)
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10am GMT: Eurozone GDP growth (fourth quarter; prev.: 0.4% ; cons.: 0.1%)
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1:15pm GMT: European Central Bank interest rate decision
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1:30pm GMT: US GDP growth (fourth quarter; prev.: 3.1% annualised; cons.: 2.6%)
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1:45pm GMT: ECB press conference
