BUSINESS LIVE: Hargreaves Lansdown agrees takeover; Bellway sales sink; Asda boosts checkout staff

Britain’s competition watchdog is launching a merger inquiry into Amazon’s partnership with artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had ‘sufficient information’ to begin an initial investigation into the partnership, which has seen the tech giant invest over £3billion into the firm.

In the aftermath of the world’s largest ever global IT outage, which was caused by a faulty software upgrade by cyber-security firm CrowdStrike, specialist insurance underwriter Beazley expects more business opportunities in cyber risk insurance.

The FTSE 100-listed firm’s chief executive officer Adrian Cox said the CrowdStrike incident tested Beazley’s approach to underwriting cyber risk, but he said it had proved to be highly resilient.

Barclays has become the first British bank to tell staff a bonus cap is being scrapped in a post-Brexit victory.

In a boost for the country’s financial services industry, the City giant has ditched previous rules which were introduced by Brussels in 2014 that limited bonuses to two times an employee’s annual salary.

US stocks rallied yesterday after jobs data eased fears about a slowdown in the world’s largest economy.

There were fewer weekly jobless claims than forecast, which reassured markets after employment figures on Friday sparked a global market sell-off.

Bellway sales beat expectations in the first half as the housebuilder was boosted by improved buyer confidence following a drop in mortgage rates.

British homebuilders, hit by a prolonged cost-of-living squeeze, are set to benefit from the first cut in UK interest rates in more than four years.

Many UK mortgage lenders cut rates in anticipation of the long-awaited move earlier this month, although the Bank of England played down the prospect of a series of rapid cuts.

‘Customer confidence has improved, driven by a moderation of both mortgage interest rates and consumer price inflation, and an increase in wages,’ Bellway said.

The brighter outlook comes as Britain’s new Labour government plans to tackle a chronic housing shortage by easing planning restrictions and boosting land supply.

Bellway sales fell 31 per cent to £2.35billion, ahead of analysts’ average forecast of £2.27billion.

Hargreaves Lansdown has agreed to be acquired by a consortium backed by private equity giant CVC Partners and the Abu Dhabi wealth fund, in a 1,140p-per-share deal worth £5.44billion.

As part of the deal, Hargreaves investors will also receive a dividend of 30p per share as part of the deal.

The group of bidders includes buyout giant CVC, alongside Nordic Capital, and Platinum Ivy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA). The consortium is owned in equal parts by the three firms.

In a stock market update, the consortium said the deal is set to complete in the first quarter of 2025 if shareholders approve the terms.

‘While the Independent HL Board has been pleased with the progress made by the new management team, the Independent HL Board believes that the Cash Offer represents an attractive opportunity for HL Shareholders to realise an immediate and certain cash value for their investment at a level which may not be achievable until the execution of the strategy is delivered over the medium to longer term, and therefore intends to unanimously recommend HL Shareholders vote to approve it.

‘We are pleased to see that the Consortium is aligned that HL has an important purpose making it easy for the UK consumer to save and invest for a better future.’