BUSINESS LIVE: Ocado boss faces revolt; Hipgnosis agrees Blackstone takeover; Entain

Barclaycard Platinum customers have seen their interest rates pitched skyward without warning in recent weeks, leaving some to face rates nearly double what they were previously paying.

An email from Barclays seen by This is Money, shows that one customer, Robert*, will see his interest rate rise to 23 per cent compound in July, from its current rate of 13.1 per cent.

The FTSE 100 continues its recent run in early trading, driven by gains in Anglo American after a report said BHP Group was considering a better buyout proposal and AstraZeneca after it reported progress in some treatments.

Anglo American has added 2.5 per cent after a source familiar with the matter told Reuters that BHP Group is considering an improved offer after its $39billion proposal was rejected by the London-listed copper miner.

AstraZeneca is up 1.1 per cent after the pharmaceuticals giant made progress with two breast cancer treatments.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund has climbed 2.3 per cent after Blackstone agreed to acquire the music rights owner for about $1.57 billion, trumping an offer from Concord.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 was flat after having hit an over two-week high earlier in the session.

Petrofac has slumped 23.4 per cent after a group of noteholders offered the struggling UK oilfield services provider a $300million credit line, and the firm also delayed the publication of its full-year results.

Britain must scrap the ‘double taxation’ blighting popular stock market investments to help revive the City of London.

Investment trusts – such as Scottish Mortgage and Polar Capital Technology – are companies listed on the stock market and are therefore subject to the UK’s ‘pernicious’ stamp duty regime.

This means savers pay a 0.5 per cent levy when they buy shares in the trusts.

At the same time, the trusts are charged 0.5 per cent when they purchase shares in companies the fund managers invest in.

A group of Petrofac noteholders have offered the struggling UK oilfield services provider a $300million credit line to help it secure performance guarantees on some existing contracts.

The credit support — comprising $200million in new funds and $100million in credit — would mean converting a significant proportion of the group’s existing debt to equity, Petrofac told shareholders, without naming the noteholders or saying how much debt it would need to convert.

The London-listed firm also delayed the publication of its full-year results to 31 May.

Performance guarantees refer to a commitment to honour the terms of the deal. Petrofac has been grappling with payment delays and cost overruns at its largest unit, engineering and construction.

A delay in advance payments on new contracts has also pushed up Petrofac’s debt levels, with the company mulling ways to improve its balance sheet, including the sale of non-core assets.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor:

‘There are increasing questions as to whether the FTSE100 has finally found favour on the global stage.

‘The premier index continues to scale new highs, where It will not have escaped the attention of international investors that the UK remains relatively cheap in terms of valuation compared to most developed markets.

‘Rising commodity prices and especially gold have boosted large sectors to be found within the premier index, while the relative weakness of sterling has been an additional boost. Around 70% of FTSE100 earnings come from overseas, making them more profitable when translated back to sterling.

‘The index has now added 5.7% so far this year, with its constituents additionally providing an average dividend yield of 3.6% with the still undemanding valuation level suggesting that further growth is indeed achievable.

‘ In the meantime, another week of busy corporate earnings will see HSBC and Standard Chartered round off the reporting season for the UK banks, with updates also due from the likes of Shell, Next and GSK.’

Tesla boss Elon Musk has made a surprise visit to Beijing as he looks to woo officials over self-driving cars.

In a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang last night, Musk said the electric car maker was willing to cooperate to ‘achieve more win-win results’.

It comes as the Tesla chief aims to launch its self-driving cars in China and convince officials to transfer data collected in the country abroad to train algorithms.

Gambling group Entain has negotiated the reepricing of two of its existing loans, as it seeks to reassure markets over its debt pile.

The group’s shares have struggled over the last year as investors fret Entain’s high leverage, as well as regulatory concerns.

Entain said it had shaved the margin on a $1.74billion dollar-denominated loan maturing in October 2029 by 75 basis points to 275bps. USD term loan maturing October 2029. The credit adjustment spread of 10bps was also removed

Meanwhile a euro-denominated €1billion loan maturing in June 2028 has seen its margin trimmed by 50bps to 325bps.

Entain said: ‘These refinancing actions are net debt neutral, improve the Group’s liquidity by c£295m, and extend the maturity date of the Group’s debt (replacing the bank loan due 2026 with term loans due 2028/2029).

‘The net impact of the re-pricing and add-on does not change the previously guided cash interest costs for the current financial year. However, with economic forecasts indicating a slower rate of interest rate reduction, we are taking a more conservative view of interest costs for the balance of the year.

‘As a result, our revised guidance for cash interest for FY24 is now c£265m5. The P&L interest charge, adjusting for IFRS16 interest and fee amortisation6, is expected to be c£285m.’

Blackstone has agreed to acquire Hipgnosis Songs Fund for about $1.6billion, after the private equity giant outbid rival suitor Concord in the takeover battle for the music owner of artists such as Shakira and Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Blackstone’s formal offer valued the music rights investor at $1.30 per share, higher than Concord’s $1.25 per share offer last Wednesday.

Hipgnosis’ board plans to back Blackstone’s offer and withdrew its recommendation for Nashville-based music firm Concord.

Ocado boss Tim Steiner faces a shareholder revolt over his pay today.

Investors have been urged to vote against the £15m pay policy by advisory groups Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). They say a new scheme may cause ‘excessive pay’.

ISS said its concerns were ‘exacerbated by… no dividend and a general decline in share price.’