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Strong earnings, dovish Fed drive FTSE 100 higher By Reuters

By Devik Jain (Reuters) -London's FTSE 100 climbed on Thursday supported by an accommodative policy stance by the U.S. Fed, while positive earnings updates from companies including Smith+Nephew and Unilever (LON:ULVR) helped the blue-chip index surge past the 7,000 mark. The index rose 0.6% to 7,002.30, with medical products maker Smith+Nephew jumping 5.3% after it reinstated its 2021 outlook. The FTSE 100 was further supported by Unilever, which gained 3% after it beat quarterly sales forecasts, helped by a pick up in home cooking during coronavirus lockdowns and a strong economic recovery in China....

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Ireland to reopen all shops in May, hospitality in early June By Reuters

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland will press ahead with plans to reopen all retail stores, personal services and non-residential construction in May with hotels, restaurants and bars to follow sooner than expected in early June, Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday. The government committed a month ago to reopening all shops for the first time this year in May and hotels in June if it could avoid a fourth wave of COVID-19 disease and speed up its vaccine programme - criteria that it has met. Coveney said the plan to be signed off by ministers later...

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Greatland Gold hails “excellent” drilling results at flagship Havieron project By Investing.com

By Samuel Indyk Investing.com – Greatland Gold, the metals exploration company, has announced “excellent” growth drilling results at its flagship Havieron asset. The asset is held in joint venture with Australian miner Newcrest Mining. The AIM-listed company said drilling activities since the last report include new results from the Growth Drilling programme, which continue to support the potential for resource expansion. Assay results for four new drilling holes from the programme have been received with all holes intersecting “significant” mineralisation. “We are very pleased with another set of excellent...

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China and home cooks help Unilever top forecasts By Reuters

By Siddharth Cavale (Reuters) -Unilever beat quarterly sales forecasts on Thursday, helped by a pick up in home cooking in coronavirus lockdowns and a strong economic recovery in China, and said it would buy back up to 3 billion euros ($3.6 billion) of shares from May. The maker of Dove soap and Ben and Jerry's ice cream said underlying sales rose 5.7% in the three months to the end of March, topping analysts' average forecast of 3.9%, according to a company supplied consensus. "We have had a good start to the year. We are growing...

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Money manager St. James’s Place sees ‘stronger than ever’ demand, posts record qtr By Reuters

(Reuters) -British wealth manager St. James's Place Plc reported record high funds under management and strong inflows in the first quarter on Thursday, as government stimulus and COVID-19 vaccination drives fuelled investor sentiment. "The moderate growth in new business that we saw in the early weeks of 2021 gathered pace through the quarter as confidence improved and clients sought to commit accumulated savings to longer-term investments," Chief Executive Officer Andrew Croft said. SJP, which has 22 offices across the UK and premises in Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Dublin, said the demand for trusted advice was...

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DS Smith warns of rise in packaging prices due to COVID-19 as online shopping booms By Reuters

(Reuters) -Britain's DS Smith warned on Thursday of higher packaging prices as an online shopping boom during the pandemic has led to a surge in demand for boxes, coupled with a shortage of raw materials and higher paper prices. DS Smith, which supplies packaging products to companies including Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nestle and Unilever (LON:ULVR), said it plans to invest in new box plants in Italy and Poland, and expand capacity in Germany. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated growth in e-commerce and demand for sustainable products, as consumers stuck at home turn to the internet...

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London Heathrow Airport’s COVID losses balloon to $3.4 billion By Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) -Heathrow, Britain's biggest airport, said on Thursday a first quarter loss of 329 million pounds ($459 million) took total losses since the start of the pandemic to nearly 2.4 billion pounds as travel continues to be hammered. It said only 1.7 million passengers travelled through the London airport in the three months to March 31, down 91% compared to the first quarter of 2019. Heathrow, which during the pandemic lost its crown as Europe's busiest hub to Paris, said continuing uncertainty over British government policy meant it had reduced its passenger forecast for the...

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Volkswagen plans renewable investments in CO2 reduction push By Reuters

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) plans to invest about 40 million euros ($48 million) in European wind and solar projects by 2025 as part of a push to become carbon neutral, the head of the group's namesake brand said on Thursday. As part of the initiative, Volkswagen will team up with Germany's top utility RWE for a solar park in 2022 that will have a capacity to supply 50,000 households with power. ($1 = 0.8252 euros) ...

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NatWest returns to profit after releasing cash for bad loans By Reuters

By Iain Withers LONDON (Reuters) -British lender NatWest returned to profit in the first quarter after joining rivals in releasing some of the provisions it had set aside to cover expected pandemic-related bad loans but warned a money laundering case could trigger a big bill. NatWest CEO Alison Rose's efforts to clean up NatWest's image - including ditching the group's scandal-tainted Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:NWG) name - hit a setback last month when regulators launched criminal money laundering charges against it. Prosecutors at the Financial Conduct Authority allege the state-backed bank failed to detect...

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Covid Boost for Global Car Sales to Spark a Surge in Oil Demand By Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- It’s starting to feel as commonplace as handwashing: To protect against Covid, people across the globe are skipping trains and buses. Instead, they’re part of the great car comeback that’s sending vehicle sales soaring and fueling a demand surge for oil and metals. Julie Murataj is a reluctant part of the shift. Two of her three kids are now getting dropped off at school instead of taking public transit. Then she drives her Volvo SUV to work, where she helps London schoolchildren cross the road by halting traffic with a bright, red and yellow...

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