Heathrow closed all day by fire, Wetherspoon reinstates interim dividend
By Josh White
Date: Friday 21 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points lower on Friday, having closed down 0.05% on Thursday at 8,701.99.
Stocks to watch
London's Heathrow airport is closed until midnight GMT after a fire at an electricity substation in the local area caused a "significant" power outage, hitting more than 1,000 slights and 16,000 homes, officials said on Friday. Flights already enroute to the west London airport were forced to divert, according to the specialist website Flightradar24. Passengers have been told not to travel to the airport "under any circumstances" and warned "significant disruption" is expected in the coming days.
Pub owner JD Wetherspoon reinstated its interim dividend on Friday after a solid increase in first-half underlying sales, but warned of the impact of rising labour costs on the business, which will hit each of its pubs by £1,500 per week. Chair Tim Martin said that increases in national insurance contributions and minimum wages, announced in the last Budget, would increase company costs by £60m a year.
Ferrexpo said in an update on Friday that Ukrainian tax authorities have suspended VAT refunds totaling UAH 512.9m ($12.5m) for January to its subsidiaries FPM and FYM, citing personal sanctions on major shareholder Kostiantyn Zhevago. The FTSE 250 company said the sanctions were not directed at Ferrexpo or its subsidiaries, and criticised the move as unjustified financial pressure. It said the suspension would strain its liquidity, forcing cuts to production and sales, with broader negative impacts on local procurement, tax contributions, and Ukraine's economy.
Newspaper round-up
The government is "absolutely up for the fight" over net zero, Ed Miliband has said, as he accused the Conservatives and Reform of "a total desertion and betrayal" of future generations by failing to tackle the climate crisis. After a turbulent week for Labour in which it has been charged with abandoning its values by slashing disability benefits, the energy secretary sought to focus attention on the party's plans for the green energy transition. - Guardian
The National Trust has frozen all but essential recruitment and is pausing some projects as it faces a £10m jump in labour costs this year as a result of higher employment costs stemming from last autumn's budget. The conservation charity, which looks after 500 historic houses, castles, parks and gardens, as well as 780 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of land, said the extra costs were the result of changes to employers' national insurance contributions and an increase in the legal minimum wage, which both come into force next month. - Guardian
Rachel Reeves has demanded government departments provide her with real-time public spending updates, as she ramps up a Treasury power grab ahead of next week's Spring Statement. As part of the Chancellor's plan to save billions of pounds, officials have been told they must provide instant and accessible data on how much they are spending and what it will achieve. - Telegraph
Expats will be cut off from scores of BBC radio stations and podcasts in a shake-up of the public service broadcaster's international output. Starting in a matter of weeks, the BBC will no longer allow access to Sounds - its audio streaming service - from abroad. Instead, international audiences will need to tune into radio and podcasts on a new advertising-funded service on BBC.com or the broadcaster's app. - Telegraph
The American technology behemoth Apple is said to be losing $1 billion a year on its streaming service as competition with rivals such as Netflix intensifies. The Cupertino-based group has spent more than $5 billion a year on content since launching Apple TV+ in 2019 but cut it by around $500 million last year, according to The Information. - The Times
US close
US stock markets finished a volatile session with small losses on Thursday, with indices struggling for direction for most of the day in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve policy meeting.
The Dow finished more or less flat, while the S&P 500 fell 0.2% and the Nasdaq lost 0.3%.
It was a tumultuous day for stocks, with futures falling sharply before the opening bell before recovering by mid-morning and then slumping once again in late-afternoon trade.
Stocks rose strongly on Wednesday on the back of comments by Fed chair Jerome Powell.
While the Fed left interest rates on hold, as expected, Powell said that a predicted increase in inflation - due to an escalating trade war - would likely only be "transitory", with the dot plot still pointing to two interest-rate cuts this year.
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