Primark CEO steps down after complaint, AstraZeneca gets two new approvals
By Josh White
Date: Monday 31 Mar 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 53 points lower on Monday, having closed down 0.08% on Friday at 8,658.85.
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Paul Marchant has resigned as Primark chief executive with immediate effect after a woman made a complaint about his behaviour "in a social environment", parent company Associated British Foods said on Monday. Group finance director Eoin Tonge will act as Primark CEO on an interim basis. Marchant's departure follows an investigation, initiated by ABF and carried out by external lawyers. It was not clear whether the complaint was made by a staff member or third party. "Paul Marchant cooperated with the investigation, acknowledged his error of judgement and accepted that his actions fell below the standards expected by ABF. He has made an apology to the individual concerned, the ABF Board and also to his Primark colleagues and others connected to the business," the company said in a statement.
AstraZeneca said on Monday that the US FDA has approved its Imfinzi as the first perioperative immunotherapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, based on phase three trial results showing a 32% reduction in recurrence risk and 25% reduction in mortality versus chemotherapy alone. In the EU, the CHMP had meanwhile recommended approval of Calquence combined with chemoimmunotherapy for previously untreated mantle cell lymphoma, following phase three data showing a 27% reduction in progression or death and a 16.8-month improvement in median progression-free survival. The developments expanded AstraZeneca's oncology portfolio with new first-line treatment options in bladder and blood cancers.
Newspaper round-up
Anti-scam campaign groups are calling for police forces to be much tougher on fraudsters, who they claim are scamming millions from victims in "a penalty-free crime". The pleas are being made just days after the UK government announced it is working on an "expanded" fraud strategy as part of a "robust response" to surging reported fraud rates, which rose by 19% last year according to the Office for National Statistics. - Guardian
France has accused Donald Trump of "interference" after the White House demanded that European companies working with the US government drop diversity schemes. Companies in France and other EU countries have received letters in recent days warning that Mr Trump's executive order on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes applied to companies outside the United States. - Telegraph
Government departments will be asked to fund loss-making projects backed by Rachel Reeves's National Wealth Fund even as the Chancellor demands deep cuts to Whitehall spending. Treasury documents reveal departments will be asked to pick up the tab for any projects supported by the sovereign wealth fund that are relevant to their brief and "intentionally loss-making". - Telegraph
Aviva has resurrected controversial plans to cancel £450 million of its preference shares seven years after a prior attempt erupted into a major City row - and has immediately run into renewed opposition. Financial advisers have again hit out at the insurer for potentially forcibly buying in the preference shares from retail investors in spite of their being marketed on the front cover of the original prospectuses as "irredeemable". - The Times
Retailers' optimism about their profits and growth for the year ahead has reached a near-decade high amid a sustained revival in business confidence since the October budget, a survey on Monday shows. According to the Lloyds Business Barometer, confidence among retailers leapt to its highest level since August 2015 in March. The bank's sentiment index for the sector rose by seven points to 58 per cent, much higher than the overall business confidence reading of 49 per cent, which was still a seven-month high and unchanged from the previous month. - The Times
US close
US stocks dropped sharply on Friday with the S&P 500 hitting its lowest level in two weeks as risk appetite was hammered by an upside surprise to inflation data.
The Dow finished 1.7% lower at 41,583.90, the Nasdaq sank 2.7% to 17,322.99, while the S&P 500 tumbled 2.0% to 5,580.94 - its lowest close since 13 March.
Auto stocks were continuing to provide a drag on the market a day after Donald Trump slapped a 25% tariff on "all cars that are not made in the United States".
Friday's primary focus was the personal consumption expenditures price index, which revealed the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation unexpectedly rose in February.
The year-on-year change in the core PCE index, which excludes volatile food and energy items, increased to 2.8% last month, up from 2.7% in January and ahead of economists' predictions for no change.
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