Business news live: Jaguar Land Rover to cut jobs, Marks & Spencer give staff extra discount after hack

UK pharma firm GSK is down more than 6 per cent today after an FDA panel rejected approving a new drug over side effect concerns.

“A troubling £3.8 billion has been wiped off the value of GSK after the US drug regulator cast doubt over its blood cancer drug, Blenrep, being approved for use,” explained AJ Bell’s Dan Coatsworth.

“The FDA has voted against the proposed dosage from a benefit/risk perspective. It means the likelihood of Blenrep’s approval next week is looking extremely slim.

“There is always a high risk with drug developments and pharmaceutical companies are no strangers to setbacks. However, Blenrep was particularly important to GSK, with analysts forecasting peak annual sales in the region of £2.9 billion and the drug had one of the highest probabilities of approval in its pipeline.

“This situation, along with the prospect of new tariffs on drugs imported into the US, means GSK is suddenly on the sick bed. GSK has lost nearly a tenth of its market value in the past eight days, which is worrying for a company of its stature.”

Nissan is closing a flagship factory to cut costs and moving all its production there to another plant.

Vehicle production at the Oppama plant in will end at the end of the 2027 fiscal year, in March 2028, the Japanese automaker said Tuesday in a statement.

The Oppama plant has been a prized symbol for Nissan Motor Corp., which rolled out its Leaf electric car there in 2010, ahead of key rivals.

Marks & Spencer say their loyalty card, Sparks, is finally back up and running after the cyber hack which hit the firm earlier this year.

The data breach is expected to cost M&S around £300m.

Customers who had birthdays in May and June will get a loyalty card gift this month instead, as well as July cardholders.

Additionally, M&S have upped the discount for their shop staff from 20 per cent to 30 per cent for four days as a thank you for them dealing with the fallout of the hack.

Vehicle manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover have announced 500 job cuts are incoming at management level.

A voluntary redundancy programme will be launched following falling sales, in part due to a pause in shipments to the US following tariffs.

JLR have also delayed the release of its new electric models for both brands, the Guardian reports, to allow for more testing and for demand to pick up.

The FTSE 100 has opened 0.4 per cent up – putting it back above the 9000 points threshold.

Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, says UK businesses have picked up on US stocks flying overnight and picked out a few companies in the news.

“The FTSE 100 has popped its head back over the 9,000 parapet this morning.

“Streamlining has been the order of the day with oil giant BP continuing its strategic refocus with an agreement to dispose of its US onshore wind business, BP Wind, in which the group has claims to 1.3GW of generating capacity.

“Health and hygiene company Reckitt, the company behind the likes of Dettol, Durex and Nurofen is to dispose of its Essential Home division in a deal worth up to $4.8bn deal.

“And iconic luxury brand Burberry has seen its first quarter retail revenue drop 2% to £433mn year-on-year when adjusted for exchange rates. However, investors can take some comfort that comparable store sales improved in all regions when compared to the previous quarter, and that Burberry remains on track to deliver £80 million in cost savings by the end of the financial year.”

Good morning and welcome to our final business blog of the week. As usual we’ll have full stock market coverage, a look around Britain’s biggest businesses and bring you all the news and comment affecting your money.