* STANCHART: Standard Chartered PLC (StanChart) on Wednesday said first-quarter pretax profit rose 21%, beating analyst estimates, as rising interest rates and increased trading in volatile markets boosted income at the emerging markets-focused lender.
* WAGE INFLATION: British employers agreed on average pay rises of 6% with their staff in the first quarter of 2023, matching the record raises seen in data for the three months to January and February, industry figures showed on Wednesday.
* JOB VACANCIES: British job vacancies in March saw the biggest monthly jump since February 2022 after almost a year of falling job posts and salaries ticked up again, suggesting renewed momentum in the labour market, an industry survey found on Wednesday
* BATS: British American Tobacco Plc has agreed to pay more than $635 million to U.S. authorities after a subsidiary pleaded guilty to charges that it conspired to violate U.S. sanctions by selling tobacco products to North Korea and commit bank fraud, a U.S. court filing and the company said on Tuesday.
* OCADO: British online supermarket and technology business Ocado Group said on Tuesday it planned to close its oldest automated warehouse, putting about 2,300 jobs at risk.
* PRET A MANGER: British sandwich and coffee chain Pret A Manger has raised the price of its monthly coffee subscription service by 20% to 30 pounds ($37.34) but expanded it to include a 10% reduction on everything sold in its shops.
* NATWEST: The chairman of NatWest Howard Davies, one of the most storied figures in UK finance, said on Tuesday he would leave the British bank by next year, paving the way for a leadership revamp at the lender still around 40% owned by the UK.
* London's FTSE 100 closed down on Tuesday, logging its worst performance in April as commodity-linked stocks were a drag, while investors swarmed shares of Whitbread after it raised its dividend.
* UK CORPORATE DIARY:
RECKITT Q1 TRADING
UPDATE
SMITH AND Q1 TRADING
NEPHEW UPDATE
FRESNILLO Q1
PRODUCTION
REPORT
PERSIMMON TRADING
PLC UPDATE
BUNZL PLC Q1 TRADING
STATEMENT
GSK Q1 RESULTS
* For more on the factors affecting European stocks, please
click on: TODAY'S UK PAPERS
> Financial Times > Other business headlines (Reporting by Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru)
