It might have been a new year, but the biggest corporate news on the first session of 2025 came from a number of old deals completing. Vodafone said it had finalised the sale of its Italian operations to Swisscom for £6.6billion. As part of the agreement, the UK mobile telecoms firm will continue to provide some services to Vodafone Italy for up to five years.
Vodafone said the proceeds will be used to reduce net debt with a target to return up to £1.66billion to shareholders once its buyback programme has completed. It gained 0.9 per cent, or 0.58p, to 68.88p. Meanwhile, FTSE 250-listed John Wood announced the completion of the sale of its 51 per cent stake in Ethos Energy Group – a joint venture with Siemens Energy focused on rotating equipment – to One Equity Partners for £110million in cash.
Investors in the oilfield and engineering services provider were cheered by news that the £33.7million of prior planned loan notes were replaced by an extra cash consideration at completion. Wood Group rose 2.6 per cent, or 1.7p, to 67.3p. Debt fight: Vodafone said it had finalised the sale of its Italian operations to Swisscom for £6.6bn but will continue to provide some services to Vodafone Italy for up to five years.
The new year started in the same volatile fashion it exited the last. At the close, the FTSE 100 was up 1.1 per cent, or 87.07 points, at 8260.09, while the FTSE 250 rose 0.1 per cent, or 17.62 points, to 20,640.23. As investors braced for the deluge of post-Christmas retail trading updates, Marks & Spencer stood out, gaining 3.7 per cent, or 13.8p, to 389.3p, on speculation it enjoyed a strong festive period thanks to its premium-quality food and drink.
