BUSINESS LIVE: Energy price gap rises; Virgin Money profits slump; Jet2 sales soar

Sacked OpenAI boss Sam Altman is returning less than a week after he was ousted.

The maker of Chat GPT said its co-founder  would come back as chief executive under a new board.

Small firms last night hailed a package of ‘game-changing’ measures to boost Britain.

Jeremy Hunt vowed to ‘end the scourge of late payments’ to small suppliers alongside plans to offer relief on business rates and cut taxes for the self-employed.

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said it would ‘help build future prosperity’

Hipgnosis Songs, its investment adviser and its founder Merck Mercurladis face legal proceedings on allegations of ‘diversion of business opportunity’, the struggling music royalty fund said this morning.

Hipgnosis Music, which is in liquidation and where Mercuriadis was previously a director, served proceedings alleging there was ‘a diversion of business opportunity’ from Hipgnosis Music Limited to the company and the investment adviser, which is now backed by Blackstone.

Mercuriadis, the investment adviser and the London-listed fund deny the claims and intend to defend them, it said.

Soap maker PZ Cussons expects only a minimal surplus cash position remaining in its Nigeria business beyond what is required for trading by the end of its current financial year.

The company had earlier said the devaluation of Nigeria’s currency would adversely impact its profit and in September offered to buy out minority shareholders of PZ Cussons Nigeria amid plans to de-list the business from the Nigerian stock exchange.

PZ Cussons, however, said first-half trading has continued to be strong in its Nigeria business and many of its brands have held or gained market share there.

‘We expect to achieve an improvement in both gross and operating profit margins in the first half of the year, despite very high levels of inflation,’ the company said about its Nigerian business.

Nissan is set to announce that it will build two new electric models at its UK car production plant in Sunderland in a major boost for Britain’s motor industry.

The Japanese car manufacturer will confirm on Friday its plans to make electric vehicles (EV) to succeed the popular Qashqai and Juke – both of which are currently assembled at the North East factory – after months of talks with the Government.

Jet2 says it is on track to meet annual forecasts after posting a jump in operating profit for the six months to the end of September, helped by ongoing strong demand for flights and holidays.

While Jet2’s British customer base has been hit by higher bills in the last two years, holiday companies and airlines have found consumers have not cut back on holidays.

Profit before nasties came in 32 per cent higher in the first half, after it took more people on holiday, and more of those opted for its higher-margin package holidays.

Virgin Money UK profits slumped after pressure on lending margins and stubborn inflation squeezed the bank’s returns.

The British lender posted an underlying profit before tax £593million for the last financial year, down 24 per cent year-on-year and well below forecasts of £625million.

Virgin Money, owner of the former Glasgow-based Clydesdale Bank, also announced an additional share buyback plan of £150million.