Brent crude today remained near $100 a barrel but stock markets are calmer after Russia's invasion of Ukraine yesterday caused £88 billion to be wiped from the value of the FTSE 100 index.

A late rebound for Wall Street markets, after US president Joe Biden said sanctions against Russia would not see the West sacrifice their own economies, means the FTSE 100 index is 1% higher.

British Airways owner IAG, which has been one of the stocks most under pressure in London, today reported results in which it forecast a return to profit this summer as long as there's no material impact from recent geopolitical events.

Lib Dem leader criticises buyback boom

13:53 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Could share buybacks be the next big controversy on the public markets?

Corporates awash with cash are going shopping for their own shares at a pace. The list of firms committing to multi-billion-pound buybacks sounds like a who’s who of corporate Britain — stretching from Tesco to Unilever, Shell to WPP.

But there’s growing discontent about corporate Britain’s latest fetish. Critics say these billion-pound giveaways should instead be invested in the business and its staff. That’s especially true of Big Oil.

Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, told the Standard: “This is billions of pounds that could have helped the UK invest in renewable energy or used to cut people’s bills. It doesn’t matter what industry [share buybacks] are in, I want to see companies investing profits in Britain rather than just inflating their share price.”

Read our full feature on the share buyback boom and what it could mean for companies.

FirstGroup sees ‘latent demand’ for travel

13:02 , Simon Read

Passenger volumes at bus and rail firm First Group have grown to 70% of 2020 equivalent levels, it reported in a trading update this morning.

“There is significant latent demand for travel on our services,” said executive chairman David Martin. “Public transport has a key role to play in the UK’s economic, decarbonisation and levelling up agendas and I remain confident that FirstGroup is very well placed to capture our many opportunities to create long term, sustainable value.”

The company recently flogged three of its remaining US Greyhound properties to raise $32million (£24million).

Shares are up 1.6%.

12:46 , Oscar Williams-Grut

The Omicron variant heavily impacted On The Beach sales in November, December and early January but sales returned to pre-pandemic levels in January and were over 50% above 2019 levels in the 4 weeks to 23 February 2022, the company said this morning.

Boss Simon Cooper said: “It has been incredibly pleasing to see consumer confidence and demand return.”

Shares are are up almost 7%.

12:30 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Defence firm Babcock has warned that free cash flow was expected to be “significantly negative” for the 2021-22 year to March due to the impact of Covid-19 ongoing inflation and supply chain pressures, as well as additional pension contributions, restructuring costs, and investments in facilities and IT upgrades.

Restructuring has delivered savings of around £20 million while it raised £44 million during the year by flogging stakes in four separate companies.

Analysts at Peel Hunt said: “Overall trading for the ten months to 31 January 2022 was in line with expectations.“

Companies react to war in Ukraine

12:20 , Oscar Williams-Grut

Companies are closing operations in Ukraine and scrambling to rescue staff in the face of advancing Russian troops.

London-listed Ferrexpo and Enwell Energy both announced shutdowns in the country today while steel giant Evraz said it was preparing for possible sanctions.

Stock markets staged a mild recovery as investors went bargain hunting but city broker Peel Hunt said it was “far too early to judge how this will play out and the extent of sanctions”.

Some early impacts are becoming clear. Ferrexpo, the world’s third largest exporter of iron ore pellets for steel manufacturing, said it had suspended trade from the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi on orders from local authorities.

Read the full story.

Pearson shares jump on digital progress

10:36 , Graeme Evans

Pearson's launch of a Netflix-style subscription service today boosted hopes that the coursework publisher has turned the corner.

Shares jumped 9% in the FTSE 100 index as 2021 results exceeded management hopes and 2022 earnings guidance was left untouched.

There was encouragement from digital learning service Pearson+, which launched in July and finished 2021 with 2.75 million registered users thanks to particularly strong demand for MyLab & Mastering.

Pearson added to the direct-to-consumer offering today with the acquisition of textbook specific video tutorials from Clutch Prep. Its ultimate aim is to grow the Pearson+ service beyond Higher Education to cover work, languages and life skills.

The service, which is part of a revamp launched by boss Andy Bird last March, helped shares rally 53.6p to 653.6p. Until Bird’s arrival, Pearson was best known for seven profit warnings in seven years but today's results showed an underlying surplus up 33% to £385 million.

Pearson shares were only bettered by the recoveries of Russia-focused Evraz and Polymetal International as the FTSE 100 index climbed 96.58 points to 7303.49.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals rallied 79.5p to 1913p after its annual results, but the blue-chip stock is sharply lower this year amid fears over US pricing pressures. Analysts at Stifel have a target price of 2,700p, believing that a move towards speciality pharmaceuticals and hard-to-copy generic drugs should provide protection.

Rightmove in strong position as profits rise

09:21 , Graeme Evans

Rightmove shares are 3% higher after annual results from the online property portal showed operating profits up 5% on their 2019 level at £231 million. Average revenue per advertiser rose 9% or £101 on 2019 to £1,189 per month.

The company added: “Rightmove is not materially impacted by the property market cycle other than in the most extreme circumstances and we believe the UK online property advertising market will continue to grow.”

The FTSE 100 company has returned £238.8 million to shareholders through buybacks and dividends in 2021, with today's figures seeing a 7% rise in final dividend to 4.8p a share.

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “Rightmove is the ultimate lesson in pricing power. Regardless of what’s going on in the wider market, whether it’s up or down, today’s estate agents can ill afford not to advertise on Rightmove.

“That isn’t to say Rightmove is a perfect business. A severe housing market downturn would affect the top line, as it would see estate agents under pressure and potentially needing discounts.”

Ukraine’s Ferrexpo hit by port disruption

08:52 , Graeme Evans

Ukraine-based Ferrexpo, the world's third largest exporter of high grade iron ore pellets to the steel industry, has issued force majeure notices to some customers after shipping from the port of Pivdennyi in the southwest of the country was suspended.

Its mining and processing operations, which are near to Horishni Plavni in central Ukraine, continue to operate and the company has the ability to stockpile iron ore pellets at the site. However, its logistics networks continue to experience disruption.

Ferrexpo's shares slumped more than 40% in the FTSE 250 index yesterday but were 5% higher at 148.9p after today’s update.

Evraz shares rally, FTSE 100 higher

08:35 , Graeme Evans

The FTSE 100 index is 1% or 72.47 points higher at 7279.85, with Russia-focused companies Evraz and Polymetal International staging significant rebounds.

Shares in Roman Abramovich-backed steel production and mining company Evraz jumped 13% after it posted annual results. It also benefited from relief that the sanctions announced yesterday by US president Joe Biden did not go further.

Gold miner Polymetal International rallied 9% after diving 38% in yesterday's sell-off, while Rolls-Royce and eastern Europe-focused bottling business Coca-Cola HBC both rose 2%.

Education publisher Pearson and the property portal Rightmove were 7% and 3% higher respectively after their annual results but British Airways owner IAG was flat at 147.5p despite forecasting a return to profit this summer.

The FTSE 250 index rose 174.21 points to 20,426, with Wizz Air the biggest riser after shares gained 6%.

BA owner eyes profit return in 2022

08:08 , Graeme Evans

British Airways owner IAG has reported a loss of 2.7 billion euros (£2.3 billion) after a year in which further Covid-19 disruption left passenger capacity at 36% of its pre-pandemic level.

Chief executive Luis Gallego also expects a significant loss for the current quarter as the Omicron variant disrupted the rebound in long-haul booking activity seen in October and November.

Despite rising fuel costs, he expects to be profitable by the second quarter of the year as long as there are no further setbacks related to Covid-19 or material impact from geopolitical events.

Today's operating loss for the year compares with 7.4 billion euros (£6.2 billion) in 2020. The loss for the fourth quarter came to 278 million euros (£232 million).

Gallego said: “We know that after the worst crisis in aviation's history we must do things differently. Our model enables us to capture revenue and cost synergies while maximising efficiencies which means we are set up to return to profitability in 2022.”

Wall Street rebounds, oil above $100

07:49 , Graeme Evans

A late rebound for Wall Street markets means the FTSE 100 index is expected to recover some of the losses seen during yesterday's Ukraine-led stock market turmoil.

The FTSE 100 lost 291 points or 3.9% of its value after heavy selling triggered by Russia’s invasion. Wall Street's Nasdaq was down as much as 3% at one point on Thursday, but a sudden turnaround meant the tech-laden index finished 3% higher.

Brent crude remains above $100 a barrel, having topped $105 yesterday, while the gold safe haven is off its earlier high at $1917 an ounce.

Fears about the impact of high oil prices and sanctions against Russia, as well as threat of possible retaliation by the world's second largest energy exporter, triggered yesterday's sharp sell-off.

However, analysts said US president Joe Biden's decision not to put sanctions on Russian energy or restrict the country's access to the Swift global payments system helped improve sentiment later in the session in Wall Street.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, sees the FTSE 100 index opening 90 points higher at 7297.

He added: “While the sanctions set to be imposed are on a significantly stronger scale than any previous ones announced, they are unlikely to be enough to change Putin’s calculus in the short term, given that Russia’s energy markets, along with other key exports, and access to Swift were left out.”