Business news live: FTSE 100 latest, Diageo profits and UK strikes Mexico pork deal

UK secures deal with Mexico for access to pork market – estimated at £19m

The UK government have announced a deal with Mexico to allow 12 businesses across England and Northern Ireland access to the pork market in the Latin American country.

Mexico’s pork consumption is growing at more than 5 per cent a year and the allowance is therefore estimated at around £19m over the first five years of the deal.

The current 20 per cent tariffs on British pork will disappear once Mexico ratifies the deal.

Those 12 companies are based across locations such as Hull, Bristol, Wrexham, Chesterfield, Ballymena, Suffolk and Antrim.

A government statement said it was the outcome of eight years of discussions between Defra, the Food Standards Agency and various industry bodies.

Karl Matchett5 August 2025 07:30

BP confirms biggest oil and gas field discovery in 25 years

Energy giant BP has announced its biggest oil and gas field discovery in 25 years after a drilling off the coast of Brazil.

The company’s vice president for oil production, Gordon Birrell, said it was a “significant discovery” and the largest since 1999, when a giant gasfield in the Caspian Sea was discovered. It is expected to contain a mix of gas and oil as well as condensate, which is a liquid form of natural gas.

The size of the field in the Bumerangue prospect is more than 300 square kilometres – about three times the size of central Paris.

Karl Matchett5 August 2025 07:15

Stock markets rose on Monday – Diageo tops FTSE 100 firms reporting today

After steep falls on Friday, stock markets around Europe rose once more yesterday.

The FTSE 100 climbed around 0.4 per cent, led by Lloyds rising having learned they’d need to pay out a lower maximum amount than expected over the car finance mis-selling scandal.

Today the earnings season continues with spirits and beer maker Diageo, which owns Guinness, Smirnoff and other brands, reporting their latest profits.

Diageo shares are down around 29 per cent in 2025 so far and saw the unexpected exit of their CEO last month.

Karl Matchett5 August 2025 07:07