THG shares experienced a substantial increase after the company’s 2023 financial report showed that it had broken even. CEO Matt Moulding shared a video on LinkedIn looking back at the year’s achievements. THG shares had a slow start but had risen by up to 11% to 73.7p.

Meanwhile, online grocery firm Ocado Retail announced that it had passed the one million customer mark after record sales in December. The joint venture with M&S reported a 10.9% increase in retail revenue to £609.4 million in the fourth quarter. Ocado anticipates a mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth this year.

Shares in ecommerce firm THG rose by 2.8% in early trading as it broke even in terms of cashflow for 2023, despite a dip in revenue. The company, founded by Matt Moulding, achieved its goal of focusing on higher-margin products. As a result, the underlying profit is expected to rise to £117 million.

In other news, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Mel Stride commented on the latest jobs figures, interpreting them as evidence that the economy is recovering, with the number of jobs reaching a record high and inactivity dropping.

In global tracking, Asia markets have reported a difficult session with the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong dropping by 1.8% and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 losing 0.8%. The FTSE 100 index is expected to open denoting a 25 point shortfall at 7570. The unemployment rate in the UK remained constant at 4.2%.