Proactive Investors - Vodafone strikes 10-year partnership with Micrsoft.
It's a busy day for company news.
We start with Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD) which, alongside Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) has announced a new, 10-year strategic partnership offering scaled digital platforms to more than 300 million businesses, public sector organisations, and consumers across Europe and Africa.
Through the partnership, the companies will use Microsoft's generative AI, to scale Vodafone's managed IoT connectivity platform, develop new digital and financial services for businesses, particularly SMEs across Europe and Africa, and overhaul its global data centre cloud strategy.
Vodafone will invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in cloud and customer-focused AI services developed in conjunction with Microsoft.
Additionally, Microsoft will use Vodafone's fixed and mobile connectivity services.
Microsoft also intends to invest in Vodafone's managed IoT connectivity platform, which will become a separate, standalone business by April 2024.
Margherita Della Valle, Vodafone chief executive, said: "Today, Vodafone has made a bold commitment to the digital future of Europe and Africa. This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies, and step up the quality of customer experience for consumers."
Stocks seen lower but wage growth eases
The FTSE 100 is expected to open lower although slightly better-than-expected news on average earnings may provide some support.
Spread betting companies are calling London's lead index down by around 25 points after closing down 30.02 points at 7,594.91 on Monday.
Figures just released by the Office for National Statistic show annual growth in regular earnings (excluding bonuses) was 6.6% in September to November 2023, and annual growth in employees' average total earnings (including bonuses) was 6.5% in September to November 2023.
Today we’ve published the latest UK labour market figures.➡️ https://t.co/FnELanWy11
— Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) January 16, 2024
These compared to forecasts of 6.6% and 6.8% respectively.
ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: “While annual pay growth remains high in cash terms, we continue to see signs that wage pressures might be easing overall. However, with inflation still falling more quickly, earnings continued to grow in real terms.”
Jobs data has also been released which shows In October to December 2023, the estimated number of vacancies in the UK fell by 49,000 on the quarter to 934,000.
Vacancies fell on the quarter for the 18th consecutive period, the longest consecutive run of quarterly falls ever recorded but still above pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels.
The unemployment rate was largely unchanged on the quarter to November at 4.2%.