888 Holdings Q1 revenues slide, Rio Tinto iron ore shipments lower than expected

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open just 4.7 points higher ahead of the bell on Wednesday after closing out the previous session 0.20% lower at 7,601.28.

Stocks to watch

Online betting and gaming firm 888 Holdings said on Wednesday that total revenues had fallen in the three months ended 31 March.

888 Holdings said total revenues had slid 18% year-on-year to £224.0m, with average monthly active users 8% lower when compared to the group's record result in the first quarter of 2021. The FTSE 250-listed firm highlighted that the lower revenue per active user was partially driven by a heightened focus on safer gambling.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto reported on Wednesday that first-quarter iron ore shipments had been lower than expected as it warned of inflationary risks, a resurgence of Covid lockdowns in China, and the impact of a prolonged Russia-Ukraine war.

Rio shipped 71.5m tonnes of iron ore in the three months ended 31 March, compared with 77.8mt a year earlier and consensus estimates of 76.0mt.

Newspaper round-up

A few weeks after a short-lived £1.7bn bid to take over the rival Oxford Instruments, Spectris, the FTSE 250 precision engineering group, has sold off a large part of its own business for £400.0m. The chief executive has made it clear, though, that it could revive an Oxford Instruments deal. - The Times

Shares in a technology start-up part-owned by the UK taxpayer lost 16% of their value yesterday after reports that the business had issued "misleading" financial projections and "overstated its prospects" to investors. Arqit Quantum, a Nasdaq-listed IT security company backed by Rishi Sunak's Future Fund, claimed before the completion of a Spac merger that the business had $130.0m in "signed committed revenue contracts". - The Times

Asda's private equity owner has claimed the value of its investment in the supermarket chain has soared by nearly 20 times as it gears up for a potential bid for the pharmacy chain Boots. The London-based TDR Capital said its stake as co-owner of the grocer was now worth €1.7bn on paper, or 19.8 times its original investment, indicating that the finance group put in just over £70.0m of fresh cash to back the deal, according to documents seen by the Financial Times. - Guardian

The boss of collapsed company Bulb Energy has been criticised for continuing to draw a £250,000 salary, funded by UK taxpayers. Once the seventh-biggest energy supplier, Bulb was effectively nationalised in November 2021 after collapsing amid the surge in global energy prices. That left the taxpayer with a potential bill of up to £3.0bn, making it the biggest state bailout since the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008. - Guardian

Netflix has admitted that its number of subscribers is falling for the first time in more than a decade, partly as a result of its decision to pull out of Russia. The US streaming giant lost 200,000 subscribers in the first three months of the year, far below Wall Street predictions that it would add 2.5m subscribers. Netflix shares plummeted 26% in after-hours trading as it warned it would lose a further 2.0m subscribers in the second quarter of the year. - Telegraph

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Tuesday as market participants waded through a number of corporate earnings.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.45% at 34,911.20, while the S&P 500 was 1.61% firmer at 4,462.21 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.15% stronger at 13,619.66.