Dr Martens lowers profit guidance, National Grid ends year in line
London open
The FTSE 100 was set to open 18 points higher on Friday, having closed up 0.24% on Thursday at 7,843.38.
Stocks to watch
UK bootwear maker Dr Martens on Friday lowered profit guidance for the second time in four months due to higher costs at its Los Angeles distribution centre and lower wholesale revenues. The company, which issued a profits warning in January, said it now expects core earnings of £245m for the full year, down from a previous range of £250 – 260m.
National Grid said in an update on Friday that performance was in line with expectations, with underlying earnings per share growth for the financial year just ended to be in the middle of its 6% to 8% compound annual growth rate range. However, it said the government's introduction of full expensing tax relief was expected to impact underlying earnings from the 2024 to 2026 financial years. Despite that, National Grid said it still expected to deliver underlying earnings per share growth of 6% to 8% annually for 2022-2026, although towards the lower end of that range.
Newspaper round-up
The Ministry of Defence has awarded £650m to manufacturers working on its Tempest fighter jet, in the latest sign that the UK is pushing forward with the aim of producing the aircraft by 2035. The companies who will receive the money are led by manufacturer BAE Systems, jet engine maker Rolls-Royce, and the UK arms of Italy’s Leonardo and European missile-maker MBDA. – Guardian
Sainsbury’s has followed Tesco in cutting the price of milk by 5p a pint as supermarkets take advantage of a spring boost to production amid lacklustre demand. Tesco, the UK’s biggest supermarket, cut the price of milk to 90p for a pint or £1.55 for four pints – a reduction of 10p – for the first time since 2020 this week. – Guardian
Britain's flagship heat pump scheme has been branded an “embarrassment” after badly missing its target of 30,000 annual installations and spending just 40pc of its budget. Fewer than 10,000 heat pumps were installed in the first year of the grant programme, which gives households money to pay for them as part of net zero efforts to wean Britain off gas. – Telegraph
Jeremy Hunt has warned that workers are not getting good enough returns from their pension investments and vowed to overhaul Britain's retirement regime. The Chancellor said that Britain’s pension industry was in need of “big reform” and should follow the likes of Australia and Canada by allowing more money to be put into lucrative but potentially more risky assets such as infrastructure. – Telegraph
Glencore’s $23 billion takeover tilt at Teck suffered further setbacks yesterday when it was rebuffed once more by its Canadian target and was criticised by a high-profile shareholder. Teck called Glencore’s attempt to merge the two companies and spin off their combined coal assets “opportunistic and unrealistic”. – The Times
A former investment banker and hedge fund manager have teamed up with the London Stock Exchange Group to launch a service enabling institutional clients to take leveraged bets on bitcoin. Arnab Sen, 44, co-founder of London-based GFO-X, revealed plans yesterday to go live in the fourth quarter of this year, announcing that the LSEG’s LCH clearing house operation in Paris had been signed up to clear the derivatives trades. – The Times
US close
Wall Street trading ended on a positive note on Thursday, with the boost for US stocks being led by gains in the technology sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.41% to close at 34,029.69, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.33% to finish at 4,146.22.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite had the strongest performance, finishing 1.99% higher at 12,166.27.
Investor sentiment was buoyed by data showing a continued easing on upward price pressure, as the latest figures on producer price inflation were released.
On the currency front, the dollar was last unchanged against sterling at 79.85p, while it fell 0.01% on the euro to trade at 90.52 euro cents.