HSBC selling Argentina business, Unite confident in rental targets
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.41% on Monday at 7,943.47.
Stocks to watch
HSBC Holdings on Tuesday said it was selling its Argentina business to Grupo Financiero Galicia for $550m and take a $1bn pre-tax loss in the process as it continued to pivot its operations towards Asia. "HSBC Argentina is largely a domestically focused business, with limited connectivity to the rest of our international network," said HSBC chief executive Noel Quin.
Student accommodation manager and developer Unite has said it is still confident in hitting rental growth targets for the next academic year while property values held more or less stable in the first quarter. The company reiterated its guidance to deliver rental growth of "at least 6%" for the 2024/25 academic year, down from 7.4% last year. Demand is said to be "strong", with the percentage of beds sold for the upcoming year rising to at 86% by 31 March, up from 80% at the time of its full-year results in February, though down from 90% the same time the year before.
Imperial Brands said in a trading update on Tuesday that it was on track to meet uts half-year and full-year financial guidance. The FTSE 100 firm said strong tobacco pricing was supporting financial performance while maintaining stable market share in key combustible markets. It was also experiencing growth in ‘next generation products’ revenue, with plans to continue scaling and launching new products, alongside capital returns through a £1.1bn share buyback programme.
Newspaper round-up
Rachel Reeves has said an incoming Labour government would launch a £5bn crackdown on tax avoiders to close a gap in its spending plans exposed by Jeremy Hunt scrapping the non-dom regime to finance tax cuts. Warning households and businesses that Labour was prepared to adopt tough measures to tackle tax fraud and non-compliance, Reeves said the funding would be used to pay for free school breakfast clubs and additional NHS appointments. – Guardian
Pharmaceuticals companies were told to make fewer drugs for the sake of the environment, in new draft guidelines for businesses in the Government’s latest net zero drive. The suggestion was among a vast array of proposals which Britain’s biggest businesses have been told to consider as they are ordered to publish lengthy reports every year to show how they plan to meet their net zero targets. – Telegraph
Russia has reportedly asked Kazakhstan to supply it with petrol as Ukrainian attacks on its refineries force it to import gasoline. Kazakhstan has been asked to set up a reserve of 100,000 tonnes of gasoline, equivalent to 845,000 barrels, to supply Russia should shortages arise, Reuters reported. It is unclear if a deal has been reached. The Kremlin has also been seeking supplies from Belarus. – Telegraph
The Spanish family-owned cosmetics group Puig, which owns brands such as Charlotte Tilbury, Paco Rabanne and Carolina Herrera, is preparing an initial public offering, the biggest stock market listing in the beauty sector in years. The Barcelona-based company announced the move to go public on Monday with plans to sell €1.25 billion (£1.07 billion) of new shares and an even larger amount of existing stock through the IPO, taking the total sum raised to more than €2.5 billion. – The Times
The Australian financial group Macquarie is one of the consortium of lenders to Thames Water’s parent company Kemble Water Finance, The Times can reveal. Last week it emerged that the lenders, which also include two Chinese state-owned banks, the Dutch bank ING and Allied Irish Bank, could determine the fate of the troubled utility. – The Times
US close
Wall Street stocks were little changed at the close of trading on Monday as major indices stalled ahead of key inflation data and first-quarter corporate earnings later in the week.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.03% at 38,892.80, while the S&P 500 lost 0.04% to 5,202.39 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.03% firmer at 16,253.96.
The Dow closed 11.24 points lower on Monday, taking a small bite out of gains recorded on Friday after a stronger-than-expected jobs report left market participants hopeful that a strong US economy may remain supportive of corporate earnings growth.
No major data points were released on Monday but traders were patiently waiting for the publication of March's consumer and producer price indexes, due out on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
Investors also continued to navigate rising bond yields and oil prices, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note surging to 4.430% on Monday, while US crude oil briefly touched $87.00 per barrel last week amid ongoing geopolitical tensions.