Sage reiterates full-year guidance, Whitbread expecting profits to remain flat
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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 34 points lower on Thursday, having closed down 0.47% at 6,862.68 on Wednesday.
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Technology group Sage reiterated full year guidance as it said first quarter organic revenue increased by 7.6% to £465m. Recurring revenue increased by 10.5% to £387m, underpinned by software subscription growth of 27.7% to £237m, building on the momentum generated at the end of the 2018 full year as the business continues to focus on subscription, assisted by a softer comparator in the first quarter last year.
Whitbread confirmed that profits are likely to remain flat for the next year but said it will begin buying back £500m worth of shares after completing the sale of Costa Coffee earlier than expected. UK like-for-like sales in the third quarter were down 0.2% at its Premier Inns chain, slowing growth for the year to date to 2.5%.
Sports betting and gaming group GVC Holdings issued its post close trading update for the year ended 31 December on Thursday, reporting that following a strong final quarter, it expected full-year 2018 proforma underlying EBITDA to be between £750m and £755m, ahead of current market consensus. The FTSE 100 firm said it saw “strong” growth in its online operations, with net gaming revenue there ahead 19%, while its UK retail like-for-like net gaming revenue fell 3%.
Newspaper round-up
Philip Hammond told business leaders that the “threat” of a no-deal Brexit could be taken “off the table” within days and potentially lead to Article 50 “rescinded”, a leaked recording of a conference call reveals. The Chancellor set out how a backbench Bill could effectively be used to stop any prospect of no deal. He suggested that ministers may even back the plan when asked for an “assurance” by the head of Tesco that the Government would not oppose the motion. - Telegraph
More than 170 business leaders, including Terence Conran and Norman Foster, have thrown their weight behind the campaign for a second referendum on Brexit. In a step designed to indicate growing support for a “people’s vote” after Theresa May suffered the heaviest parliamentary defeat in the modern era over her Brexit plan, the letter due to be published in the Times on Thursday asks both main party leaders in Westminster to support a second referendum. - Guardian
Britain’s statisticians are refusing to correct misleading inflation figures used to calculate student loans, rail fares and about £400 billion of government debt, according to a House of Lords report. Flaws in the calculation mean RPI is overstated by about 0.8 percentage points, costing the taxpayer an estimated £1 billion in debt interest since 2010 and hitting commuters and students. - The Times
US close
US stocks kept their heads generally above water on Wednesday, on the back of better-than-expected bank earnings from the likes of Bank of America and Goldman Sachs and the latest Brexit news from across the pond.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.59% at 24,207.16, the S&P 500 added 0.22% to 2,616.10, and the Nasdaq Composite managed gains of 0.15% to close at 7,034.69.
“Attention may be primarily on Brexit in Europe but over in the US, earnings season is upon us and investors will be eyeing results for signs of weakness at a time when the global economy is expected to slow, fiscal stimulus is fading and some major companies - including Apple - are reporting difficulties,” said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam earlier.
“The trade war with China may not have massively taken its toll yet but it may start to show itself in the upcoming results and/or guidance.”
Brexit developments in the UK were in focus after Prime Minister Theresa May lost the 'meaningful vote' on her deal by a record margin of 432 to 202 on Tuesday, before winning a vote of no confidence tabled by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn by a slim margin.