Wizz narrows Q3 losses, Britvic hails strong start to year

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was called to open 19 points higher at 7,764.

Stocks to watch

Hungary-based budget airline Wizz Air narrowed losses in the third quarter on the back of fare increases and higher booking volumes.

The carrier posted a core loss of €2.8m for the three months to December 31, compared with a loss of €87.5m a year earlier. Wizz still expects a loss for the full year but held guidance for a return to profits in 2024.

Revenue for the period soared 132% to €911m.

Drinks company Brivic hailed a "robust" start to the year as it said trading has been in line with management expectations.

The group said first-quarter group revenue rose 7.3% to £411m on a constant currency basis versus a year earlier. It pointed to "strong" Christmas trading, with revenue up 9% in December, led by GB.

Newspaper round-up

The battery startup Britishvolt owed as much as £120m to creditors when it collapsed last week in a major blow to hopes of sustaining the British car industry, it can be revealed. Creditors are expected to recover a very small proportion of the debts, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, although there are understood to be several bids for the company and its assets. EY, a professional services firm, is handling the administration. – Guardian

More than £1m was paid to energy customers with Octopus Energy on Tuesday as part of a power saving scheme. The energy supplier said more than 400,000 customers took part by reducing their electricity use between 4.30pm and 6pm. National Grid’s Demand Flexibility Scheme kicked in for the first time on Monday amid cold temperatures, meaning more energy was being used while less energy was being generated by wind power. – Guardian

Car production in Britain has plunged a further 10 per cent to new lows not seen since the 1950s, when Sir Anthony Eden was prime minister. UK car factories produced only 775,000 vehicles in 2022, down from the 859,000 that rolled off assembly lines in 2021, itself the worst year since 1956, a year before the British automotive industry was transformed by the start of mass production of the Mini. – The Times

Home Reit, the struggling “landlord for the homeless”, has admitted that a “significant number” of its tenants, including its largest, have fallen behind on their rent. The company had sought to emphasise the reliable nature of its income and its “robust tenants”, claiming in November that it had no rent arrears for the period up to the end of August. – The Times

US close

Wall Street's main indices ended a volatile session roughly flat as investors digested weaker than expected outlooks from GE, Microsoft and Texas Instruments, a large earnings miss out of Boeing, and another antitrust case brought against Google.

The Dow Jones Industrials ended up by 0.03% at 33,743.84, the S&P 500 eased lower by 0.02% to 4,016.22 and the Nasdaq Composite was off by 0.18% to 11,313.36.