Weekly review
The FTSE 100 ended the week up 1.55%, closing at 8,004.36 on Friday.
Equity view
Medical technology company Smith+Nephew said it had appointed former Serco chief executive Rupert Soames as chair, succeeding Roberto Quarta who will this year. Soames will be appointed at the company's annual general meeting on April 26. Quarta has agreed to continue as chair to ensure a smooth transition and will put himself forward for re-election as a non-executive director, the company said on Friday.
Exploration and production Enquest shares headed south early on Friday as it revealed it will defer drilling at its Kraken field as a result of recent changes to the North Sea windfall tax. Enquest stated that following changes to the energy profits levy, that saw Downing Street up the windfall tax a further 10% to a headline rate of 75%, it had "further optimised its capital programme", with planned drilling programmes at Kraken shelved for the time being.
Purplebricks downgraded its full-year expectations on Friday as it pointed to disruption from its new go-to-market strategy, and said it was considering putting itself up for sale. The online estate agent said that since its interim results in December last year, disruption from its turnaround plan had caused instruction numbers in Q3 FY23 to be lower than expected.
Commercial property investor and developer Segro reported strong growth in net rental income and adjusted pre-tax profit in its 2022 results on Friday. The FTSE 100 company said its adjusted pre-tax profit for the 12 months ended 31 December stood at £386m, up 8.4% year-on-year.
Upper Crust owner SSP backed its full-year guidance on Thursday as it hailed a strong start to the year, with revenues ahead of pre-pandemic levels amid a further recovery in the travel industry. The company, which operates food and drink outlets at train stations and airports, reported group revenues of £871m for the four months to the end of January 2023, up 103% versus 2019 and 167% compared to a year earlier.
Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com said annual earnings rose, driven by a strong performance in its travel unit as international Covid pandemic restrictions were lifted. Pre-tax profits in the year to December 31 rose to £85.2m compared with £70.2m a year ago. Sales were £387.6m, up from £316.7m the previous year and the total dividend was held at 11.71p.
Shares in pharmaceuticals business Indivior tumbled early on Thursday after the group revealed it had put aside $290.0m for ongoing litigation in the States. Indivior stated the money was intended to cover "multidistrict antitrust class and state claims" and follows legal action over the firm's attempts to delay competition to its best-selling addiction treatment product Suboxone.
Beleaguered social housing landlord Home REIT said on Thursday that it was considering putting itself up for sale and that it had received an unsolicited takeover offer from Bluestar. The company, which has been hit hard in recent months by short-seller attacks, did not disclose any financial details.
Anglo American said Natascha Viljoen, head of its 79%-owned subsidiary Anglo American Platinum has decided to join US-based miner Newmont as chief operating officer. Viljoen will continue to serve in her current role for her 12 month notice period, the company said on Wednesday.
Multinational mining giant Glencore reported a strong 2022 financial performance in its preliminary results on Wednesday, with adjusted EBITDA standing at $34.1 billion, up 60% year-on-year. The FTSE 100 company said that was underpinned by robust marketing and industrial results, with Glencore also reporting a net income of $18.9bn, up 107% compared to the prior year.
Hargreaves Lansdown posted strong growth on both its top and bottom lines at the first half-year stage, despite the impact from "challenging" external conditions and low investor confidence on asset values and stockbroking volumes. That was despite the impact on asset values and stockbroking volumes from the "challenging" external conditions and low investor confidence.
Homeware retailer Dunelm posted a drop in interim profits on Wednesday, pointing in part to inflationary pressures. In the 26 weeks to the end of December 2022, pre-tax profit fell 16.6% to £117.4m. Dunelm said this was as expected as the same period a year earlier had benefited from a rescheduled Summer sale and particularly high levels of store sales as stores reopened after the pandemic, and due to inflationary impacts.
Tullow Oil has filed requests for arbitration with the International Chamber of Commerce in London over a $387m tax dispute with Ghana. The tax assessments relate to the disallowance of loan interest deductions for the fiscal years 2010 - 2020 and proceeds received by Tullow under its business interruption insurance policy.
Coca-Cola HBC, a bottling partner of the US-based Coca-Cola Company, reported a “strong” set of results for the year ended 31 December on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 company said it achieved revenue growth of 14.2%, driven by price, mix and volume, with organic revenue per case increasing by 15.9%.
Cybersecurity firm NCC said it has joined the Amazon Web Services marketplace with its Escrow as a Service (EaaS) product. NCC said that listing would expand its direct reach to software vendors “to provide business continuity for themselves, and their customers”.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) “publicly censured” Amigo Loans on Tuesday, in lieu of a fine, for failing to conduct adequate affordability checks on borrowers and guarantors. A fine of £72.9m was on the cards, according to the City regulator, but it said Amigo demonstrated that would cause it “serious” financial hardship.
Construction materials group Brickability now expects to report full-year adjusted underlying earnings of at least £47.0m, ahead of current market expectations of £44.7m. Brickability said on Monday that its underlying earnings beat was a result of its continued "strong performance" across all of its business divisions.
Asset management consultancy MJ Hudson said on Monday that auditor EY has resigned with immediate effect less than 18 months after it was appointed, citing a loss of confidence in management. In its letter of resignation, EY said it was "ceasing to hold office because we have lost trust and confidence in the company's management and those charged with governance, and in their ability, along with your finance team, to provide us with accurate and reliable information for audit".
Self-storage company Lok'nStore said on Monday that same-store revenues had risen in the six months ended 31 January but saw shares head south in early trading after it warned of heightened costs. Lok'nStore stated same-store revenues were up 10% year-on-year, while prices per square foot rose 9.2% and move-in had increased 13.5%.
Gambling software development company Playtech said on Monday that it has made a CAD12.25m (£7.58m) strategic investment in NorthStar Gaming, an Ontario-based online casino and sportsbook operator. Playtech has also agreed to extend its commercial arrangements with NorthStar.
Economic news
UK retail sales unexpectedly rose in January but the outlook remains weak overall, according to figures released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics. Retail sales were up 0.5% on the month following a 1.2% decline in December. Economists had been expecting a 0.3% fall.
London’s FTSE 100 breached the 8,000 mark for the first time on Wednesday, thanks in part to a weaker pound. The top-flight index hit a fresh intraday high of 8,003.65 earlier, with sterling down 1.3% against the dollar at 1.2018 after data from the Office for National Statistics showed that consumer price inflation eased more than expected in January.
Average UK house price growth eased in the year to December 2022, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Official for National Statistics. House prices were up 9.8%, down from 10.6% growth in November, with the average price standing at £294,000. Analysts had been expecting growth of 11.2%.
UK consumer price inflation eased more than expected in January, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics. The annual rate of CPI fell to 10.1.% in January from 10.5% in December, coming in below analysts' expectations of 10.3%.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced a crackdown on cryptocurrency vending machines on Monday, reporting that it had entered and inspected a number of sites around Leeds suspected of hosting illegally-operated crypto ATMs. It said it had gathered evidence from several sites around the city as part of a joint operation with West Yorkshire Police’s Digital Intelligence and Investigation Unit.
Regular pay in the UK grew more than expected in the final three months of last year, but real pay kept falling, according to data released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics. The unemployment rate was stable at 3.7% in December, while annual wage growth rose by 6.7% in the period between October and December, up from 6.5% and ahead of expectations for it to remain flat. The ONS said this was the fastest rate of growth seen outside of the pandemic.
UK city-centre retail footfall rose last week as employees returned to offices following train strikes the week previous, according to a weekly survey. MRI Springboard’s central London ‘Back to the Office’ benchmark, which tracks footfall at office hotspots in London, was up +36.4% in the week to February 11 compared to 2022.
International events
Import price gains in the States slowed by more than expected in January. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the country's import price index slipped at a month-on-month pace of 0.2% (consensus: -0.1%).
Wholesale prices in the US rose more quickly than expected at the start of 2023. According to the Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices increased at a month-on-month pace of 0.7%.
Americans unexpectedly filed unemployment claims at a decelerated rate in the week ended 11 February and remained near a nine-month low. Initial jobless claims dropped to 194,000, according to the Department of Labor, down from the previous week's downwardly revised level of 195,000 and below market expectations for a print of 200,000.
Manufacturing sector activity in the US mid-Atlantic region worsened in February, the results of a closely followed survey revealed. The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's factory sector index fell from a reading of -8.9 in January to -24.3 for February.
US retail sales unexpectedly increased in January, bouncing back from the prior month's 1.1% drop. According to the Census Bureau, retail sales rose 3% month-on-month in January - the strongest improvement since March 2021 and well and truly ahead of expectations for 1.8% increase. Excluding autos, sales rose 2.3% month-on-month.
Industrial output in the single currency block fell at the end of 2022 amid widespread declines by goods categories, although most major economies in fact saw gains. According to Eurostat, industrial production in the euro area fell at a month-on-month pace of 1.1% in December.
The cost of living in the US increased by more than expected at the start of 2023, as energy and shelter costs pushed up on headline and core inflation. According to the Department of Labor, the country's Consumer Price Index rose by 0.5% month-on-month.
The so-called 'pain trade' in risk assets was still up because investors around the world continued to exhibit caution, the results of BofA's monthly fund manager survey found. "Investors are least pessimistic since Feb '22 but nowhere near optimistic enough to say positioning a sell catalyst," the investment bank's strategists said in a research note sent to clients.
Economic growth in the eurozone slowed in the final quarter of last year, according to final data released on Tuesday by Eurostat. GDP expanded by 0.1% on the quarter, down from 0.3% in the third quarter, but in line with the initial estimate and consensus expectations.
Japan's economy grew more slowly than expected at the end of 2022 amid restrained household spending and business investment. According to Japan's Cabinet Office, in seasonally adjusted terms, during the fourth quarter, the country's gross domestic product expanded at a quarterly annualised pace of 0.6% (consensus: 2.0%).
The European Commission lifted its growth forecasts on Monday as it said the European Union and the eurozone were set to "narrowly avoid" a technical recession this year. The EC now expects growth of 0.8% in the EU in 2023 and 0.9% in the eurozone, up 0.5 and 0.6 percentage points on its Autumn Forecast.
Reporting by Sharecast.com staff and contributors.