Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 67.68 points, or 0.88%, closing at 7,727.42 on Friday.

Equity view

Heat treatment and thermal processing services specialist Bodycote delivered a rise in annual profits, driven by a strong performance at its aerospace and defence division. The company on Thursday posted an operating profit of £127m, up 14%, with revenues increasing 8% to £802m and said it was on track to deliver medium-term margin growth of more than 20%.

Berkeley Group reiterated its full-year outlook on Friday and said it had secured the bulk of sales for the next financial year. The blue chip housebuilder, a specialist in developing brownfield sites for the luxury market, said it remained on track to deliver pre-tax profits of £550m and at least £1.5bn of profit across the three years to 30 April 2026.

Vodafone and Swisscom have confirmed that the Swiss telecom group will take over Vodafone Italy for €8bn, enabling the UK company to return €4bn to shareholders. The deal, which follows a statement released two weeks ago that confirmed media speculation regarding a potential sale, is the "final step of the portfolio right-sizing" announced last May, Vodafone said on Friday.

Volution Group said Friday that full-year earnings per share were set to be ahead of consensus after a "strong" first half. In the six months to the end of January 2024, adjusted pre-tax profit increased to £35m from £31.8m in the same period a year earlier, with revenue up 6.3% to £172.5m.

Biopharma giant AstraZeneca has announced the acquisition of French biotech firm Amolyt Pharma for up to $1.05bn to beef up its late-stage rare disease pipeline. Amolyt, which is a specialist in the treatment of rare endocrine disease, will be purchased for $800m upfront on completion of the deal, plus an additional contingent payment of $250m payable upon achievement of a specified regulatory milestone.

Online ticketing platform Trainline reported sales at the top end of expectations as fewer strikes in the UK and competition for passengers in Italy and Spain saw revenues also beat forecasts. Total group sales for the year to February 29 rose 22% to £5.3bn – above Trainline's already-improved guidance range of 17% to 22% - with international ticketing up 14% to £1bn and the UK surging 23% to £3.5bn.

Online trading platform IG Group has reported stable revenues in the third quarter as it announced the resignation of both its chief financial officer and chief operating officer, just two months after the appointment of a new chief executive. Charlie Rozes, who has been IG's CFO since 2020, will step down in July, while five-year COO Jon Noble, who first joined IG as a trainee dealer back in 2000, is leaving immediately.

Greeting cards and gift retailer Moonpig said on Thursday that trading in the current financial year ending 30 April has remained in line with expectations across all its brands as it announced a new revolving credit facility. Growth has been underpinned by a strong performance at Moonpig, which saw volume growth across the Christmas, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day peak trading seasons.

Anglo American has reported another increase in rough diamond sales at De Beers as prices continue to rebound after slumping in 2023, though the company warned that tough macro conditions will keep a lid on growth for a while. De Beers saw sales of $430m in its second sales cycle of 2024, up from $374 in the first cycle and $137m in the last cycle of 2023, but down from $497m a year earlier.

White label merchandise and promotional products manufacturer 4imprint hiked its dividend by a third after a big jump in profits in 2023 on the back of market-share gains, though it did warn of a "softening" in the wider market towards the end of the year. The company made "significant operational and financial progress" last year, according to chair Paul Moody, as the company raised its final dividend to 150 cents a share, taking the total payout to 215 cents, up 34% on 2022.

South America-focused miner Hochschild reported a 10% fall in production, although in line with guidance, offset by rising prices and the devaluation of the Argentinian peso which helped to lift adjusted core earnings. The company on Wednesday posted said adjusted EBITDA came in at $274.4m, up 10%. Revenues fell 6% to $693.7m.

Intellectual property-focussed investor IP Group reported a net asset value of £1.19bn in its results for 2023 on Wednesady, or 114.3p per share, down from £1.38bn and 132.9p per share in 2022. The FTSE 250 company said despite the decrease, the return on net asset value still improved to -13% from -20% year-on-year, while the loss for the year narrowed significantly to £174.4m from £344.5m.

Infrastructure products and services provider Hill & Smith on Tuesday reported record annual results amid strong performance from its US operations. Operating profits for the year to December were up 26% to £122.5m on a 13% rise in revenue to £830m. Pre-tax profits increased 27% to £112m.

Polymers group Synthomer missed its own revenue targets for 2023 after a downturn in many of its end markets, but said that trading since the year-end has been "cautiously encouraging", causing shares to surge on Tuesday morning. The company, which provides polymers and ingredients for the coatings, construction, adhesives, and healthcare end markets, said revenues fell 15.5% to £1.97m, slightly under its own guidance of £2.0bn given in January.

Interdealer broker TP ICAP posted better-than-expected full-year profit on Tuesday, announced a £30m share buyback and confirmed it was exploring options for its data business, Parameta Solutions, which could include a potential IPO of a minority stake. In the year to the end of December 2023, adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £271m from £226m a year earlier, with group revenue 3% higher at £2.19bn.

Transport operator FirstGroup said it expected annual earnings would be slightly better than expectations after a strong performance from its rail division. In a trading update ahead of full-year results FirstGroup said rail operations had benefited from higher demand and the settlement of one-off infrastructure and other claims during the period.

Real estate group British Land has announced that William Rucker, the chair of Marston's, is to become its new chair designate in the summer and will leave the pub and hotel operator after five and a half years on the job. Rucker is to succeed incumbent chair Tim Score on 9 July, when Score will stand down after five years as chair and ten years on the board.

West End property owner Great Portland Estates said TK Maxx has agreed a deal to occupy a space at its Mount Royal property in London's Oxford Street, while health and beauty retailer Superdrug also recently re-geared its retail lease, committing to another 10 years at the location. GPE said it has a further 20,000 sq ft of prime retail space under offer at the western side of Mount Royal, with further deals expected later this year.

Iron ore producer Ferrexpo has announced that it needs to extend the payment terms on a $58,000 bill from a supplier for its Ukrainian operations as the business's accounts continue to be frozen. Ferrexpo confirmed press speculation that Kysen, a supplier to Ferrexpo Poltava Mining, has sought creditor protection proceedings against the company, with court hearings starting this week.

Shaftesbury Capital announced the acquisition of the freehold interests in 25-31 James Street, Covent Garden, for £75.1m before costs on Monday. The FTSE 250 company said the acquired properties boasted a contracted rent of £3.9m and offered a total lettable area of 21,000 square feet, encompassing 12,000 square feet of retail space, along with 9,000 square feet allocated for residential and office accommodation.

Economic news

The head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said it is "improbable we will find nothing" as it continues to investigate historical motor finance commission arrangements for potential misconduct, but that the impact on the financial sector will unlikely be as severe as the Payment Protection Insurance mis-selling scandal. In a speech at the Morgan Stanley European Financials Conference, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi tried to talk down comparisons with PPI which led to just short of £50bn being paid out by banks in compensation.

The UK house market continued to stabilise in February, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, despite prices remaining under pressure. According to the latest UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the net balance for house prices was -10 last month.

The UK economy returned to growth in the first month of 2024, according to figures released Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics. Gross domestic product rose 0.2% on the month in January, in line with expectations, following a 0.1% decline in December.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority said on Tuesday that it has provisionally decided to launch a formal market investigation after a review into the veterinary industry found that pet owners could be paying too much for medicines or prescriptions. The watchdog highlighted "multiple concerns" in the market.

UK wage growth eased again in the three months to January, while the unemployment rate ticked higher, according to figures released on Tuesday by the Office for National Statistics, raising rate cut expectations. Average regular pay growth excluding bonuses was 6.1%, down from 6.2% in the previous quarter. This marked the slowest growth in more than a year but was in line with expectations.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) unveiled its annual update to the basket of goods and services used to calculate inflation, revealing shifts in consumer spending as vinyl records and air fryers join the list. The statistics agency said the virtual basket encompasses more than 700 items deemed representative of typical consumer expenditures.

International events

House prices continued to slide in China last month, official data showed on Friday, heaping more pressure on the country’s struggling property sector. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, new home prices fell 1.4% year-on-year, double January’s 0.7% decline.

Global oil markets will face a supply deficit in 2024, according to the International Energy Agency, instead of the surplus previously predicted as OPEC+ supply cuts were expected to continue into the second half. The International Energy Agency's projection was based on the assumption that voluntary cuts by OPEC+ will remain in effect through 2024 unless confirmation from the producers' alliance indicates otherwise.

Unemployment claims in the U.S. being filed for the first time dipped unexpectedly during the preceding week. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of initial unemployment claims slipped by 1,000 over the week ending on 9 March to reach 209,000.

Wholesale inflation in the U.S. rose more quickly than anticipated, due in large part to higher energy prices. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms producer prices rose by 0.6% month-on-month and by 1.6% year-on-year.

US mortgage applications increased by 7.1% in the week ended 8 March, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, cooling off slightly from the prior week's 9.7% rise. Applications to buy a home advanced 4.7%, while those to refinance a home loan jumped 12.2%.

Industrial production fell sharply in the eurozone in January, official data showed Wednesday, by more than expected. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, industrial production fell 3.2% and by 2.1% across the wider bloc.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has maintained its forecasts for global oil demand over the next two years, citing "robust" economic growth that has carried over from 2023. OPEC still expects demand to rise by 2.2m barrels of oil per day in 2024, and by 1.8m bpd in 2025, unchanged from its earlier projection in February.

The cost of living in the U.S. was little changed last month but did not dip as much as anticipated amid the rising cost of energy. According to the Department of Labor, headline consumer prices increased at a 0.4% month-on-month pace in February.

Optimism among small businesses in the US unexpectedly declined last month, according to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), with inflation still a concern for many firms despite the recent slowdown in price pressures over recent months. The closely watched NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell to 89.4 last month, from 89.9 in January, missing analysts' forecasts for a pick-up to 90.7.

The secondary reading of German inflation on Tuesday confirmed that the annual rise in consumer prices eased to a 32-month low in February due to a sharp slowdown in food-price growth. The headline harmonised index of consumer prices fell to a year-on-year rate of 2.5% last month, down from 2.9% in January and 3.7% in December.

Reporting by Sharecast.com staff and contributors.