Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week up 73.66 points, or 0.9%, closing at 8,213.49 on Friday.

Equity view

Hotels giant InterContinental Hotels Group reported a substantial easing in revenue per available room (RevPAR) growth in the first quarter as weakness in the Americas and a big slowdown in China limited progress. However, IHG also announced that it would see a $25m uplift to profits this year after a change in its System Fund arrangements, lowering the fees it pays to franchisees to deliver its loyalty programme. The change will "improve economics for our owners", the company said.

Media group Future said Friday it has appointed Sharjeel Suleman as chief financial officer. Suleman is currently CFO at ITV Studios, a role he has held for five years. Before this, he held a variety of senior finance roles at ITV, including director of group finance and director of investor relations. He started his career at KPMG, where he qualified as a chartered accountant.

Paper and packaging company Mondi reported improved market conditions in its first quarter on Friday, resulting in stronger order books and increased sales volumes across a range of paper grades compared to the prior quarter. The FTSE 100 firm said it experienced a solid performance in downstream converting operations.

Glencore is reportedly studying an approach for Anglo American, a development that could spark a bidding war. Reuters cited sources as saying Glencore has yet to approach Anglo. It was understood the discussions are internal and preliminary at this stage and may not cause an approach.

Precision measurement group Spectris has kept its projections for 2024 unchanged despite a "softer-than-anticipated" first quarter, with sales falling against a strong comparative period last year. The company, which provides high-tech instruments, test equipment and software for industrial applications, said sales were down 8% on a like-for-like basis in the three months too 31 March, with conditions in some of its end markets like China weaker than hoped.

Aerospace tech group Melrose reported a strong start to the year with its Engines division driving group revenues higher, as it reiterated recently upgraded guidance for the full year. Revenues were up 8% year-on-year in the first quarter, with Engines sales up 21%, helped by the aftermarket category with risk and revenue-sharing partnerships and repair activities showing above-average growth.

Hungary-based Wizz Air reported a fall in passenger numbers in April after it was forced to ground some aircraft for engine replacement. Passenger numbers fell by 0.3% to 4.9 million, while the load factor was 0.6 percentage points lower at to 90.3% year on year.

Smurfit Kappa Group reported robust first-quarter revenue of €2.7bn in an update on Thursday, alongside EBITDA of €487m, making for an EBITDA margin of 18.0%. The FTSE 100 company said that in line with expectations, it experienced continued growth in corrugated box volumes during the period.

Like-for-like sales at Domino's Pizza Group declined year-on-year in the first quarter as anticipated, but the company said it still expects to return to growth over 2024. The UK-based master franchise of the global takeaway chain reported system sales of £385.1m in the first quarter, down 0.4% on last year. On a comparable basis, like-for-like sales were down 0.5% and total orders fell 0.8% at 17.7m, though trading improved in February and March after a slow January when it "tactically held back marketing spend".

Luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda saw a double-digit drop in revenues and adjusted profits in the first quarter, but said the launch of four new models should drive "significant growth" in the second half and beyond. As a result, the company held on to its full-year guidance of improved profitability and EBITDA, an improvement in gross margins to 40% and high single-digit percentage wholesale volume growth.

UK pharmaceutical giant GSK raised annual profits guidance on Wednesday, as it pinned its hopes on demand for its respiratory virus and shingles treatments. The company said it now expected a rise of 8% - 10% in annual adjusted earnings per share, up from the 6% - 9% previously forecast, while sales were tipped to be at the upper end of its 5% to 7% forecast range. Core operating profit growth was forecast to increase 9% - 11%, up from 7% - 10%).

Computacenter warned on first-half profits on Wednesday, citing strong prior-year comparatives and challenging UK markets. In an update for the first quarter, the company said it expects to make further progress this year, as it has performed broadly in line with its expectations. Germany and North America delivered "solid" underlying performances, but the UK "remained challenging", it said.

The chair of Travis Perkins is to step down at the end of next month, the builders merchant announced on Tuesday, just a month after the resignation of its chief executive. Jasmine Whitbread, who was appointed to the board in March 2021, will leave the business on on 31 May when senior independent director Jez Maiden will step in as interim chair.

Hospitality group Whitbread has announced a £150m share buyback and beefed up its dividend after seeing its bottom line jump by more than a third in the year to 29 February, as it unveiled plans to cut jobs as it turns underperforming restaurants into more hotels. The company, which owns Premier Inn, Beefeater and a number of other names in the pub, restaurant and hotels sector, unveiled its Accelerating Growth Plan (AGP), which it said would "optimise" its food and beverage offering, leading the loss of around 1,500 jobs in the UK.

Telecom Plus said on Tuesday that full-year adjusted pre-tax profit was set to be towards the upper end of market expectations after a record year. In an update for the year to the end of March, the company - which trades as Utility Warehouse - said adjusted pre-tax profit will be at the top end of the range of £110.1m to £116.3m.

Bottler Coca-Cola HBC on Tuesday said first-quarter revenue beat forecasts and reiterated guidance that annual operating profit would grow further on the back of strong demand. The Swiss-based company reported a 12.6% rise in organic net sales revenue for the three months to March 29 €2.23bn, compared with a company-compiled consensus of 9.5%.

Insurance group Beazley said that first-quarter results were in line with guidance with insurance written premiums (IWP) growing at high single digits. IWP were up 7% at $1.48bn, matching the full-year target growth rate. Meanwhile, investments and cash jumped by 19% to $10.83bn, while the investment return held steady at 1.2%.

Consulting and engineering business Wood Group has created a new executive role of chief strategy officer to look after things like sustainability and corporate development. The company, which operates exclusively in the energy and materials markets, has appointed into the CSO position, Jennifer Richmond, who joined the company in 2022 as executive president of strategy and development following a 19-year career at American engineering services firm Jacobs.

AstraZeneca issued favourable updates on two of its breast cancer treatments on Monday - ‘Truqap’, or capivasertib, and ‘Enhertu’, or trastuzumab deruxtecan - following encouraging results from respective phase three trials. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant’s first update was on Truqap in combination with ‘Faslodex’, or fulvestrant, targeting adult patients with oestrogen receptor (ER)-positive, HER2‑negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who had experienced recurrence or progression after prior endocrine-based therapy.

Endeavour Mining said it had poured first gold from the Sabodala-Massawa BIOX Expansion project in Senegal on April 18. The Sabodala-Massawa mine was acquired by Endeavour in February 2021, as part of its acquisition of Teranga. Endeavour owns a 90% stake, with the remaining 10% owned by the Government of Senegal.

Economic news

UK service sector output grew in April at its fastest pace since May 2023, according to a survey released Friday. The S&P Global services PMI business activity index rose to 55.0 from 53.1 in March, coming in above the 50.0 mark that separates contraction from expansion for the sixth month in a row.

Pennon Group worked to assure the market that its acquisition of Sutton and East Surrey Water (SES Water) would avoid a deeper competition probe on Friday, telling shareholders that it planned to offer “appropriate undertakings” to regulators. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), having conducted a phase one investigation, announced on Friday morning that it would refer the acquisition to a phase two review unless acceptable undertakings were offered.

Retail footfall fell sharply in April, industry data showed on Friday, hit by poor weather and the early timing of Easter. According to the latest BRC-Sensormatic IQ Footfall Monitor, total UK footfall fell 7.2% in April year-on-year, further compounding March’s 1.3% decline.

UK growth is set to remain sluggish this year, a leading economic organisation forecast on Thursday, weighed down by restrictive monetary policy. According to the latest economic outlook from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, GDP is expected to grow by 0.4% in 2024 and by 1.0% in 2025.

The UK manufacturing sector shrank last month, a closely-watched survey showed Wednesday, as supply chain disruption hit home. The latest seasonally-adjusted S&P Global UK manufacturing PMI came in at 49.1, down from March’s 20-month high of 50.3.

UK house prices unexpectedly fell in April for the second month in a row as borrowing rates rose, according to figures released Wednesday by Nationwide. House prices fell 0.4% on the month following a 0.2% decline in March. Economists were expecting a 0.2% increase.

Mortgage approvals continued to rise in March, official data released Tuesday showed, reaching an 18-month high. According to the latest Bank of England Money and Credit report, net mortgage approvals for house purchases rose from 60,497 in February to 61,325 last month, the highest since September 2022.

Price increases at UK tills fell to their lowest since the end of 2021 in April, according to figures released on Tuesday by the British Retail Consortium and NielsenIQ, as food inflation eased for the 12th straight month. The annual rate of shop price inflation fell to just 0.8% in April, down from 1.3% in March, the BRC-NeilsenIQ Shop Price Index showed.

UK house prices jumped nearly 2% last year, industry data showed Monday, driven by demand for smaller homes. According to research from Halifax, annual property price growth reached 1.9% in February, to £282,430, a notable recovery from October’s low of -4.1%.

International events

The number of Americans lining up for unemployment benefits was unchanged at 208,000 in the week ended 27 April, according to the Labor Department, remaining at the lowest level in two months and firmly below market expectations for a reading of 212,000. Last week's reading marked the fourth consecutive stronger-than-expected result, pointing to continued tightness in the US labour market and giving the Federal Reserve some leeway to delay interest rate cuts should inflation remain above its 2% target.

America's shortfall on trade with the rest of the world was little changed in March, as both exports and imports suffered large declines. According to the US Department of Commerce, the trade deficit in goods and services dipped by 0.1% month-on-month to reach $69.4bn.

The downturn in Germany’s hard-pressed manufacturing sector eased marginally last month, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, although it remained in contraction. The latest HCOB German manufacturing purchasing managers' index was 42.5, up from 41.9 in March and slightly ahead of the flash reading of 42.2.

America's central bank stood pat on rates on Wednesday, but refrained from sounding a hawkish note that might tighten financial conditions further. In its policy statement, the Federal Open Market Committee stated that there had been no additional progress towards its 2.0% inflation goal.

The number of US job openings fell only slightly in March, but the number of so-called quits continued to retreat. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms the number of job openings dropped at a month-on-month pace pf 3.7% to reach 8.488m - their lowest level in more than three years.

Factory sector activity in the US declined unexpectedly last month, even as price pressures picked up, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index slipped from a reading of 50.3 for February to 49.2 in March.

US construction spending fell by 0.2% month-on-month in March, according to the Census Bureau, following a revised flat reading in February and missing market expectations for a 0.3% increase. Private spending shrank by 0.5%, led by a 0.7% decrease in the residential segment, while public construction outlays saw a 0.8% increase compared to the previous month.

Private sector employment in the US rose more than expected April, according to figures released Wednesday by the ADP. Employment increased by 192,000 from March, versus expectations for a 180,000 jump. Meanwhile, March’s gain was revised from 184,000 to 208,000.

US mortgage applications fell 2.3% in the week ended 26 April, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, extending the two-month-high decline of 2.7% seen in the previous week. Last week's drop followed another fresh increase in mortgage rates as expectations that high inflation will force the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates at a higher clip for longer triggered an increase in Treasury yields.

Consumer confidence in the United States unexpectedly weakened in April, according to data released on Tuesday by The Conference Board, as the public turned more pessimistic about future business conditions and the labour market. The closely watched Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index declined for the third straight month to 97, from a downwardly revised 103.1 in March.

Urban house-price growth in the US accelerated to its highest level in 16 months in February, according to data out on Tuesday from S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller, with prices at or near all-time highs. The 20-City Composite index, which measures residential real estate prices in 20 major metropolitan areas across the country, rose at a year-on-year rate of 7.3% up from 6.6% in January.

Reporting by Sharecast.com staff and contributors.