Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended a short week - truncated by Good Friday - down 53.18 points, closing at 7,616.38 on Thursday.

Equity view

Technology group Halma on Thursday said it had bought Canadian underwater robot maker Deep Trekker for CAN $60m (£36m). Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, Deep Trekker makes remotely operated underwater robots used for inspection, surveying, analysis and maintenance. It serves markets including aquaculture, renewable energy and ocean science and research, Halma said.

Electronics manufacturer DiscoverIE said on Thursday that trading in the final two months of the year continued to be strong, with the group now expecting to deliver full-year underlying earnings from continuing operations ahead of previous guidance. Group orders for the year were well ahead of sales, growing organically by 36% year-on-year and 32% when compared to two years ago, while DiscoverIE's period-end order book of £224.0m was a new record level and 62% higher organically than a year ago.

National Grid said it expected annual earnings per share to be slightly better than its earlier estimate as a higher tax rate partly offsets above-guidance profit in the UK. Underlying operating profit will be in line with guidance at most of National Grid's businesses but will be higher than guidance at its UK electricity transmission and distribution operations, mainly because of higher inflation, the FTSE 100 group said.

East European low-cost carrier Wizz Air said it was expecting to ramp up capacity beyond pre-pandemic levels for its summer schedule as it forecast a better-than-expected final quarter. The Hungary-based airline on Thursday said available seat kilometres (ASKs) for the three months to June would be 30% ahead of 2019 and more than 40% higher than the 2019 July - September quarter.

Recruiter Hays reiterated its full-year operating profit guidance on Thursday as it hailed a "record" third-quarter performance. In the quarter to the end of March, net fees rose 32% on a like-for-like basis and 29% on an actual basis, with "excellent" growth in all regions. Permanent fees were up 48%, while temporary fees rose 21%.

Property investor Primary Health Properties has acquired London's Chiswick Medical Centre for a total consideration of £34.5m. Primary Health said on Thursday that the property was fully let to HCA International, with an unexpired term of just under 20 years and five-yearly annually compounded RPI-led rent reviews.

Power converter maker XP Power said first quarter revenues were up 7% year on year as it reported a record order book. The company said sales for the three months to March 31 rose to £61.8m on a constant currency basis. Order intake momentum from the end of 2021 continued, rising 37% to £102.4m.

Gold miner Petropavlovsk - which has operations in Russia - said on Thursday that it is considering the sale of its operating subsidiaries. The company said it has appointed AlixPartners to assist the board as it explores its options and determines the course of action in the best interest of all stakeholders, including creditors and shareholders.

Ashmore's assets under management fell 10% in the third quarter as investors withdrew funds following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Assets managed by the emerging markets investment group fell to $78.3bn at the end of March from $87.3bn three months earlier as investors took funds out of fixed income and equities products.

Private healthcare services group Mediclinic said on Thursday that it had delivered a "strong financial performance" over the twelve months ended 31 March, driven by increased client activity. Mediclinic said group revenue growth was around 8% year-on-year to roughly £3.23bn, while group underlying earnings margins improved from 14.2% in 2020-21 to 16.0% in 2021-22.

Aerospace firm Meggitt has disposed of its piezoelectric ceramic components manufacturing unit to CTS Ceramics Denmark A/S for £59.0m in cash, subject to net debt and working capital adjustments. The FTSE 100-listed firm said on Wednesday that the disposal of Meggitt A/S was consistent with its strategy of developing "sustainable and differentiated technologies" for its core end markets in aerospace, defence, and energy.

GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to buy Sierra Oncology, a US rare cancer therapy company, for $1.9bn (£1.5bn) in cash to add to its roster of specialty medicines and vaccines. The UK drug company said Sierra's treatment had the potential to meet unmet medical needs of myelofibrosis patients with anaemia.

Polymetal International has shelved payment of its final dividend because of uncertainty over its financial position caused by sanctions linked to the war in Ukraine. The Russia-focused miner was due to pay a dividend of $0.52 a share on 27 May after approval at the annual general meeting on 25 April. But Polymetal said it had withdrawn the AGM resolution and would decide on the payment and the 2022 interim dividend until August.

Consumer goods group PZ Cussons said third quarter sales rose 8.5% driven by its price-to-discount mix as it maintained volumes during the period. Revenues at the Imperial Leather soap maker for the three months to February 28 came in at £146.3m. Year-to-date revenue was up 1.3% and the company said it expected to like-for-like sales growth for the current financial year.

Manufacturing and research company Oxford Instruments said on Wednesday that it now expects full-year revenues and adjusted operating profit to be "marginally ahead" of internal expectations, despite supply chain disruption and cost inflation. Oxford Instruments anticipates delivering further improvements in operating margin, as its "Horizon" strategy drives growth in attractive end markets, improved operational efficiency, and the transformation of its service offering.

Industrial and electronics products distributor Electrocomponents said on Tuesday that revenues had grown 26% on a like-for-like basis in the twelve months ended 31 March. Electrocomponents saw revenues grow 36% year-on-year in the Americas, while Asia-Pacific revenues were up 27% on the prior year and revenues across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa were up 22% on 2021 levels.

PageGroup announced a record quarter for the start of 2022 and said its chief executive, Steve Ingham, was leaving after 16 years at the top of the recruitment company. The FTSE 250 group said gross profit rose 42.6% to £258.2m in the three months to the end of March at constant currency from a year earlier. March was the first month it recorded gross profit of more than £100m.

Online trading platform Plus500 said on Tuesday that full-year revenue was set to be ahead of current market expectations as it posted a 68% jump in first-quarter revenues. In an update for the three months to the end of March, the company said revenues rose to $270.9m from $161.1m in the final quarter of 2021. Compared to the first quarter of last year, revenues were up 33%.

Specialist seals and controls maker Diploma said full year results were expected to “materially exceed” expectations after a strong contribution from acquisitions. The company on Tuesday forecast underlying revenue growth in the low double digits “well ahead of our model”.

Deliveroo left its guidance for annual results unchanged amid economic uncertainty as the food delivery group reported a 12% increase in sales for the first quarter. The company's gross transaction value (GTV) rose to £1.79bn from £1.62bn in the three months to the end of March from a year earlier, Deliveroo said in a trading update. The rate of growth was well below Deliveroo's target of 15-25% for the year.

Investment firm Sirius Real Estate said on Monday that total annualised rent rolls had grown in what had been "a transformative year" for the company, marked by its successful raising of €700.0m through two oversubscribed issuances and the group's entry into the UK market via its strategic acquisition of BizSpace. Sirius stated that over the past year, its business model had proven its ability to grow against "an exceptionally challenging market backdrop" and, as it emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, Sirius added that it expects to continue to "perform strongly" going forward.

Weir Group said it had bought Carriere Industrial Supply Limited, which makes and distributes parts and aftermarket service to the Canadian mining industry for £20m. Its products, which include mining buckets and lip systems, help customers increase productivity through reduced downtime and improved safety.

Healthcare company Syncona said on Monday that its portfolio company, Anaveon AG, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology business, had announced that the first clinical data from the ongoing Phase I/II study of its lead programme, ANV419, would be presented in a poster at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting in New Orleans. Syncona stated that Anaveon's presentation will reveal that as of the data cut-off date, 16 patients across seven dosing cohorts with different types of progressing cancer had received ANV419, with data showing the candidate was "very well-tolerated", with highly favourable safety data, robust and consistent pharmacodynamic effects, and excellent selectivity for inducing proliferation of relevant immune effector cells.

Wood Group said on Monday that its full-year results remain in line with the guidance given in January and that the exceptional charge related to the Aegis Poland contract remains at around $100m. The company, which had announced in February that its annual results would be delayed due to an external review, said the results will now be published on 20 April.

Lamprell said it had agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with energy services company NOV to support its delivery of three 1 gigawatt (GW) offshore floating wind farms for Cerulean Winds, the UK-based floating offshore wind farm and green hydrogen infrastructure developer. Under the terms of the MoU, Lamprell will make NOV-designed tri-floaters to be used as floating foundations for the three wind farms.

Economic news

UK footfall will rise 6.2% over the Easter long weekend, according to retail expert Springboard, with a spike predicted on Saturday. The Easter weekend period was predicted to be "a notable one", with a mini heatwave and the first Easter without any social restrictions since 2019.

The UK housing market had solid growth in March as the number of homes listed for sale rose despite worries about higher living costs and interest rates, a survey showed. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors' (RICS) residential market survey found that +8% of estate agents had a rise in fresh listings and that new buyer enquiries rose with +9% of respondents reporting an increase. This was the first time since the start of the pandemic that supply and demand had been so closely in line.

UK house prices rose 10.9% in February year on year, higher than estimates, according to official data released on Wednesday. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the average price was £27,000 higher than a year earlier as it reached a record £277,000. Prices rose 10.2% in January.

UK inflation hit a fresh 30-year high in March as energy and food prices surged, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics. Consumer price inflation reached 7% in March - its sharpest jump since 1992 - up from 6.2% in February and above analysts’ expectations of 6.7%.

Over 75% of staff at the Financial Conduct Authority have voted in favour of industrial action following a dispute around changes to pay and conditions. The vote for a strike, a historic first for the FCA workforce, comes as FCA staff sought to make it "very clear" that proposed changes to staff pay and conditions were "completely unacceptable".

Real pay for UK workers fell for the second month running as wage rises were more than offset by rising inflation, official figures showed. Regular pay, excluding bonuses, rose 4% in the three months to February, the Office for National Statistics said. The ONS said pay adjusted for inflation fell 1%. Including bonuses, real pay rose 0.4%.

Retail sales growth slowed in March, according to fresh data released on Tuesday, as waning consumer confidence took the wind out of the sector’s recovery from the pandemic. The BRC-KPMG retail sales monitor showed that on a total basis, sales increased 3.1% in March, against an increase of 13.9% in March last year.

Passenger numbers at Heathrow Airport hit their highest level since the beginning of the pandemic last month thanks to an increase in international leisure travel and the stripping of all Covid-19 restrictions across the UK. Passenger numbers surged to 4.2m in March, a more than seven-fold year-on-year jump.

UK economic growth slowed more than expected in February, according to figures released on Monday by the Office for National Statistics. GDP rose 0.1% on the month in February, down from 0.8% in January and coming in below consensus expectations of 0.3% growth.

International events

The European Central Bank left its key interest rates unchanged on Thursday as it confirmed plans to end its asset purchase programme in the third quarter. The rate on the Bank’s main refinancing operations remains at zero, while its marginal lending facility stays at 0.25% and the bank deposit rate at -0.5%.

Wholesale prices rose at their fastest clip in over a decade last month as energy prices continued to surge. According to the US Department of Labor, so-called final demand prices jumped at a month-on-month pace of 1.4% (consensus: 1.2%) in March, pushing the annual rate of increase to 11.2% (consensus: 10.6%).

Us inflation hit a fresh 40-year high in March as energy prices surged due to the war in Ukraine. According to figures released on Tuesday by the Labor Department, consumer price inflation jumped to 8.5% - its fastest annual rate of growth since 1981 - from 7.9% in February. Analysts had been expecting a figure of 8.4%.

The World Trade Organisation has cut its forecast for global trade growth this year, citing the impact of the Ukraine conflict. The WTO now expects growth of 3%, down from a previous forecast of 4.7%. For 2023, it expects growth of 3.4% but said this forecast was less certain than usual due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

German investor sentiment deteriorated a little less than expected in April, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the ZEW Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim. The headline ZEW investor expectations index fell to -41 from -39.3 in March, coming in ahead of expectations for a reading of -48.

Inflation in China hit a three-month high in March amid supply chain issues and Covid lockdowns, and following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to data released on Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics. Annual consumer price inflation rose to 1.5% from 0.9% in February, coming in above analysts’ expectations of 1.2%.