Earnings rise at Bunzl, AB Foods lifts full-year guidance

Stocks to watch

International distribution group Bunzl reported a rise in annual earnings, driven by product cost inflation, volume recovery in the first half and growth from acquisitions. Pre-tax profit for 2022 rose 11.6% to £634.6m, as revenue grew 9.8% at constant exchange rates to £12bn. Shareholders were rewarded with a 10% rise in the total dividend to 62.7p a share. Bunzl also revealed it had bought a business in Germany and completed the acquisition of another in Canada.

Primark owner Associated British Foods lifted full-year guidance as consumer spending proved to be more resilient in the first half and inflationary volatility had eased. The group on Monday said it now expected adjusted operating profit to be broadly in line with the previous financial year after previously forecasting adjusted operating profit below the €1.44bn made in 2021-22.

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust on Monday said it had refinanced and increased its multi-currency revolving credit facility. The committed £270.8m RCF - which was previously £150m committed - has a three-year term to February 24, 2026 and can be drawn in British pounds, euros, Australian and US dollars.

Newspaper round-up

The Australia-based company Recharge Industries will take over collapsed battery maker Britishvolt after finalising a deal with administrators late on Sunday in the UK. The agreement revives hopes for the construction of a £3.8bn (A$6.7bn) “gigafactory” in northern England, the backbone of a plan to modernise the British automotive industry and supply the next generation of UK-built electric vehicles. – Guardian

Jeremy Hunt’s tax raid poses one of the biggest threats to UK businesses this year, according to a survey of British bosses that urged the Chancellor to make restoring competitiveness a “priority” for the Budget. Business leaders said reducing the tax burden on companies and their staff were two of their top three policy priorities this year. – Telegraph

Drivers risk being forced to pay a “tyre tax” as Britain explores a crackdown on brake and tyre wear emissions. Ministers have hired advisers to explore how to address harmful emissions that experts say are more harmful than diesel fumes. The Department for Transport has asked consultancy Arup to “develop recommendations on how to better assess and control these emissions which will persist after a transition to zero tailpipe emission vehicles”, according to a Government filing. – Telegraph

Investors who first backed the Octopus financial services and energy group have made 158 times their money, according to its co-founder. For the first time Simon Rogerson, who says he found his early backers in 2020 by dialling the numbers of random financial advisers in the Yellow Pages, has published some numbers for the overall privately owned Octopus business. – The Times

Results from London Stock Exchange Group this week could fire the starting pistol on the sale of as much as £4 billion of its shares by a consortium led by Blackstone, the American private equity group, and Thomson Reuters. A lock-up arrangement preventing these owners from selling an initial 10 per cent stake in the group expired in January, but in practice as insiders with seats on its board they can only begin to sell on Thursday, when the company’s “quiet period” ends. – The Times

US close

Stocks closed in the red on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 1.02% at 32,816.92.

The S&P 500 lost 1.05% to 3,970.04, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.69% at 11,394.94.