IHG profits surge, Spirax-Sarco CEO to step down

Stocks to watch

Thermal energy and fluid engineering specialist Spirax-Sarco announced the intended retirement of group chief executive Nicholas Anderson in early 2024 on Tuesday, after a decade in the role. Nimesh Patel, who joined the company in 2020 as chief financial officer, would succeed him as group CEO from 16 January next year. The company said Patel's promotion followed an extensive succession planning process.

Hotels operator IHG on Tuesday reported a sharp jump in half-year profit as the travel sector continued to rebound from the Covid pandemic. Operating profit at the Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn owner rose 62% to $584m, with revenue per available room (RevPAR) – a key industry metric – up 24% year on year. Group revenues increased 24% to $2.2bn.

Newspaper round-up

The energy price cap is keeping bills artificially high and fuelling inflation, an influential think tank has warned. The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is urging ministers to scrap the cap, arguing that it prevents people from accessing cheaper deals. The energy price cap was originally introduced in 2017 as a temporary measure to stop energy companies overcharging loyal customers who didn’t shop around for deals. The Government argued it would protect vulnerable customers, such as those on prepayment meters or with a disability. – Telegraph

France has become Europe’s top energy exporter amid a surge in British demand after the country’s state-backed nuclear power operator finally fixed cracks in its ageing fleet of reactors. The country’s total net exports stood at 17.6 TWh in the first six months of 2023, according to data analysis company Enappsys. This is roughly enough energy to power 5 million homes for a year. Enappsys said most of this flowed to Italy and Britain, which were the two largest importers of energy in Europe over the same period. – Telegraph

UK fund managers have come under fire after it emerged many had cut back their holdings in major British defence stocks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Fund managers based in the UK have slashed their holdings in companies including BAE Systems and Qinetiq by an average of 9 per cent since the start of 2022, according to data from the London Stock Exchange Group. At the same time, EU investors increased their ownership of British defence groups by 9 per cent while raising exposure to European companies by 4 per cent. - Daily Mail

Britain’s hard-pressed retailers are being forced to slash their prices to drum up business after dismal summer weather and ever-higher interest rates combined to depress consumer spending in July. The monthly health check of high street and online spending patterns from the British Retail Consortium and the consultancy KPMG reported a steep annual drop in the volume of sales and an increasing number of retailers offering promotional offers to woo consumers reluctant to part with their cash. - Guardian

A biomass plant in Teesside backed by Macquarie has secured emergency funding of £80 million to avert an “imminent cashflow crisis”. The Tees Renewable Energy Plant has raised extra funding as it races to relaunch operations after delays and setbacks to the £1 billion project. The plant is one of the largest of its kind in the world and is capable of producing enough electricity for 600,000 homes. Documents seen by The Times warn that the plant was on course to breach a £15 million liquidity requirement last month and risked becoming cashflow-negative by late September. - The Times

US close

Wall Street experienced a bounce-back on Monday, with stocks closing notably higher following their most challenging week since March.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an uptick of 1.16%, closing at 35,473.13 points, while the S&P 500 advanced by 0.9% to settle at 4,518.44.

By the closing bell the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite wasn't far behind, climbing 0.61% to end the day at 13,994.40.

Minor fluctuations were meanwhile seen in currency markets, with the dollar last up by a marginal 0.01% on sterling, trading at 78.23p.

It slightly depreciated against the euro by 0.02%, to 90.87 euro cents, while it declined 0.01% on the yen, changing hands at JPY 142.48.