Superdry warns on profits, Hipgnosis delays results

Stocks to watch

Energy storage investment firm Gore Street Energy Storage Fund has announced a share placement worth £15.8m to hand over 14m shares to long-term strategic partner Nidec Motor Corporation in return for more engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work. The placing was priced at 112.9p per share, being the most recently announced net asset value per share as of 30 September.

Clothing retailer Superdry issued a profit warning on Tuesday as it said it was hit by a challenging trading environment and warm weather. Superdry said in an update that the external environment has proven "challenging" and trading has been "significantly" below management expectations, with full-year profits "expected to reflect this weaker trading seen to date".

Music rights investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund has delayed publication of its interim results - which were due on Tuesday - as the board expressed concerns about the value of the company's assets following two sales at steep discounts. Hipgnosis, which owns song rights by artists such as Neil Young and Beyonce, said an independent valuation was "materially higher than the valuation implied by proposed and recent transactions in the sector".

Newspaper round-up

The GMB trade union has called on the government and nuclear authorities to take “urgent action” to address concerns over safety at Sellafield. The union has written to the energy minister, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Sellafield’s chief executive to demand greater investment into keeping the 11,000 employees at the vast nuclear rubbish dump in Cumbria safe. – Guardian

Google has agreed to pay US$700m and to allow for greater competition in its Play app store, according to the terms of an antitrust settlement with US states and consumers disclosed in a San Francisco federal court. Google was accused of overcharging consumers through unlawful restrictions on the distribution of apps on Android devices and unnecessary fees for in-app transactions. It did not admit wrongdoing. – Guardian

Audi will hit the brakes on its rollout of electric car models as consumer enthusiasm wanes in the face of high prices compared to petrol models. Gernot Döllner, the boss of the Volkswagen-owned brand, said that he wants to avoid flooding dealerships and factories with the vehicles as sales slow. – Telegraph

The Telegraph’s independent directors have alerted the government to possible financial irregularities in the accounts of the Barclay family’s media assets. The directors drafted in to steer the newspaper during a tussle over its future have highlighted what they claim is evidence of historic issues in the company accounts. – The Times

Apple plans to suspend the sale of two of its popular smartwatch models in the United States after losing a patent dispute. The Silicon Valley giant lost a case over the technology its smartwatches use to monitor people’s pulse rate. The International Trade Commission ruled in October that some of Apple’s devices infringed on patents held by Masimo, a medical technology company also based in California. – The Times

US close

US stocks finished higher on Monday, though gains for the Dow were only modest with the index already at record highs, as investors continued to digest mixed messages from Federal Reserve policymakers about the interest-rate outlook.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished just 0.86 points higher but still managed to set a new all-time high of 37,306.02, its fourth record in a row, while the Nasdaq gained 0.6% and the S&P 500 rose 0.5%

Goldman Sachs on Monday raised its forecast for the S&P 500 for next year to 5,100 from 4,700 last month. The index now just stands just 1.1% away from its record high of 4,796.56 reached in January 2022

Investor sentiment turned positive late last week after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell seemingly indicated that three short-term interest rate cuts were expected to take place in 2024 amid cooling inflation.

However, central bankers have come out to temper expectations that rates would be lowered anytime soon.