Standard Chartered announces fresh $1bn buyback, Chemring holds guidance

Stocks to watch

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered on Friday unveiled a new $1bn buyback, increased dividend and higher annual profits, but reined in guidance on income for the current year. The bank reported an 18% rise in pre-tax profit to $5.1bn and lifted its full-year dividend 50% to 27 cents a share, well above estimates of 23.7 cents. However, it also forecast income growth at the upper end of 5-7% this year, down from the previous estimate of 8-10% given last October. The lender reported a 13% rise in income in 2023 on a constant currency basis.

Chemring has kept hold of guidance but said that annual results will now be increasingly weighted to the second half after severe winter conditions interrupted manufacturing operations at the start of the financial year. The aerospace and defence firm said that the current environment of heightened geopolitical uncertainty continues to position it well for growth as it reported an order book of £991m at 30 January, up 51% on the same point a year ago.

Woodside announced the sale of a 15.1% non-operating interest in the Scarborough Joint Venture to JERA for $1.4bn on Friday, with completion expected in the second half of 2024, alongside an agreement for the purchase of six LNG cargoes annually for 10 years starting in 2026. It said both companies had agreed to explore opportunities in ammonia, hydrogen, carbon management, and carbon capture and storage to support their shared decarbonisation goals.

Newspaper round-up

The billionaire businessman Mike Ashley has claimed he was the victim of “abuse” by Morgan Stanley amid a high court dispute over the investment bank’s decision to impose a near $1bn (£790m) cash demand. Ashley’s Frasers Group is taking legal action against the US investment bank Morgan Stanley and Denmark’s Saxo Bank over the May 2021 move linked to bets placed on shares in the German retailer Hugo Boss. – Guardian

Reddit set the stage for its highly anticipated stock market debut, preparing investors for the largest initial public offering by a major social network in four years. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday disclosed the financial performance of the social media group, and revealed that Sam Altman, the OpenAI founder and CEO, is its third-largest shareholder, with an 8.7% stake. – Guardian

Water suppliers such as Thames Water are at risk of collapsing into administration if they are fined for bad behaviour, MPs have warned, potentially landing taxpayers with a multi-billion pound bailout bill. In a letter to Ofwat, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee indicated that the watchdog has been rendered powerless to crack down on misdemeanours because of suppliers’ financial instability. – Telegraph

Telefonica has written down the value of its stake in Virgin Media O2 by €1.8bn (£1.5bn) as the telecoms company grapples with soaring debt costs. The Spanish mobile giant said it had booked a €1.8bn goodwill impairment in its 50pc stake in VMO2, blaming rising interest rates and “broader macroeconomic conditions in the UK”. – Telegraph

Administrators for the collapsed battery factory project Britishvolt have said they are still chasing money from the Australian buyer of the site and are considering other potential deals. Recharge Industries is still “in default” a year after it agreed to buy the site in Cambois, Northumberland, where Britishvolt had previously said it wanted to build a factory, according to EY. – The Times

US close

Wall Street saw a surge in stock performances on Thursday, buoyed by robust earnings reports from chipmaker Nvidia and positive data trends.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.18%, closing at 39,069.11 points, while the S&P 500 climbed 2.11% to reach 5,087.03 points, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.96% to 16,041.62 points.

In currency markets, the dollar held steady against the British pound and the euro, last showing no change at 78.99p and 92.4 euro cents, respectively.

However, it experienced a marginal decline against the yen, slipping 0.01% to change hands at JPY 150.52.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported Americans filed for state unemployment benefits at a slower pace in the week ended 17 February.