Fresnillo holds full-year production guidance, Reckitt on track for full-year targets

Stocks to watch

Mexico-focused precious metals miner Fresnillo has left full-year production guidance unchanged after a solid third-quarter output performance. Quarterly attributable silver production totalled 14.4m ounces, down 1.5% on the second quarter but 2.4% ahead of last year, with year-to-date production up 1.2% on 2023. Gold output was up 20.6% over the three months at 156,800 ounces, and 18.2% higher year-on-year, but year-to-date production is down 6.6%.

Reckitt Benckiser reported like-for-like net revenue growth of 0.4% for the first three quarters of the year on Wednesday, driven by strong performance in its health and hygiene segments, while US nutrition was impacted by supply disruptions, including a tornado at the Mount Vernon site. Despite a reported net revenue decline of 3.8% due to currency headwinds, the FTSE 100 consumer products giant said it was on track to meet its full-year targets, expecting strong like-for-like revenue growth in the fourth quarter. It said it was progressing with initiatives including leadership changes, a new operating model for 2025, and a £1bn share buyback programme.

Lloyds has reported a slight decline in statutory profits over the third quarter but still managed to beat consensus forecasts, as the banking group reiterated guidance for the full year. Statutory profit before tax totalled £1.82bn in the three months to 30 September, down 2% on last year but well ahead of the £1.6bn expected by analysts.

Newspaper round-up

Hundreds of millions of pounds of local transport funding in England could be cut in next week’s spending review despite having been agreed with regional mayors, putting bus, tube and tram improvements at risk. The mayors, most of whom are Labour, are engaged in a last-minute lobbying campaign to stop the Treasury raiding their transport budgets as Rachel Reeves looks for immediate savings. – Guardian

Water companies in England could be banned from making a profit under plans for a complete overhaul of the system. The idea is one of the options being considered by a new commission set up by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) amid public fury over the way firms have prioritised profit over the environment. – Guardian

The former boss of fashion giant Abercrombie & Fitch and his British partner have been arrested and face sex trafficking charges. Ex-chief executive Mike Jeffries, his partner Matthew Smith and a third man, Jim Jacobson, were arrested on Tuesday morning in Brooklyn, New York. The trio were arrested following allegations that they sexually abused young men at parties in the United States and other countries. – Telegraph

The cost of managing Britain’s most hazardous nuclear waste has risen by almost a fifth to £136 billion due to a failure to set a realistic budget, the government’s spending watchdog has concluded. Sellafield, which is home to about 85 per cent of the UK’s nuclear waste and stores the most hazardous waste, is not delivering value for money as large projects are running behind schedule and over budget, according to the National Audit Office’s latest assessment. – The Times

Dozens of staff at EY, the Big Four professional services firm, have been branded cheats by the firm and sacked for streaming more than one training video at a time to meet quotas. EY confirmed that some of its employees in the US were fired last week for trying to save time by watching multiple online training courses at one time. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed in a mixed state on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.02% at 42,924.89.

The S&P 500 lost 0.05% to 5,851.20, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.18%, settling at 18,573.13.