Morrisons sees stronger-than-expected Christmas sales, Greene King cheers festive numbers

Stocks to watch

National Grid has reached a deal with two Massachusetts Gas unions over employment terms and conditions, ending a six-month lockout. The agreement is for a five-and-a-half-year contract for 1,250 employees in the company's Massachusetts Gas business. Workers are expected to return to work later this month.

Morrisons reported stronger than expected retail sales over the festive period, supported by prices that were kept level with last year. As the first of the big four supermarkets to deliver its post-Christmas update, the Bradford-based group revealed group like-for-like sales of 3.6% in the nine weeks to 6 January. This comprised retail sales growth of 0.6%, with wholesale sales growing 3.0%.

Pub operator Greene King posted a jump in like-for-like sales on Tuesday as it hailed “strong” trading over the Christmas period. The group said in an update that pub company like-for-like sales were up 3.2% after 36 weeks of its financial year following strong trading over Christmas, as it continues to trade ahead of the market. In the last two weeks of 2018, which cover Christmas and the New Year, LFL sales rose 10.9% and Greene King achieved record Christmas day sales of £7.7m.

Specialist building materials supplier SIG updated the market on its trading for the year ended 31 December on Tuesday, reporting that despite “challenging” market conditions and lower trading revenues in the second half of the year, particularly in December, its transformation continued to progress at pace. The FTSE 250 company said it would report adjusted profit before tax of around £75m, including the benefit of between £2m and £3m of property profits in the year. It said it expected the benefits of the ongoing transformation to drive a further significant increase in profitability in 2019.

Newspaper round-up

England must launch the biggest council and social house building drive in its history to rescue millions of people from a future in dangerous, overcrowded or unsuitable homes, a cross-party commission has told the government. More than 3m new social homes are needed in the next 20 years, more than were built in the two decades after the end of the second world war, according to a year-long housing commission launched in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster. Its commissioners include the former Conservative party chair, Sayeeda Warsi, the former Labour leader Ed Miliband and the former Conservative Treasury minister and Goldman Sachs chief economist Lord Jim O’Neill. – Guardian

Barclays is being threatened with a boardroom shake-up after an activist investor announced plans for a shareholder vote on the bank’s leadership. Edward Bramson, who has spent about £900m building a 5.5% stake in Barclays through his investment vehicle Sherborne Investors, told his own shareholders that a vote was necessary, given that “consistent engagement” with Barclays had failed to yield results. – Guardian

Samsung's profits have dropped by almost 30 per cent due to a global fall in demand for microchips, the company has warned. The Korean electronics giant said its operating profit in the last three months of 2018 was 28.7 percent lower than the same time the previous year, one of the worst fourth-quarter performances in its history. – Telegraph

The boss of Laing O’Rourke, the country’s biggest privately owned contractor, has urged the Government to better support the industry after striking a painful deal with lenders to safeguard of the future its 15,000 workers. After months of intense negotiations, the Crossrail and Hinkley Point C builder has agreed a refinancing that sees banking facilities put in place until 2022. – Telegraph

The head of the World Bank quit unexpectedly yesterday, leaving President Trump to pick a new face for one of the most important roles in global finance. Jim Yong Kim, 59, said that he would leave the Washington-based organisation on 1 February, three years before his term was due to expire, to join a private infrastructure investment firm. – The Times

US close

US stocks ended the session higher on Monday as investors awaited the outcome of the latest round of trade talks between the US and China.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.42% higher at 23,531.35, while the S&P 500 picked up 1.70% to 2,549.69 and the Nasdaq Composite moved 1.26% firmer to 6,823.47.

While stocks managed to reverse losses seen at the bell, investors remained wary as officials from the US and China met in Beijing later for the first discussions between the two since Donald Trump and Xi Jinping agreed a temporary truce in December.

"These talks will have a positive outcome because both sides are trying to deal with the issue in an active and practical manner," said former vice commerce minister Wei Jianguo.

“I'm not saying there could be positive results; I think there definitely will be.”