M&S maintains full-year guidance, Tesco outshines supermarket rivals

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Troubled high street retailer Marks & Spencer maintained full year guidance as third quarter group total revenue fell 3.9% to £3.04bn. In the UK, total revenue over the Christmas period fell 2.7% to £2.7bn on a constant currency basis. Clothing & home product like-for-like revenue was weaker than expected, down 2.4% to £1.1bn against a consensus of 1.8% while food was ahead of forecasts, down 2.1% to £1.6bn against a consensus 3% .

Grocery sector market leader Tesco outshone its big four listed rivals over Christmas, with sales growth that exceeded the market and analysts' forecasts. Group sales swelled 0.5% in the third quarter ending 24 November and 1.5% in the six-week festive period to 5 January, giving 19-week growth of 0.8%.

Motoring and cycling product and service retailer Halfords Group updated the market on its trading performance for the 14 weeks ended 4 January on Thursday, reporting a 1.4% fall in like-for-like group revenue. The FTSE 250 company said that consisted of 1.4% growth in revenue from its autocentres, which was offset by a 2.2% decline in like-for-like revenue in its retail operation. That was the result of mild weather, and weak consumer confidence, the Halfords board explained.

Newspaper round-up

Retailers experienced their worst Christmas for 10 years last month as shops were hit by Brexit worries and a dramatic fall in consumer confidence. Total sales growth dropped to zero in December for the first time since 2008, with all areas of the high street hit by a fall in sales except food, which benefited from intense competition among the major supermarket chains. – Guardian

Jaguar Land Rover is due to give a business update on Thursday that is predicted to include the loss of up to 5,000 jobs. The luxury carmaker employs 44,000 workers in the UK at sites in Halewood on Merseyside and Solihull, Castle Bromwich and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands. There were reports in 2018 that thousands of jobs could be axed as part of a £2.5bn savings plan amid falling sales in China, Brexit and a drop in demand for diesel cars, but that figure was not confirmed. – Guardian

A Berlin-based financial technology start-up that is aiming to challenge the likes of Britain's Monzo and Starling Bank has raised $300m (£234m) in a major funding round as interest in the booming fintech sector shows no signs of waning in 2019. N26, a German start-up that offers a mobile banking app and a see-through debit and payments card, secured the funding from US venture capital firm Insight Ventures and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. - Telegraph

Rolls-Royce has shrugged off fears about a global economic slowdown with record-breaking sales of its luxury vehicles. Ultra-rich buyers snapped up 4,107 of the BMW-owned company’s cars in 2018 - up more than a fifth on the previous year. It also added 200 staff at its Goodwood factory last year to cope with the expected demand for the new Cullinan SUV, the first few models of which were delivered at the end of 2018. - Telegraph

US close

US stocks finished higher on Wednesday amid cautious optimism following trade talks between the US and China, and as investors sifted through the latest Federal Reserve minutes.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.39% at 23,879.12, the S&P 500 added 0.41% to 2,584.96, and the Nasdaq 100 was ahead 0.75% at 6,600.69.

Investors appeared to cheer the fact that negotiations between Washington and Beijing went on for a day longer than expected, with China’s Foreign Ministry saying that the unscheduled third day showed both parties were “serious” about making progress.

US Undersecretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, Ted McKinney, said earlier the negotiations "went just fine", while China's foreign ministry spokesman, Lu Kang, said a statement concerning the negotiations would soon be released.

“Now that the talks in Beijing have officially come to a close - one day later than expected, something that has been treated as hugely significant - investors are on tenterhooks to know what, if anything, was agreed between the two superpowers,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.

“So far there isn’t a lot to go on; however, the signs appear to be positive," he added.