Berkeley on track to meet FY earnings guidance, Avast withdraws products from Russia and Belarus

Stocks to watch

Property developer The Berkeley Group said on Friday that it was on track to meet full-year earnings guidance after continuing to trade "robustly" since 1 November.

Forward sales, representing cash due under exchanged private sales, were expected to be above £1.70bn at year end, flat year-on-year, whilst net cash was forecast to be around £900.0m, up from £846.0m, subject to the timing of certain land payments.

Berkeley said the value of underlying sales reservations remained slightly ahead of pre-pandemic levels, while cancellations were at normal rates and sales pricing was "sufficiently ahead" of its business plan to absorb construction cost increases.

Cybersecurity firm Avast said it had withdrawn all its products from Russia and Belarus and suspended all marketing and sales operations in those countries with immediate effect.

The company said it had staff in both Russia and Ukraine and was “actively working to protect and sustain them as a priority”. Ukraine customers have been offered a free extension on their licenses, while users of Avast “freemium” products are also able to get premium products for free.

“With disinformation rife, supporting Ukrainians' access to a secure, unrestricted internet connection to obtain and share accurate information about the conflict is critically important,” the company said.

Newspaper round-up

Russia has drawn up plans to seize the assets of western companies leaving the country as the Kremlin pushes back against sweeping sanctions and the exodus of international businesses since its invasion of Ukraine. Announcing the move after a string of global firms said they would suspend operations in Russia this week, including McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the country's economic ministry said it could take temporary control of departing businesses where foreign ownership exceeds 25%. - Guardian

Rishi Sunak will take some limited action to tackle the cost of living crisis in this month's spring statement but will reject calls to beef up his much-criticised energy bill reduction scheme, government sources say. Amid mounting pressure from inside his own party, and with some City analysts predicting inflation could hit 10% within months, the chancellor has asked Treasury officials to draw up options for cushioning the blow for consumers. - Guardian

Britain risks being overtaken by Germany as the biggest European military power in NATO unless Rishi Sunak increases defence spending by £10.0bn, economists have said. A German pledge to spend 2% of GDP on defence means the UK is at risk of losing its clout in the alliance, piling more pressure on Rishi Sunak ahead of his spring statement later this month, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. - Telegraph

Lada has been forced to halt production of cars after sanctions left the stalwart Russian brand unable to get enough parts. The company is closing plants in Moscow, Togliatti and Izkevsk amid a scramble to secure computer chips. A spokesman said: "We are following the ongoing situation very carefully." - Telegraph

Western aircraft finance companies face a $10.0bn hit after Russia said it would act to stop the hundreds of leased planes operated by its airlines from being returned. About 450 aircraft owned by western organisations are operated on leases by Russian carriers. European sanctions adopted last week mean all these contracts must come to an end by March 28. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed weaker on Thursday as investors monitored news that ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine had stalled and digested some key inflation data.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.34% at 33,174.07, as the S&P 500 lost 0.43% to 4,259.52 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.95% weaker at 13,129.96.