Rentokil Initial Q1 revenues rise, Anglo American Q1 production falls 10% YOY
London pre-open
The FTSE 100 was being called to open 19.4 points higher ahead of the bell on Thursday after closing 0.37% firmer in the previous session at 7,629.22.
Stocks to watch
Pest control group Rentokil Initial said on Thursday that 2022 had started well, with strong momentum from the prior year continuing into Q1.
Rentokil, which highlighted that it had seen progress across all business categories and regions, said ongoing revenue was up 1.8% at £721.6m, while organic growth, excluding disinfection, was 8.0% higher year-on-year. The FTSE 100-listed firm also noted that input cost inflation had been entirely recovered by price increases.
Anglo American said first-quarter production fell 10% year-on-year, impacted by peak Covid-related absenteeism, high rainfall affecting operations in South Africa and Brazil, and safety and other operational challenges at metallurgical coal and iron ore operations.
As a result, Anglo American will update annual platinum group metals, iron ore and metallurgical coal volume guidance, as well as unit cost guidance for most product groups to reflect inflationary pressure on input prices, particularly diesel.
Newspaper round-up
More than 40,000 railway workers are to be balloted in a dispute over jobs and pay that a union says could result in Britain's biggest rail strike in modern history. The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers said staff would be asked to vote on strike action over Network Rail's plans to cut at least 2,500 maintenance jobs as part of a £2.0bn reduction in spending on the network. - Guardian
Thames Water dumped untreated effluent for more than 68,000 hours into the river systems around Oxford last year, campaigners have revealed, arguing that the sum of money the company plans to spend to improve the situation is woefully inadequate. The company discharged raw sewage into the River Thames and its tributaries including the River Windrush, Thame, Evenlode and Ock 5,028 times in 2021, according to data analysed by the Oxford Rivers Improvement Campaign. - Guardian
Tesla revealed a massive jump in sales and profits on Wednesday night, smashing Wall Street's expectations despite supply chain problems. The company, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, said its revenues had leapt from $10.4bn to $18.8bn in the first quarter. Analysts had expected $17.8bn. - Telegraph
The Bank of England is poised to unlock cheaper mortgages for millions of households after pledging to use its post-Brexit freedoms to introduce a "more British style of rule-making". Threadneedle Street is seeking to axe overly expensive and onerous rules that make it hard for small banks to offer cheap home loans, following a legal overhaul that gives the institution more power to set its own agenda. - Telegraph
Shareholders have staged a revolt at SThree in a row over directors’ pay. More than 45% of investors who voted cast their ballots against the 2021 remuneration report at the science and engineering recruiter's annual meeting yesterday. 22% of shareholders also rejected the reappointment of PWC as auditor, while 18% voted against the re-election of James Bilefield, 52, the chairman and a serial technology investor, as a director. - The Times
US close
Major indices turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday as Netflix shares weighed on the tech-heavy Nasdaq after revealing it had just seen the first decline in subscriber numbers since 2011 in Q1.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.71% at 35,160.79, while the S&P 500 was 0.06% softer at 4,459.45, while the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.22% weaker at 13,453.07.