Weekly review

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British Airways owner IAG said it was "well positioned" for the summer after posting a huge rise in first quarter profit on the back of strong leisure travel demand, especially over the Easter holidays. Operating profit before exceptional items in the three months to March 31 surged to €68m from €9m a year earlier. Passenger capacity grew 7% over the period.

Property portal Rightmove has reiterated its revenue and profit guidance for the full year, but upgraded its customer growth expectations after a strong start to the year. The company also gave an upbeat outlook for the wider housing market, with both sales agreed and lettings activity up significantly on last year.

Merger talks between Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT), the clean energy investment fund of Octopus Energy Group, and smaller peer Aquila European Renewables (AERI) have been called off after AERI rebuffed an indicative offer. ORIT and AERI had confirmed speculation in December that they were exploring a possible "combination", which would have created a combined entity worth £745m at market prices at the time.

Georgia's TBC Bank reported higher first-quarter profit as net interest income jumped 21%, driven by higher interest rates and a "dynamic" loan book as it also launched a 75 million Georgian lari (£22.4m) share buyback. Pre-tax profit rose 15.8% in the period to GEL 343,178 (£102,000). Net interest income rose to GEL 442,844, driven by higher interest rates and a growing loan book, while net fee and commission income rose 13%.

Bytes Technology Group announced the appointment of Sam Mudd as its permanent chief executive officer on Friday, as it also welcomed two independent non-executive directors to its board. The FTSE 250 company said Mudd would assume the role of CEO immediately, following a selection process led by chair Patrick De Smedt and an external search firm.

Specialist engineering firm IMI on Thursday said trading remained in line with expectations as first-quarter revenue rose 4% year on year. Adjusted revenue was flat, reflecting the foreign currency movements seen in the first quarter, the company added in a trading update.

Africa-focused telecoms group Airtel was hit hard by a drop in the Nigerian naira in the year to 31 March, with a $549m negative FX headwind pushing it into the red on a pre-tax basis and taking more than $1bn off the top line. The company swung to a reported pre-tax loss of $89m, from a profit of $750m the year before, following the Nigerian naira devaluation in first and fourth quarters, as well as the Malawian kwacha devaluation in November 2023. Other FX movements worked against Airtel during the period, including the Zambian kwacha and the Kenyan shilling, partially offset by an appreciation in the Central African franc.

Wood Group posted a rise in first-quarter EBITDA but a drop in revenue on Thursday, a day after saying it had rejected a £1.4bn takeover proposal from Dubai-based Sidara. In a trading update for the quarter to the end of March, the engineering services firm said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 4%, with margin expansion across all of its business units offsetting lower revenue.

Watches of Switzerland Group said it had bought Roberto Coin Inc for $130m as it looks to expand into the luxury jewellery market. An associate company of Italy's Roberto Coin SPA, the company has exclusive perpetual rights to import and distribute the Italian firm's jewellery throughout the US, Canada, Caribbean and Central America.

Apax Partners has sold 27m shares in Baltic Classifieds in a placing, according to a filing by Merrill Lynch International. The shares, which represent a stake of around 5.5%, were sold at 223p each, raising gross proceeds of approximately £60.2m.

B2B events, publishing and data group Informa has lifted its share buyback programme by 50% after announcing a strong operating performance for the first four months of the year, with revenues, profits and cash flow expected to reach the upper end of guidance. The company said it has raised its 2024 share repurchase programme by a further £160m to £500m.

Technical instruments maker Renishaw on Wednesday lowered the upper end of full-year guidance amid what it described as “mixed” markets as earnings fell over the first nine months of its financial year. In a trading update, the company said it now expects revenue to be in the range of £680m to £700m and adjusted profit before tax of £122m to £135m. This compares with the £675m - £715m and £122m - £147m forecast at Renishaw’s interim results in February.

Fast-fashion retailer Boohoo reported a widening of its full-year losses on Wednesday in "challenging" trading conditions, as it was hit by inflation and weaker demand. In the year to 29 February 2024, pre-tax losses widened to £159.9m from £90.7m a year earlier, with revenue down 17% to £1.5bn. Boohoo said the revenue decline reflected its "increased focus on profitability and difficult market conditions".

UK insurer Direct Line on Wednesday reported a large rise in first-quarter written premiums as it hammered consumers with price hikes. Total group gross written premium and associated fees rose 10.7% to £892.2m, adding that motor claims trends were in line with expectations, with estimated written margins maintained above 10%.

Office provider Workspace has appointed Capital & Regional boss Lawrence Hutchings as its chief executive designate to replace its current CEO who announced his retirement in January. Hutchings, who has been CEO at real estate group Capital & Regional since 2017, will replace Graham Clemett once his 12-month notice period is up, the companies announced on Wednesday.

An affiliate of the Apax IX Fund, in which Apax Global Alpha is a limited partner, has sold its controlling interest in Healthium MedTech, an India-based medical devices firm. The deal values AGA's look-through investment in Healthium at approximately €22.7m, representing an uplift of around 23% to the last unaffected valuation and an uplift of €4.3m in the adjusted net asset value of AGA at March 31.

Macfarlane slumped on Tuesday as the packaging supplier backed its full-year expectations but said sales and profits in the first quarter were below the same period a year earlier amid weak customer demand. In an update ahead of its annual general meeting, the company cited "challenging" conditions.

Ferrexpo reported a notable rise in production and sales volumes for the first quarter at its Ukraine subsidiary, Ferrexpo Poltava Mining (FPM), on Tuesday. The FTSE 250 company said the increase made for the highest levels since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, adding that production at its operations in the country continued without disruption in April.

Flexible workspace provider IWG maintained its full-year guidance on Tuesday as it considers a US listing amid continuing margin growth and network expansion during Q1. IWG said underlying quarterly system-wide revenues grew 1% year-on-year to $1.03bn, with managed and franchised revenues up 12% to $139.0m. Group revenues were 4% stronger at $97.0m.

Cellular materials specialist Zotefoams announced a strategic alliance agreement with Suzhou Shincell New Materials of Suzhou, China on Tuesday. The London-listed firm said Shincell, established in 2019 by Dr Xiulei Jiang, specialises in sustainable foaming technologies, using nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases to expand plastics, creating environmentally-friendly lightweight foam materials through a purely physical foaming process.

Economic news

The UK is no longer in recession, according to data released on Friday by the Office for National Statistics. GDP grew 0.6% in the first quarter of this year, ahead of expectations for 0.4% growth. This means the UK is no longer in recession following two consecutive quarters of declines at the end of last year, when GDP shrank by 0.1% in the third quarter and 0.3% in the fourth.

The Bank of England stood pat on interest rates on Thursday at 5.25%, as widely expected, but suggested cuts could be on their way. This marked the sixth meeting in a row the Bank has held rates, even as the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that consumer price inflation eased to 3.2% in March from 3.4% in February, having hit a peak of 11.1% in October 2022.

A slight upward move in UK mortgage rates over the past few weeks has dampened demand for housing, with near-term sales expectations softening, according to the latest RICS UK Residential Survey released on Thursday – though the rate of new listings was at its highest in more than three years. The monthly sentiment survey of chartered surveyors showed that the net balance of new buyer enquiries declined to -1% in April down from +6% in March, snapping three straight months of positive readings.

UK new car sales rose for the 21st month in a row in April, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, driven by increased demand for fleet vehicles. SMMT said new car registrations grew 1% year-on-year to 134,274 units but were over 16% below pre-Covid levels.

The UK construction sector expanded in April at its fastest pace in more than a year, according to a survey released on Tuesday. The S&P Global construction purchasing managers’ index rose to 53.0 from 50.2 in March. This marked the second month in a row it was in positive territory and the strongest pace of expansion since February 2023.

UK house prices returned to growth in April, with the housing market "finding its feet in an era of higher interest rates", according to data released on Tuesday by Halifax. Average house prices rose 0.1% on the month following a 0.9% decline in March.

International events

Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at an accelerated clip in the week ended 4 May, according to the Department of Labor, hitting a nine-month high in the process. Initial jobless claims rose by 22,000 to 231,000, the highest since August 2023, above market expectations for a reading of 210,000, and halting a streak of four consecutive downside surprises to point to a sharp and sudden breakthrough of weakness in the labour market.

China’s exports rose 1.5% in April, while imports surged 8.4%, beating forecasts, according to data released by the customs agency on Thursday. Economists had tipped imports to increase 4.8%. The figure also reversed a 1.9% fall in March.

Sweden’s central bank cut rates Wednesday for the first time since 2016. In an unanimous decision, Riksbank reduced the cost of borrowing by 0.25 percentage points to 3.75%, arguing that while inflation was approaching target, economic activity was weak.

Industrial output in Germany fell in March, according to data released on Wednesday by the Federal Statistical Office, Destatis, though it wasn't as big a drop as expected after figures for the previous month were revised lower. Industrial production fell by 0.4% over the month, following a revised 1.7% increase in February, which was changed from the initial estimate of +2.1%.

Germany on Tuesday reported an unexpected 0.9% rise in exports in March from the previous month, according to official data. The figure beat expectations of a 0.4% increase and was also 1.2% higher year on year.

Eurozone retail sales rose in March, official data showed on Tuesday, beating expectations. According to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office, the volume of retail trade rose 0.8% in March, better than the 0.6% rise most analysts had been expecting. It also reversed February's 0.3% decline.

The eurozone construction sector remains in decline at the start of the second quarter of the year after a sharp fall in new orders, with Germany, Italy and France the major contributors, a survey published on Tuesday revealed. The HCOB Eurozone Construction PMI Total Activity Index — a seasonally adjusted index tracking monthly changes in total industry activity — dropped to 41.9 in April from 42.4 in March, signalling a “sharp and accelerated reduction in total construction activity across the euro area”. Any measure below 50 indicates a contraction.

Australia's central bank left interest rates unchanged on Tuesday despite a slower-than-expected fall in inflation. The Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash steady at 4.35% for a fourth consecutive meeting, in line with expectations.

Reporting by Sharecast.com staff and contributors.