Weekly review

Stocks to watch

Barratt Developments said it planned to restart dividends as the housebuilder reported strong trading in the first half.

Pets at Home upgraded its full-year profit guidance on Friday following strong sales growth in December.

Rentokil Initial said annual results would be slightly better than expectations but warned the outlook was uncertain because of uncertainty over one-off disinfection sales.

Shipping services firm Clarkson said on Friday that full-year underlying profit for 2020 is expected to exceed market consensus.

Ladbrokes owner Entain said on Thursday that it has offered to buy Swedish sports betting firm Enlabs AB for around SEK2.80bn (£250m), as it upgraded its full-year expectations after a "strong" final quarter.

B&M European Value Retail said revenue increased by more than a fifth in the third quarter and that it would pay a special dividend of £200m.

TP Icap updated the market on the final quarter of 2020 on Thursday, reporting that while trading volumes continued to be subdued during much of the three-month period, it was expecting revenue for the full year to be 1% lower than the prior year.

Budget airline Ryanair said it was slashing its flight schedule and annual traffic forecasts after fresh lockdowns in the UK and Ireland in response to a new variant of the coronavirus.

Informa said 2020 results would be in line with guidance but warned physical events would recover slowly in 2021.

Music rights investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund said it had bought 50% of Neil Young's worldwide copyright and income interests in his 1,180 song catalogue.

Builders’ merchant Travis Perkins said on Wednesday that Jasmine Whitbread, currently the chief executive officer of London First, will succeed Stuart Chambers as non-executive chairman.

Auto Trader said on Wednesday that it expects sales demand to take a hit in January and February following the imposition of the latest lockdown, which has forced all car retailers to close their showrooms.

DCC announced the expansion of its presence in the United States liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) market on Tuesday, with the acquisition of United Propane Gas.

Softcat said on Tuesday that trading has remained positive since its first-quarter statement in mid-November and the company is ahead of where it expected to be.

Infrastructure group John Laing said it had bought a 21.15% interest in Colombia’s Pacifico 2 road public-private partnership (PPP) from Construcciones El Condor for £32m.

Network International announced on Tuesday that group chief executive officer Simon Haslam has decided to retire from the company, after 40 years in the financial services sector.

Ferguson shareholders are set to share in a cash windfall after the company said it was selling its UK-based Wolseley heating and plumbing distribution business to a private investment firm for £308m.

Sirius Real Estate announced on Monday the €3.2m acquisition of a property at its existing Mannheim II business park and the completion of two previously-announced acquisitions in Hamburg and Nuremberg.

QinetiQ Group disclosed a £127m contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to provide engineering services for the Typhoon combat aircraft on Monday.

Solar photovoltaic asset investor Foresight Solar announced the acquisition of a portfolio of three greenfield solar assets in Spain on Monday.

Economic news

Like-for-like UK retail sales plunged in the first week after Christmas as the Covid-19 lockdown thwarted plans for January sales in stores, a survey showed.

UK house prices ended 2020 at a record high thanks to pent-up demand after the first lockdown in March, but the pace of growth slowed in December, according to figures released on Friday by mortgage lender Halifax.

As many as 4,000 financial services businesses are at increased risk of failure because of the Covid-19 crisis and almost a third of these could cause harm to consumers, the City regulator said.

Britain's retail industry called on the government to support troubled businesses during the latest lockdown after visits to stores almost halved in the crucial months before Christmas.

New car registrations in the UK dropped to the lowest level seen in almost three decades in 2020 as the sector witnessed the biggest one-year fall since the Second World War.

UK services activity dropped in December and margins came under pressure from rising costs and discounted prices, a survey showed.

The UK government has unveiled a new £4.6bn package of Covid-19 relief measures to help businesses get through the latest national lockdown announced on Monday night.

December was the busiest month ever for British supermarkets as tightening restrictions and the closure of restaurants, bars and cafes meant shoppers spent £11.7bn on groceries, according to market research firm Kantar.

UK manufacturing activity hit a three-year high in December as factories rushed to finish work before the deadline for Brexit trade talks, a survey showed.

Total shopper numbers across British retail destinations fell 23.3% in the week to January 2 versus the previous week, as the government tightened Covid-19 restrictions in response to the rising number of cases, according to data released on Monday.

International events

German industrial production slowed but beat expectations in November as manufacturing of consumer goods fell, official figures showed.

US nonfarm payrolls fell by 140,000 in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, missing market expectations for an increase of 71,000 by a considerable margin.

Citi said in an equity strategy note on Thursday that it expects global equities to be flat over 2021, as it cut its rating on US equity markets.

America's shortfall on trade with the rest of the world widened more than expected in November, in part amid stockpiling of cell phones and other household goods by firms ahead of the Christmas holidays.

China's services sector grew at the slowest pace for three months in December as new orders weakened amid Covid-19 outbreaks at home and abroad.

Business activity in the eurozone contracted more than initially estimated in December 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic took its toll, according to a survey released on Wednesday.

Activity in the eurozone manufacturing sector hit its highest level in December last year since May 2018, according to a survey released on Monday.

US construction spending rose 0.9% month-on-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.46trn in November, according to the Census Bureau, following an upwardly revised 1.6% growth in October.

China's manufacturing industry expanded at its slowest pace in three months in December as rising costs put pressure on hiring of workers.

US manufacturing activity accelerated at the fastest pace seen in six years during December amid the strongest pricing environment for goods producers since 2011 despite the Covid-19 pandemic.