FTSE 100 LIVE: GSK in $1bn respiratory drug deal, Hays shares slide
Retailers End Sluggish Year With Weak Sales Growth
According to data, the festive season was unsatisfactory for retailers who were hoping to recover from a difficult year of slow sales growth.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor observed that spending remained low due to poor consumer confidence, resulting in a meager increase of 1.7% in UK retail sales in December, compared to 6.9% growth the previous year.
The attempts to encourage people to spend in the furniture and homeware sectors during the sales after Christmas didn't work as households continued to be careful about investing in big-ticket items.
Barclays And Santander Reduce Rates, Sub-4% 2-year Mortgage Possible
It's possible that the interest rates on two-year fixed-rate mortgages will reach 4% soon, as Barclays and Santander have both announced significant rate reductions today.
The major banks, also known as the 'big six', have entered the competition to offer lower mortgage rates. They have followed in the footsteps of other lenders like Halifax and HSBC who have already decreased their mortgage costs earlier this year.
Starting tomorrow, the Barclays bank will reduce its rates on two-year deals, which will be quite noticeable due to them becoming almost as cheap as the 4% limit. One of the two-year fixes that the bank offers is now cheaper by half a percentage point to 4.10%, but it requires customers to put down a deposit of 40%. There have also been reductions on other deals.
According to Gareth Davies, who is the head of South Coast Mortgage Services, the reductions are the most notable ones that have occurred this year up until now.
Stewart Milne Group's Administration Raises Concerns For Housebuilders
The leader of a group representing the housing industry has expressed concern that additional companies specializing in constructing homes may face similar financial difficulties after the Stewart Milne Group filed for insolvency and over 200 workers lost their jobs.
On Monday, Teneo administrators took over the management of a housebuilding company that is based in Aberdeen. As a result, construction has stopped on various sites throughout Scotland and 217 positions have been eliminated.
Jane Wood, the leader of Homes for Scotland consisting of over 200 members, expressed her deep concern about the increasing number of companies facing financial collapse.
Scottish Mortgage Outshines FTSE 100, Recruitment Stocks Dip
The Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust experienced a renewed surge thanks to the current buzz surrounding artificial intelligence on Wall Street. However, this enthusiasm was unable to bring about a substantial boost for the FTSE 100 index.
The technology investment firm listed in London increased by 2.5%, or 20 pence, to reach 771.5 pence. This was due to the positive performance of semiconductor company Nvidia, which has been a part of Scottish Mortgage's investment portfolio since 2016. It is now the third largest holding in the portfolio, at 5.1%.
Nvidia's shares increased by 6%, reaching a new all-time high. This was due to the announcement of its three new AI chips, which are specifically designed for personal computers. Other well-known tech companies, referred to as the Magnificent Seven, such as Apple and Amazon.com, also experienced growth. This was caused by a decrease in US inflation rates, ultimately leading to speculation about potential interest rate cuts.
The Nasdaq saw a rise of over 2% in the recent closing, and top semiconductor companies contributed to Japan's Nikkei 225 to climb by 1.2%, reaching a new high not seen in 33 years.
Apart from the gains made by Baillie Gifford's Scottish Mortgage shares, which have risen by around 20% since October, the FTSE 100 index in London did not experience a similar recovery.
The highest level of the stock market decreased by two points to a number of 7692.16. The companies that performed well after this reduction were Rolls-Royce, which increased by 5.5p to a total of 310.5p, and BAE Systems, which rose by 14.5p to reach 1159.5p in total.
The FTSE 100 experienced a decline in performance due to the mining stocks showing signs of weakness, causing Rio Tinto's shares to drop by 60 pence to 5625 pence. Additionally, JD Sports Fashion's stocks appeared to still be under pressure from last week's profit warning, leading to ongoing selling. Furthermore, the owner of B&Q, Kingfisher, also experienced a decrease in their shares, falling by 3.1 pence to 28 pence.
The FTSE 250 index went down by 54.35 points, reaching 19,339.45. Recruitment companies PageGroup and SThree experienced a decrease of about 4% in their stocks following Hays' announcement of struggling in December.
Games Workshop Profits Soar Yet Stock Drops
Games Workshop, the company behind Warhammer, announced today that they had achieved their highest sales and profits in the first half of the year. However, their shares decreased because they will need to retain more money due to increased expenses.
The earnings went up to £95.2 million, although the income came just under £250 million.
The head of Games Workshop, Kevin Rountree, mentioned that the overall mood among employees is satisfactory and hobbyists are enjoying their leisure activities.
Games Workshop has reported that their sales in December have met their anticipated levels.
The company has been profitable for shareholders for a long time, providing substantial dividends of 195p per share during the first half of this year. However, the company announced today that they need to increase their reserve of cash to £75 million due to increased expenses. This could lead to a reduction in future dividend payouts.
Today, the stocks decreased by 410p or 4.2%, reaching 9365p. The stocks experienced a huge surge from 2009 to 2023, but their value has declined by 20% since the end of July.
Have a glance at the current market overview, as the FTSE 100 index is marginally up this morning.
Hays Shares Dropped 19% In December; FTSE 100 Rises
The FTSE 100 in London has gone up by 13.67 points to reach 7707.86. Rolls-Royce is one of the top stocks which has shown significant growth, with a 2.5p increase taking it to 307.7p.
GSK's stocks increased by 14.8p, reaching 1563.8p, after acquiring Aiolos Bio, a company that specializes in making drugs for respiratory illnesses, for $1 billion. The oil company BP also saw a rise in its stocks, with an increase of 4p to 460.5p.
B&M European Value Retail experienced a decrease of 10.8p on the stock market, reaching 551p. However, they did declare a special dividend of 20p per share, as well as revealing a 5% increase in revenue during the Christmas quarter.
The FTSE 250 stock exchange indicator decreased by 43.58 units and reached the point of 19,350.22. This unfortunate outcome was a result of recruitment firm Hays' reported decline in trading during December, which caused their stocks to drop 19%, equivalent to a decrease of 20.6 points and a value of 87.1p. This impacted rival company Page Group as well, causing them to lose 8% or 35.4p to reach 434.2p.
At the same time, Jupiter Fund Management declined by 11p to reach 77.5p due to its announcement of outflows surpassing expectations, amounting to £2.2 billion in 2023.
B&M Rewards Investors With Special Payout After Successful Christmas Trading
B&M, a European value company, has declared that shareholders will receive a unique payday, following an impressive performance during the crucial Christmas trading period.
The discount store on the high street known as FTSE 100 has announced its intention to pay out a dividend of 20 pence per share as part of its report on sales during the holiday season.
The company stated that their profits increased by a margin of 5% during the third quarter, which lasted for 13 weeks from 24 September to 23 December. Furthermore, their overall revenue has shown a growth of more than 8%, amounting to £4.2 billion in total.
The company known as B&M has more than 700 branches and an estimated 35,000 individuals working for them. Every week, it receives approximately 4 million patrons. Additionally, as of today's announcement, the organization is making progress towards launching 76 additional stores as part of their expansion efforts, with 11 planned for France.
Alex Russo, the head honcho of the multi-billion pound company worth £5.6 billion, expressed satisfaction over the impressive results from the last quarter of the year, crediting the impeccable execution of plans and operations.
The plan we have in place is still the same - we offer customers low prices every day and put a lot of effort into maintaining high retail standards while keeping our costs at the minimum. This approach enables us to offer our products at the most affordable prices possible to everyone, especially those who are experiencing financial difficulties.
Whitmore Leaves Jupiter Amid Further Strife
Jupiter faced additional difficulty today as they announced the departure of their esteemed star manager, Ben Whitmore.
The investment firm has experienced poor results, resulting in clients withdrawing their investments.
The announcement made today stated that they are projecting a greater amount of total net outflows of £2.2 billion pounds for the year 2023. This is higher than what was predicted earlier.
The finance company from the UK acknowledged that the outflows had risen due to a setback in funding certain institutional commitments. Additionally, the retail sentiment was not as strong as expected during October and November. The firm previously anticipated a small amount of net outflows for the year in question.
Jupiter anticipates announcing performance charges that are above 10 million pounds for the period concluded on Dec. 31, exceeding earlier projections.
Ben Whitmore, an experienced portfolio manager with assets under management of approximately £10 billion, has announced he will be leaving his current firm in July to start his own independent company. As part of the agreement, the new boutique will refrain from competing with Jupiter for a period of two years from the date of Whitmore's departure.
It is predicted that Alex Savvides will become a part of Jupiter during the fall season. In this role, he will be responsible for supervising the Jupiter UK Special Situations Fund, which has a total value of £2.1 billion.
Jupiter has confirmed that Whitmore will stay on board until the end of July, for a smooth and cooperative handover process of his current assets management responsibilities.
"Unite Students' Properties Filling Up Faster Than Last Year"
According to Unite Students, their accommodations for the academic year of 2024/25 are being reserved at a quicker rate than the previous year. In fact, last year they were fully booked before the commencement of the term.
The properties owned by the student landlord are occupied by 71% of its tenants, which is better than the 70% occupancy rate recorded during the same period in the previous year.
According to Joe Lister, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Unite Students, they have started the sales cycle for 2024/25 on a positive note. This is a testament to the attraction of their all-inclusive package that is priced at a fixed rate.
The recent statistics regarding rental properties indicate that there is a continuous high demand from both students and universities. This is a positive sign that suggests an optimistic future for rental growth during the 2024/25 academic year.
As many HMO landlords are leaving the market and the amount of purpose-built student housing slows down, we will take charge in supplying more student accommodation that is desperately needed. Our main goal is to collaborate with universities to guarantee that students are able to obtain affordable accommodation at a great standard.
The company stuck to its earlier forecast for adjusted EPS to be on the higher side of the 43-44p range. The UK Student Accommodation Fund's real estate worth went up by 2.1%, whereas the value of its London Student Accommodation Joint Venture went down a bit.
