The Morning Call - BT FY revenue up but profits down. One to watch today?

Highlights of the Day

Asian Markets

Asian stocks were broadly higher, getting a lift from rising oil prices, but liquidity concerns weighed on markets in China.

U.S. Markets

Energy companies jumped with the price of oil, but overall, stocks finished only slightly higher as a quiet week of trading continued.

Today's News

BT Group’s reported profit before tax fell by 19% in the year to the end of March and by 48% in the fourth quarter and confirmed that bonuses would not be paid to the chief executive and the group’s former finance director. Reported revenues for the year rose by 27% to £24,062m while pre-tax profits fell by 19% to £2,354m. In the fourth quarter reported pre-tax profit fell by 48% to £440m. Adjusted profit before tax for the years rose by 5% to £3,532m.

Mondi has recorded an underlying Q1 operating profit of €252m, down 6% down on the prior-year period’s €269m. It said strong sales volume growth was more than offset by a significantly lower forestry fair value gain, inflationary cost pressures and lower average selling prices. Sales volumes grew across the group’s Packaging Paper, Fibre Packaging and Consumer Packaging business units compared to Q1 2016.

TP ICAP said revenue in the four months to April 2017 of £619m was 11% higher than the £558m pro forma revenue for the same period last year, and 2% higher at constant exchange rates. Trading conditions throughout the four months from Jan. 1 remained mixed, with revenue growth driven by above average volumes in March, reflecting the impact of increased volatility from interest rate rises in the US, changes in the ECB’s outlook and political uncertainty in the US and Europe.

UK housing market momentum continues to ebb with declining sales and the new buyer enquiries series edging lower, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said. The net house price balance remained unchanged at 22% in April. Meanwhile, the net balance for the near term price expectations moderated to +4% from +11%. This was the softest reading since July 2016 and suggests contributors anticipate a slower rate of house price inflation in the three months ahead.

SIG said that for FY 2017 its board expected the business to show a stronger H2, as was usual, with the year having started in line with expectations. “Some increased supplier price inflation is being seen and there exists political uncertainty in some of SIG’s major countries of operation,” said SIG. It said the group would continue to focus on driving improved customer service and operational performance in competitive markets. Group revenues from continuing operations increased 6.5% in the period Jan. 1 to April 30, with currency contributing 5.0% to growth, acquisitions 0.7%, offset by fewer working days (0.6) %

SuperGroup said its directors anticipate FY underlying pretax profit will be in the range £86m-£87m, in line with market expectations. “We remain focused on the consistent execution of the strategy outlined in early 2015,” said CEO Euan Sutherland. “This global multi-channel growth strategy balances opening stores, developing new wholesale partners and driving our strong e-commerce proposition to expand the reach of the brand and further diversify our business model.” Sutherland said FY 2017 had seen another good year of sales and profit growth.

Hill & Smith Holdings’ trading is in line with expectations set out when it reported its 2016 preliminary results in March, shareholders at the annual general meeting will be told. An update issued ahead of the meeting said revenue for the period since the start of the year totalled £191.3m (2016: £165.4m, restated to include non-US Pipe Supports), a 7% organic increase after adjusting for currency translation and acquisitions/disposals. It said: “The positive translational impact of the strengthening of the US dollar and the euro against sterling increased revenue by 6% versus average exchange rates in the first half of 2016.

3i Infrastructure delivered its target dividend of 7.55 pence per share for the year to the end of March following a strong performance in a competitive market. The company generated a total return of £146m for the year, or 9.4% of opening NAV (adjusted on a time weighted average basis for the capital raise), in line with the target of 8% to 10% per annum to be achieved over the medium term.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals said it believes it is unlikely it will see its generic version of GlaxoSmithKline’s Advair Diskus approved this year. Hikma said it received a complete response letter from the US Food & Drug Administration, and said that it was in the process of reviewing the response. Based on the initial assessment, no material issues were raised on the suitability of the proposed device, but Hikma said it believes there is low likelihood of approval this year.

Coca-Cola HBC AG reported growth in revenue in the first quarter of 2017. Coca-Cola HBC said revenue rose by 5.2% in the first quarter, with a 0.7% increase in volume. Excluding the impact of the timing of Easter, which fell in the second quarter this year, volume grew in the majority of the countries in which it operates, Coca-Cola HBC said. Volume in the emerging markets rose by 4.0%, with broad-based growth across its markets, while Russia returned to growth and Nigeria volume continued to grow despite “macro-economic challenges” and “significant” price increases.

Oil Prices extended their gains, their biggest one-day jump since Dec. 1, following a steep drop in U.S. inventories and support from Iraq and Algeria for an extension to OPEC supply cuts

Gold edged up to hold just above an eight-week low hit earlier this week, with the U.S. dollar declining against the yen.

Companies Reporting this week

Today:	Amec Foster Wheeler * BT Group * Arrow Global Group * Mondi * 3i Infrastructure * Galliford Try * Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust
Tomorrow:	Provident Financial

Early Market Movements

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,386.9	+1.7	+0.0%
UK 250	19,860.6	-16.2	-0.1%
GER 30	12,767.5	+10.0	+0.1%
FRA 40	5,404.4	+4.0	+0.1%
U.S. 30	20.943.11	-32.67	-0.2%
U.S. 500	2,399.6	+2.7	+0.1%
OIL (BRENT)	50.64	+0.42	+0.8%

UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Euromoney	1066.5	+21.5	+2.1%
Antofagasta	773.5	+13	+1.7%
Convatec	296.1	+3.3	+1.1%
Vectura	132.5	-12.4	-8.6%
Hikma	1807	-149	-7.6%
Centrica	191.6	-11.6	-5.7%

Latest Broker Views

Company	Broker	Recommendation	Price	Target
Astrazeneca	Barclays Capital	Overweight	4,675.50	6,000.00
Electrocomponents	Barclays Capital	Equal weight	532.25	567.00
Informa	Berenberg	Buy	621.75	800.00
National Grid	Berenberg	Hold	1,037.50	1,050.00

Forthcoming Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
11:00am: BOE Inflation Report	–	–	–
11:00am: Official Bank Rate	0.25%	0.25%	–
12:30pm: U.S. PPI m/m	-0.1%	0.2%	–
12:30pm: U.S. Unemployment Claims	238k	245k	–