The Morning Call - Markets steady after horrifying attack in Manchester

Highlights of the Day

Asian Markets

Asian markets traded sideways, after major indexes on Wall Street closed in the green and the bombing at the M.E.N. arena in Manchester.

U.S. Markets

U.S. shares rose, boosted by technology shares and by defense companies, which gained after the United States and Saudi Arabia signed a multi-billion dollar arms deal.

Today's News

A suicide bomber has killed 22 people, including children, as an explosion tore through fans leaving a pop concert in Manchester. Some 59 people were also injured when the blast caused by an improvised explosive device carried by the attacker detonated at the Manchester Arena. Announcing that the death toll had risen, Greater Manchester Police chief constable Ian Hopkins said: “What I can confirm is that there are children among the deceased.” He said: “This has been the most horrific incident we have had to face in Greater Manchester and one that we all hoped we would never see.

Severn Trent has boosted its FY pretax profit and turnover in a 12-month period that it said saw strong operational delivery. “Sewer floodings are down 21%, and we have further reduced both supply interruptions and leakages,” said CEO Liv Garfield. “We have done this while maintaining the lowest bills in Britain. These results are testament to the hard work of my colleagues over the past year.” Pretax profit on ordinary activities was £336.1m, up from £302.9m. Turnover was £1.82bn, up from £1.75bn. It proposed a final dividend of 48.9p a share, taking the total to 81.5p. “Strong operational delivery resulted in net customer ODIs of £47.6m, alongside which we are helping more than 50,000 vulnerable customers,” said Garfield.

AstraZeneca said its Bydureon EXSCEL trial met its primary safety objective in type 2 diabetes patients at a wide range of cardiovascular risk. The Phase IIIb/IV trial compared the effect of once-weekly Bydureon versus a placebo on the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events – which can lead to cardiovascular death – and non-fatal myocardial infarction or non-fatal stroke, in adults with type 2 diabetes.

Shaftesbury has lifted its H1 after-tax profit, dividend and EPRA net asset value (NAV) per share. “This has been another busy period for Shaftesbury, with the benefit of asset management activity across the portfolio and last year’s refinancing initiatives delivering growth in earnings, the interim dividend and portfolio value,” said CEO Brian Bickell. “Across our portfolio, the data we collect is showing a clear trend of year-on-year turnover growth for our restaurant, leisure and retail tenants, reflecting the buoyancy of the West End’s economy,” he added. “Occupier demand for these uses, and our office and residential space, is good and vacancy levels remain low.” After-tax profit for the six months was £102.4m, up from £80.1m. Interim dividend was 7.9p a share, up from 7.15p.

Big Yellow Group saw another year of occupancy, revenue and adjusted earnings growth despite a backdrop of increased economic uncertainty. Revenue for the year ended 31 March was £109.1 million (2016: £101.4 million), an increase of 8%. Like-for-like revenue growth was 6%. Adjusted pre-tax profits rose by 11% to £54.6m. Executive chairman Nicholas Vetch said: “Trading over the last few months has been better than we anticipated, and is encouraging as we head into our seasonally stronger summer trading period.

Fresnillo remains well positioned to continue to optimise its performance, maintain a strong financial position and deliver considerable long-term value for shareholders, chairman Alberto Bailleres will tell today’s annual general meeting. He will say: “Whilst precious metals prices remained volatile in 2016, they did recover during the year, reversing the downward trend we had seen for several years. “At Fresnillo, we remained focused on our long-term goal: to maintain the Group’s position as the world’s largest primary silver company and a leading gold producer in Mexico in a profitable and sustainable manner. “Our average realised gold and silver prices rose 10.7% and 10.3% respectively when compared to 2015.

Germany’s economy expanded at a faster pace, as estimated in the first quarter, on domestic and foreign demand, data published by Destatis showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.6% sequentially, in line with preliminary estimate and faster than the 0.4% expansion seen in the fourth quarter. This was the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2016, when GDP climbed 0.7%. On a yearly basis, the calendar-adjusted growth slowed slightly to 1.7% from 1.8% a quarter ago. At the same time, the price-adjusted GDP climbed 2.9%, following the previous quarter’s 1.3% expansion.

Headline pre-tax profits at Electrocomponents rose to £128.0m in the year to the end of March – 66.7% up on last time on a reported basis and 35.7% higher on an underlying basis. Revenues rose to £1,511.7m from £1,291.1m and headline operating profits of £133.2m were up from £82.0m last time. Reported pre-tax profits rose to £127.1m from £34.9m with earnings per share up 318.0% at 20.9p. Chief executive Lindsley Ruth said: “”Over the last two years, we have significantly strengthened our leadership and begun to refocus the business back on what lies at its heart, the customer and the supplier

AVEVA Group’s pre-tax profits rose by 60% to £46.9m in the year to the end of March, supported by a strong focus on cost control. Revenues increased by 7% to £215.8m and adjusted pre-tax profits rose to £55.0m from £51.2m. The group declared a final dividend of 27.0 pence per share, taking the total dividend to 40.0 pence per share (2016 – 36.0 pence) – an increase of 11.1%.

Cranswick reported growth in profit in its recently ended financial year after achieving record revenue, and said it has entered the new financial year in “excellent shape”. Cranswick, which specialises in pork and poultry products, said pretax profit in the year ended March 31 grew to £77.5m from £62.1m the year before, as revenue rose to £1.25bn from £1.02bn. Revenue was boosted by 13% growth in like-for-like sales amid 15% growth in like-for-like volume, as well as a “strong contribution” from Crown Chicken after it was acquired at the beginning of the financial year and a good performance from pork processing business Dunbia Ballymena in November.

After a major acquisition in the US, Irish food company Greencore has reported 22.5% increase in pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of March. The half year results show the London-listed Greencore made £44.7m profit on revenue of over £1 billion. Revenue for the six month period was up 46%. Chief executive Patrick Coveney said the half year had been a transformational period for Greencore after it bought Peacock Foods in the US.

Oil prices fell after President Trump proposed the sale of half the U.S. strategic oil reserves, even as producer club OPEC and its allies cut output to tighten the market

Gold prices were steady despite a blast at a concert in the English city of Manchester

Companies Reporting this week

Day	Companies
Today:	1Spatial * Assura Aveva * Group Big Yellow Group * Cranswick * De La Rue * Electrocomponents * Entertainment One Limited * Hibernia Reit * Homeserve * Scapa Group * Severn Trent
Tomorrow:	Babcock International Group * Great Portland Estates HICL Infrastructure Company Ltd * Hogg Robinson Group * Lombard Risk Management * Marks & Spencer Group * Mediclinic International * Mitie Group * Pennon Group * Schroder REIT * Vedanta Resources
Thursday:	Halfords Group * Helical Intermediate Capital Group * PayPoint * QinetiQ Group * Renewi * Tate & Lyle * TR Property Inv Trust * United Utilities Group * Wizz Air Holdings
Friday:	Volvere

Early Market Movements

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,500.9	+4.6	+0.1%
UK 250	19,953.0	+40.5	+0.2%
GER 30	12,634.0	+14.6	+0.1%
FRA 40	5,345.9	+23.0	+0.4%
U.S. 30	20,894.8	+89.99	+0.4%
U.S. 500	2,394.0	+12.3	+0.5%
OIL (BRENT)	53.40	-0.47	-0.9%
GOLD	1,260.96	+0.33	+0.0%

UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Greencore Group	244.45	+17.15	+7.5%
Easyjet	1293	+24	+1.9%
Babcock International	955	+13.5	+1.4%
Restaurant Group	322.7	-13.9	-4.1%
Merlin	512.5	-13	-2.5%
Marks and Spencers	389.5	-6	-1.5%

Latest Broker Views

Company	Broker	Recommendation	Price	Target
Astrazeneca	Jefferies International	Buy	2,684.50	3,500.00
Big Yellow Group	Liberum Capital	Buy	796.50	800.00
Greencore Group	Whitman Howard	Buy	231.20	310.00
Tullow Oil	Macquarie	Outperform	212.00	280.00

Forthcoming Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
8:30am: Public Sector Net Borrowing	4.4bn	8bn	–
9:00am: Inflation Report Hearings	–	–	–
10:00am: CBI Realised Sales	38	12	–