The Morning Call - Bellway reports 14% rise in profit - Collins Sarri Statham Investments

Highlights of the Day

Asian Markets

A day after a broad selloff, Asian stock markets gained in, despite modest losses on Wall Street.

U.S. Markets

U.S. stocks fell for the seventh time in eight days as tech companies continued to slide. Industrial and high-dividend companies rose.

Today's News

Theresa May is preparing to update her divided Cabinet on the Brexit deadlock as Brussels warned Britain is “more likely than ever before” to crash out of the EU without a deal.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has arrived in Saudi Arabia to meet King Salman, amid controversy over the fate of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Mr Pompeo will then visit Turkey, where Mr Khashoggi was last seen at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul two weeks ago.

Bellway has reported a 14.3% rise in full-year profits to £641.1m on sales 15.6% higher at £2.9bn. The company also said that it had sold a record 10,000 homes in the full-year to July.

British American Tobacco on said the company is still doing well, with market share continuing to rise. BAT, listed in both London and Johannesburg, is confident it can deliver “good” adjusted revenue growth at constant currency, driven by strategic combustible and potentially reduced-risk products.

Rio Tinto reported Pilbara iron ore shipments of 81.9m tonnes on a 100% basis in the third quarter, 5% lower than in the third quarter of 2017, due to planned maintenance cycles and safety pauses across all operations following the fatality.

BHP said it had increased its stake in SoldGold, owner of the Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador, following the purchase of 100m shares for £45m. BHP’s interest in SolGold would increase to 11.2% from 6%.

Meggitt upgraded its annual revenue guidance after it experienced higher-than-expected demand in the third quarter. Organic revenue growth in 2018 was now expected at 7-8%, up from previous guidance of 4-6% growth.

Merlin Entertainments reported growth in group revenue on a year-to-date basis, and the theme park operator said its on course to meet its 2018 outlook Like-for-like revenue rose 1.4%.

CLS said it had completed the sale of Buspace Studios for £13.5m to Warrior Property Group. The company realised a profit of 4.2% above the property’s valuation at 30 June of £12.95m, which was unchanged from 31 December 2017, CLS said.

Anglo American said the value of rough diamond sales at its De Beers unit had fallen during the eighth cycle of 2018 to $475m from $503m seen in the seventh cycle.

Paddy Power Betfair has been fined £2.2m for “failing to protect customers and stop stolen money being gambled”. An investigation by the Gambling Commission found that the company failed to “adequately interact with customers who were displaying signs of problem gambling and failed to adequately carry out anti-money laundering checks”.

Drax said it was buying Scottish Power’s portfolio of pumped storage, hydro and gas-fired generation for £702m from parent company Iberdrola.

Diageo on said it plans to raise €2bn via the issue of fixed rate euro denominated bonds under its European debt issuance programme.

AstraZeneca and MSD said that their pancreatic cancer treatment was granted orphan drug designation by the US Food and Drug Administration. The use of pancreatic cancer treatment Lynparza was being assessed in the ongoing phase III Polo trial.

Oil Prices rose on signs of falling Iran oil exports ahead of U.S. sanctions against Tehran in November, while geopolitical tensions remain over a missing Saudi journalist.

Gold Prices held steady near last session’s 2-1/2-month high as risk-averse investors sought refuge in the metal amid rising political tensions and economic uncertainty.

Companies Reporting this week

Day	Companies
Monday:	Schroders
Tuesday:	Bellway * Rio Tinto * Merlin Entertainments
Wednesday:	BHP Billiton * Segro * Barratt Developments
Thursday:	Micro Focus * Domino’s Pizza * Rentokil
Friday:	LSE * InterContinental Hotels * Provident Financial * Acacia Mining

Early Market Movements

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,019.2	-10.0	-0.1%
UK 250	18,867.5	+64.0	+0.3%
GER 30	11,620.7	+6.5	+0.1%
FRA 40	5,086.6	-8.5	-0.2%
US 30	25,250.55	-89.44	-0.4%
US 500	2,750.79	-16.34	-0.6%
Oil (Crude)	80.60	-0.18	-0.2%
GOLD	1,226.69	-0.37	-0.0%

UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Ocado	828.2	+38.4	+4.9%
Admiral Group	1997.5	+40	+2.0%
Meggitt	530.1	+35.6	+7.2%
Johnson Matthey	2999	-96	-3.1%
Smith & Nephew	1262	-19	-1.5%
JD Sports	396.85	-21.75	-5.2%

Latest Broker Views

Company	Broker	Recommendation	Price	Target
RSA Insurance	Goldman Sachs	Buy	550.8	664
Prudential	UBS	Buy	1568.5	2100
Imperial Brands	Bernstein	Outperform	2587	2990
Segro	JPMorgan	Underweight	592.6	660