Highlights of the Day
Asian Markets
Asia-Pacific stocks were broadly lower following sizable declines on Wall Street as the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note hit 3%. |
U.S. Markets
U.S. stocks slid as 10-year Treasury yields hit the highly anticipated 3 percent mark for the first time in four years, stoking concerns over higher borrowing rates for companies |
Today's News
Lloyds Banking Group has said it has made a “strong start” to 2018, with profits for the first three months of the year jumping by nearly a quarter. It made pre-tax profits of £1.6bn, 23% higher than the same time last year. But it said it had put aside another £90m in costs for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claims, taking its total bill to £18.8bn.
Shire directors said they would be willing to recommend the latest takeover proposal from Takeda Pharmaceutical that was pitched at roughly £49 per share, subject to certain terms. The UK Takeover Panel has given Takeda a new ‘put up or shut up’ deadline of 1700 BST on 8 May to conclude talks.
Persimmon said it was trading well this year after customer enquiries and sales of its houses increased. The housebuilder said enquiries were up 13% from a year earlier and that forward sales revenue had risen 8% to £2.76bn.
Whitbread said it is now “committed” to a demerger of Costa Coffee, as it reported a rise in group profit for its recently-ended financial year. Within divisions, hotel chain Premier Inn saw profit rise, but Costa saw a decline. Whitbread said it believes it is in the “best long-term interests” of the company’s shareholdesr to separate Premier Inn and Costa, via a demerger of Costa.
Metro Bank posted a large jump in first-quarter profit, as the relatively young company continued to grow its deposit volumes and loan book. Pre-tax profit for the three months through March increased to £8.6m, up from £1.6m on-year. Profit was up 14% compared to the fourth quarter of 2017. Deposit volumes rose 41% on-year to £12.7bn, while lending grew 69% on-year to £11.0bn. The group’s net interest margin shrunk by 17 basis points on-year to 1.85%.
CRH, the international building materials group, announced a €1.0bn share buyback programme despite reporting a soft start to the year as sales fell 2% in the first quarter weighed by adverse weather conditions and earlier Easter holidays. The share repurchase programme is expected to complete over the next 12 months, Croda said.
Tullow Oil said it remained on track to meet its annual production guidance of 82K-to-90k barrels of oil per day. A drilling programme was now underway in Ghana, while developments in Uganda and Kenya were on track for final investment decisions in 2018 and 2019, respectively, the company said. Production in Ghana and across the companys non-operated portfolio delivered average first-quarter net oil production of 87,700 bopd.
Antofagasta copper and gold production fell in the first quarter of the year compared to a year ago, while Molybdenum production rose. The miner maintained its full year production guidance. Copper production in Q1 2018 decreased by 10.5% to 153,800 tonnes compared with the same quarter in 2017 mainly due to the anticipated lower grades.
Fresnillo said that first-quarter silver production grew 14% on year, as the company’s San Julian mine in Mexico reached full operating capacity. The precious metals miner, which is based in Mexico, said that silver production for the three months ended March 31 rose to 15.4 million ounces from 13.5 million ounces. Gold production climbed 4.1% to 231,500 ounces due to higher ore grades at the company’s Herradura mine, Fresnillo said.
Oil Prices were stable, but were below the more than three-year highs reached the previous session as rising U.S. fuel inventories and production weighed on an otherwise bullish market.
Gold Prices fell as the dollar advanced towards more than three-month highs and on easing concerns over North Korea and a Sino-U.S. trade war.
Companies Reporting this week
Day |
Companies |
Monday: |
None of Note |
Tuesday: |
None of Note |
Wednesday: |
Whitbread |
Thursday: |
Capita Group |
Friday: |
None of Note |
Early Market Movements
Market |
Index |
Change |
% Change |
UK 100 |
7,381.9 |
-43.5 |
-0.6% |
UK 250 |
20,095.5 |
-99.9 |
-0.5% |
GER 30 |
12,444.2 |
-106.6 |
-0.9% |
FRA 40 |
5,415.5 |
-28.7 |
-0.5% |
U.S. 30 |
24,024.13 |
-424.56 |
-1.7% |
U.S. 500 |
2,634.6 |
-35.7 |
-1.3% |
OIL (BRENT) |
73.78 |
-0.08 |
-0.1% |
GOLD |
1,325.55 |
-4.80 |
-0.4% |
UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)
Company |
Price |
Change |
% Change |
Shire |
4000 |
+70 |
+1.8% |
Imperial Brands |
2408.5 |
+20 |
+0.8% |
CLS Holdings |
242.5 |
+5 |
+2.1% |
Croda International |
4416 |
-203 |
-4.4% |
Antofagasta |
944.6 |
-32.8 |
-3.4% |
Metro Bank |
3316 |
-202 |
-5.7% |
Latest Broker Views
Company |
Broker |
Recommendation |
Price |
Target |
Anglo American |
Goldman Sachs |
Conviction Buy List |
1747.6 |
2200 |
BT Group |
Goldman Sachs |
Neutral |
240.8 |
285 |
Land Securities |
Barclays |
Underweight |
969.9 |
910 |
St James’s Place |
Barclays |
Overweight |
1123 |
1379 |
Forthcoming Economic Data
Time/Date |
Previous |
Forecast |
Outcome |
3.30pm: U.S. Crude Oil Inventories |
-1.1m |
-1.6m |
– |
Sources
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-down-but-improve-from-early-lows-2018-04-24
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/rptus-stockswall-st-slides-as-high-bond-yields-fan-cost-worries-20180424-01686
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-global-oil/oil-stable-but-below-recent-highs-as-rising-us-supply-drags-on-bull-run-idUKKBN1HW027
https://uk.reuters.com/article/global-precious/precious-gold-falls-on-dollar-strength-easing-n-korea-tensions-idUKL3N1S21W9
http://www.londonstockexchange.com/exchange/news/alliance-news/detail/1524638630913873000.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/5946285/Antofagasta-copper-gold-production-falls-but-full-year-guidance-unchanged.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/5946230/Metro-Bank-profit-up-on-increased-deposits-lending.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/5946281/CRH-annoucnes-euro1-point-0bn-share-buyback-programme-despite-soft-start-to-2018.html
http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/5946234/Tullow-Oil-reaffirms-2018-production-guidance-as-drilling-starts-in-Ghana.html
https://uk.webfg.com/news/news-and-announcements/shire-willing-to-recommend-new-takeda-offer–3260089.html
https://uk.webfg.com/news/news-and-announcements/persimmon-trading-well-ahead-of-testing-agm–3260095.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-43841640
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43890409
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/fresnillo-silver-production-grows-14-2018-04-25