Markets are in buoyant mood this morning after a volatile few weeks. The FTSE 100 is up to 6,251 as it continues to claw back losses from the back end of August. This is in spite of industrial output declining and exports slumping, according to data out this morning from the Office for National Statistics.
KEY STORIES:
Low-cost carrier Ryanair (RYA) followed in the footsteps of rival Easyjet (EZJ) by upgrading its profits on the back of a stronger-than-expected summer. The Irish group said profits would now likely be between €1.175bn to €1.225bn instead of €940m to €970m - a 25 per cent rise.
The airline attributed a 13 per cent rise in traffic in the first half alongside a 2 per cent rise in fares as factors which prompted the upgrade. It added traffic growth in Q3 would now likely be 15 per cent instead of the 13 per cent previously guided
Online fund and share broker Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) might have seen pre-tax profits fall by 5 per cent to £199m but given the reasons - which are not a surprise - the market has rewarded the Bristol-based company this morning by sending its shares up nearly 5 per cent.
The group said its move to reduce client charges, lower interest on client cash, falling markets and its £4.4m contribution to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme - the government's investor safety net - pushed profits lower. But client numbers rose to 736,000 while assets under administration surpassed £52bn.
And also in broker land, independent retail stockbroker Share (SHRE), which operates The Share Centre has taken on £78m of investment trust Isa assets from fund manager Henderson Global Investors.
The group said this amounted to 3,000 accounts and the effective date of transfer would be 11 December. The accounts are invested predominantly in Henderson's Managed Investment Trusts.
Specialist wealth manager and employee benefits business Mattioli Woods (MTW), has snapped up Preston-based rival Taylor Patterson for £8.3m. The group said Taylor Patterson's experienced management team would be retained following the acquisition, which it said would be earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership.
The announcement came as Mattioli posted full year results with revenues up nearly 18 per cent to £34.6m with pre-tax profits rising just more than 3 per cent to £5.3m.
It still looks safe as houses at Barratt Developments (BDEV) as the fuel driving housebuilders seems like it will never run out. The company reported a 19 per cent rise in revenues and with the average selling price increasing to £262,500 its pre-tax profits rose a staggering 45 per cent to £565.5m.
While the company noted more than 90 per cent of its material costs were now fixed until the end of FY16 it did acknowledge an industry shortage of skilled subcontractors was the "largest driver of overall build cost inflation". We recently moved the company to sell based on the modest yield.
Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has suffered a hit to hopes of reviving its respiratory drugs portfolio after a clinical trial for one of its medicines showed its effects were "not statistically significant".
The UK drugmaker ran a study including nearly 16,500 people around the world with the hope that if it could prove the drug would have significant benefits. Had it done so, it would have been able to sell more of the Breo treatment for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or smokers’ cough. GSK shares are down nearly 1 per cent but US-listed Theravance, which it ran the trial with, has seen its shares drop 14 per cent.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS
An own goal seems to have been scored at Goals Soccer Centres (GOAL) after it posted flat revenues and guided pre-tax profits would now be in the range of £9.3m-£9.8m, sending the shares down by a fifth in early trading.
It was facing a tough opponent in strong comparables thanks to the World Cup last year stoking football fever and the weather in the UK this summer appears to have led to more cancellations than hoped. Bright spots are the use of its app continues to rise and it hopes to add three more sites in the US alongside its existing one.
Half-year revenues jumped more than 600 per cent to more than £16,000 at Aim-listed Futura Medical (FUM) but shares have dropped nearly 5 per cent in early trading.
The group said it had made progress across its portfolio of products, "particularly in advancing our clinical programmes and in preparing for the international roll-out of CSD500, our novel condom". Futura added work to extend the condom's shelf life had gone well and expected it to meet its commercial partners' requirements.
Surgical and advanced woundcare specialist company Advanced Medical Solutions Group (AMS) posted an 11 per cent rise in revenues to £32.7m thanks mainly to its branded distributed range of products, which includes hernia mesh fixation device LiquiBand.
The group said the product had been performing strongly and had seen a "strong uptake by surgeons internationally", which the company said showed the "potential of our innovation".
Shares at mobile transaction company Monitise (MONI) have dropped a staggering 30 per cent this morning after full year revenues declines 6 per cent to £89.7m. The group said it had worked hard to manage costs with a 32 per cent half-on-half reduction in underlying costs but it stil registered a £55.3m loss after tax - up from £43.7m last year.
