After a severe sell off yesterday was echoed in Asian markets overnight, equities in London have rather nervously steadied themselves in early trading today. Click here to see what The Trader Nicole Elliott thinks of the markets.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Grainger (GRI) has emphasised its strategic focus on the private rental sector of late, and today bolstered its presence with the acquisition of the freehold of a private rented estate of 94 flats, 4 houses and 80 car parking spaces at Kew Bridge Court for £57.3m, acquired through its GRIP residential property fund partnership with APG. We keep our buy rating.
KEY STORIES:
House builder Redrow (RDW) posted a 14 per cent rise in pre-tax profits for the six months to December on the back of an 8 per cent increase in revenues to a record £603m. The company has also doubled its dividend payout to 4p a share.
Star fund manager Neil Woodford has sold his stake in Royal Mail (RMG) over regulatory concerns. He initially bought a 1.5 per cent position in the postal company when first launching his fund back in August 2014.
Ascential (ASCL) will price its shares at 200p a pop, valuing the exhibitions, festivals and business intelligence group at about £800m. Unconditional trading of its shares on the main market is expected to commence on 12 February.
Interdealer broker Icap (IAP) has revealed revenue from continuing business was 5 per cent lower during the third quarter of the 2016 financial year end, while overall revenue was down by 10 per cent on a constant currency basis. This was due to low risk appetite among its clients, while its EBS trading platform saw average daily trading volumes decrease by more than a third as currency volatility was without the same central banking interventions as the year previously.
Shares in Allied Minds (ALM) fell 5 per cent after the technology investment company reported a fall in cash and investments as well as in revenue last year. During the year the company invested $103m (£71m) into new and existing companies in its portfolio including drug discovery company SciFlour Life Sciences.
There’s been a slight loss of altitude for shares in tour operator Tui (TUI) this morning in spite of sales improving and losses declining. Part of the reason is likely to be the 40 per cent reduction in bookings to one of its key destinations - Turkey. But management says due to its business model, which includes its own hotels, it has been able to “act quickly to remix capacity to alternative, profitable -destinations” such as Spain and the Canary Islands. It therefore still expects to achieve a 10 per cent rise in underlying cash profits for the 2016 financial year. Elsewhere, the company found another €10m (£7.7m) in savings in the first quarter, adding the disposal process for online hotel booking platform Hotelbeds remains on track.
Tungsten Corporation (TUNG) has confirmed it expects trading for the full-year to be in line with its previous guidance, resulting in a cash loss of £19m including one-off items. Management does not expect the electronic invoicing company to reach a positive cash profits position until the six months ended 31 October 2017.
Struggling commodities group Vedanta Resources (VED) has increased the maximum value of bonds it plans to purchase from existing noteholders, as part of a liability management exercise. News that the company would extend its tender offer from $250m to $321.9m knocked 8 per cent off the shares.
Shares in Sophos (SOPH) slid 9 per cent after the cyber security group’s underlying cash profits rose just 5 per cent to $34.8m in the third quarter ended 31 December. That was despite a 17 per cent rise in like-for-like billings, reflecting double-digit growth in the Americas and Europe, the Middle East and Africa and even stronger gains in Asia Pacific and Japan.
