A failure to reach agreement on curbing oil production in Doha over the weekend has hit sentiment towards shares this morning. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott's latest views.
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Interserve (IRV) has been awarded a five-year contract worth approximately £230m, including additional works, with the Ministry of Defence's Defence Infrastructure Organisation to provide facilities services to the United States Air Force's UK estate. Buy.
Energy group Centrica (CNA) has announced its UK business supply division returned to profitability during the first quarter, while net debt reduced to £4.4bn from £4.75bn at the end of December. Management expects adjusted operating cash flow to be in excess of £2bn this year and £200m of efficiency savings. The group has already cut 800 of the 3,000 jobs it expects this year. One weak spot was the 1.5 per cent reduction in UK home supply accounts as a result of long-term contract roll-off. Overall things are moving in the right direction - buy.
A solid set of results from Action Hotels (AHCG) has sent the share price up 7 per cent in early trading. The group which owns and operates three and four star hotels in the middle east and Australia reported a good year, with net profit up 47 per cent compared to last year. The outlook is also good, as the recent opening of the group’s largest hotel, the ibis Styles Brisbane is expected to make a big financial contribution in 2016. Buy.
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It might have warned conditions would be tough in 2016 but consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) hasn’t shown any signs of strain yet. Its Europe and North America division posted a 3 per cent rise in like-for-like sales to £1.5bn in the first quarter while developing markets’s like-for-likes jumped 10 per cent to £719m. In terms of divisions, its health product sales rose 10 per cent to £786m but hygiene remains the biggest seller with £956m turnover. The performance might possibly ease some of the recent pressure on chief executive Rakesh Kapoor over his £23m pay package which will be under scrutiny at the May annual general meeting.
The plot has become even thicker over at eastern-European focused booze maker Stock Spirits (STCK). Just a couple of weeks after its largest shareholder Western Gate Private Investments pushed for chief executive Chris Heath to be replaced, the company has announced the 55-year-old will take “early retirement” effective immediately. Chairman David Maloney said he and the board had been discussing succession plans for several months, something Mr Heath was aware of. "Our plan was to ensure that we had a new Polish managing director in place before initiating any other changes to avoid further uncertainty,” Mr Maloney said. Marek Sypek was appointed last week as managing director, Poland. “But Western Gate's actions have clearly interrupted our careful planning and so we decided to accelerate the CEO process,” Mr Maloney added. Miroslaw 'Mirek' Stachowicz, an independent non-executive director since November 2015 will serve as interim CEO until a replacement is found.
Aggreko (AGK) announced that its Power Solutions business has signed a 3 year contract to provide 200MW of diesel-fuelled power in Zimbabwe. Aggreko's customer is Sakunda Holdings, which has been awarded a contract with the ultimate customer, Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA).
Charles Stanley (CAY) has reported a 3.8 per cent fall in funds under management and administration to £20.5bn in the 12 months to the end of March. The wealth manager’s advisory managed funds experienced £300m in outflows , while market movements generated a 3.3 per cent loss in the value of its funds.
Israeli-based Plus500 (PLUS) reported record quarterly revenues of $82.5m and active customers of 68,000 for the first quarter of the year. The contract-for-difference trading platform provider also announced new customers were up 85 per cent on the end of December. Year-on-year revenue grew 4 per cent during Q1, but a quarter on the previous three months.
HSBC (HSBA) plans to commit £10bn in loans to SMEs this year and will fix the amount business customers pay to use their accounts at £5.50 a month for a year. The aim is to entice and retain business account holders.
Shares in CityFibre (CITY) climbed 2 per cent after the fibre infrastructure specialist’s revenues leapt more than two-thirds in the year to 31 December, narrowing its adjusted cash loss by 19 per cent to £2.9m. CityFibre more than doubled the value of contracts added in the period to £23.2m, as it won citywide construction projects in Newport, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
