International Consolidated Airlines (IAG), Scottish Mortgage (SMT), Rightmove (RMV), CRH (CRH), S4 Capital (SFOR), Ultimate Products (ULTP) and C&C Group (CCR)
International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) seemed to justify the 20 per cent year-to-date gain in its share price with a first quarter set of numbers that were ahead of analysts’ expectations.
Revenue grew by 9 per cent to €6.4bn (£5.5bn), while operating profit was lifted from €9mn a year ago to €68mn. The group, which owns British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, benefited from the earlier Easter break and a continued recovery in leisure travel, although the business market has been slower to bounce back.
IAG also continued to make inroads into its debt pile, with net debt cut to €7.4bn at the end of March, from €9.2bn in December. The shares ticked up by 1 per cent. MF
Read more: Airline stocks are cheap – but avoid these value traps
Scottish Mortgage’s £300mn buyback
Scottish Mortgage (SMT) has bought back £313mn of its shares in a single day, prompting speculation that activist investor Elliott has sold a chunk of its stake.
Scottish Mortgage bought back 35mn shares yesterday, representing around 2.5 per cent of the share capital and is potentially the largest daily buyback in the sector. Stifel analysts noted that Elliott may have halved its stake in the trust.
In March Scottish Mortgage announced plans to buy back at least £1bn of its shares over two years in a bid to tackle its discount to net asset value. DB
Read more: Scottish Mortgage's Tom Slater on performance woes, AI and China
CRH impresses in the US
CRH (CRH) reported a 2 per cent increase in revenue and a 15 per cent uplift in adjusted cash profit in the three months ending in March, its least significant quarter of the year.
Adjusted cash profit came in at $445mn (£355mn), while net profit came in at $114mn, compared with a loss of $31mn in the same quarter last year.
Net debt jumped to $9.6bn, compared with $5.4bn at the end of last year, after the company completed the buyout of Martin Marietta’s cement and readymix concrete assets in Texas.
The company maintained full-year guidance of hitting a net profit of between $3.55bn-$3.8bn. Its shares rose by 4 per cent. MF
Find out why we’re bullish on CRH
Ultimate Products shares plunge on profit warning
Ultimate Products (ULTP) shares fell by 18 per cent in early trading after the homeware company said it expects full year trading to come in significantly below market expectations. The Salter owner set out new guidance for annual revenue of at least £156mn, a flat gross margin, and adjusted cash profits of £17.5mn-£18.5mn. The company-provided analyst consensus was for revenue of £167mn and adjusted cash profits of £21.5mn.
Year-on-year revenue was down 7 per cent in the third quarter, worse than the 4 per cent decline at the half year stage, because of ”a slowdown in near-term sales from landed stocks”. Management was more cheery about prospects for 2025, as it pointed to notable growth in its forward order book and a softening of pandemic-related overstocking headwinds. CA
