FTSE 100 Rises as HSBC, Builders Gain; BP Falls
0800 GMT - The FTSE 100 rises 0.2%, or 13 points to 7884 as gains for HSBC and construction stocks outpace losses for oil and mining stocks. HSBC advances 4% after first-quarter profit topped expectations. House-builders Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group Holdings are also among the biggest risers after upbeat industry data. "The Nationwide U.K. house-price index saw the market rebound 0.5% in April month-on-month, snapping a seven-month streak of falling house prices," Interactive Investor's head of investment Victoria Scholar writes. Meanwhile, BP falls 5% and Shell also loses ground after BP reported better-than-expected 1Q profit, though the oil major slowed its share buyback run rate, RBC Capital Markets says. (philip.waller@wsj.com)
COMPANIES NEWS:
Ashtead Starts Buyback of Up to $500 Mln
Ashtead Group said Tuesday that it has started a share buyback program of up to $500 million.
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BP 1Q Underlying Replacement Cost Profit Rose on Quarter, Exceeding Expectations
BP on Tuesday reported a rise in first-quarter underlying replacement cost profit, beating expectations, and declared an additional $1.75 billion share buyback.
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Superdry in Talks Over Fundraise Worth Up to 20% of Issued Share Capital
Superdry said Tuesday that it is in positive discussions with certain institutional and other investors over a proposed equity fundraising of up to 20% of its issued share capital.
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Mitie Buys R H Irving Industrials for $23.9 Mln
Mitie Group said Tuesday that it has acquired the security services specialist R H Irving Industrials for a total consideration of 19.1 million pounds ($23.9 million).
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Restaurant Group Says Performance in First Four Months of Year Was Encouraging
Restaurant Group said Tuesday that its performance for the first four months of 2023 continued to be very encouraging and that its medium-term margin accretion and deleveraging plans are tracking ahead of management's expectations.
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Carr's Group 1H Profit Fell on Lower Volumes, Contract Timings; Revenue Rose
Carr's Group said Tuesday that first-half profit slipped on lower volumes and contract timings, though revenue rose.
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Kitwave Sees FY 2023 Performance Ahead of Market Views After Strong 1H
Kitwave Group said Tuesday that its fiscal 2023 performance is expected to be slightly ahead of market expectations following robust trading across all of its divisions during the first half of the year.
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Facilities By ADF 2022 Pretax Profit Rose On Strong 4Q; Sees 2023 Results In Line
Facilities By ADF said Tuesday that its pretax profit rose in 2022 as revenue grew 13% on a strong fourth quarter, and that it expects to meet full-year market expectations.
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Sylvania Platinum Launches Share Buyback of Up to $10 Mln
Sylvania Platinum Ltd. said Tuesday that it was launching a share buyback of up to $10 million so as to reduce the company's share capital.
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Permanent TSB Group Backs 2023 Guidance After 1Q Volumes, Income Rose
Permanent TSB Group Holdings said Tuesday that its guidance for 2023 remained in line with its previous outlook as it posted a rise new lending volumes and transactional banking for its first quarter.
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Ferrexpo CEO Jim North to Step Down
Ferrexpo said Tuesday that Chief Executive Officer Jim North intends to step down at the end of June to pursue other opportunities, and that Chair Lucio Genovese will act as executive chair on an interim basis.
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Longboat Energy Shares Double on JV Agreement With Japex
Longboat Energy shares more than doubled on Tuesday after it said it has agreed to form a joint venture with Japan Petroleum Exploration Co., in return for a cash investment of up to $50 million.
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Made Tech Shares Fall as FY 2023 Performance Seen Below Market Views
Shares in Made Tech Group fell Tuesday after the company warned that revenue for fiscal 2023 will be below expectations as several clients have moved the start date of work packages into fiscal 2024.
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Kanabo 2022 Pretax Loss Widened on Higher Costs, But Revenue Jumped
Kanabo Group said Tuesday that its pretax loss widened in 2022 due to rising expenses, but that revenue rose on the acquisition of GP Service.
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Smoove's 3Q Transactions, Remortgages Fell But FY 2023 Revenue Rose
Smoove said Tuesday that although its transactional and remortgage instructions fell in the third quarter of its fiscal 2023 following the U.K. government's September "minibudget," they recovered significantly in the fourth quarter, and that full-year revenue rose around 7%.
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Plant Health Care Shares Fall on Potential AIM Delisting, 2022 Widened Pretax Loss
Shares in Plant Health Care fell Tuesday after the company said the board was evaluating a range of financing and strategic options for the company, including its permanence in London's AIM, as it reported a widened pretax loss for 2022 on higher costs.
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Powerhouse Energy Buys Protos Plastics to Hydrogen for GBP1
Powerhouse Energy Group PLC on Tuesday said it bought Protos Plastics to Hydrogen No 1 Ltd. for a nominal payment of 1 pound ($1.25).
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Mercia Asset Management Adds GBP80 Mln to Managed Funds
Mercia Asset Management PLC said Tuesday that it has added around 80 million pounds ($100 million) of inflows across its managed funds.
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MacFarlane Buys Gottlieb for $4.4 Mln
MacFarlane Group said Tuesday that it has bought A&G Holdings, owner of Gottlieb Packaging Materials, for a maximum cash consideration of 3.55 million pounds ($4.4 million).
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Hummingbird Resources Expects First Gold Pour at Second Guinea Mine in Current Quarter
Hummingbird Resources PLC on Tuesday said the processing plant of its second gold mine in Guinea has entered the commissioning phase toward achieving its first gold pour in the current quarter.
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Seed Capital Solutions Appoints John Zorbas as CEO
Seed Capital Solutions said Tuesday that John Zorbas has been appointed as chief executive officer.
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Arrow Exploration 2022 Revenue Grew Almost Fourfold on Higher Production
Arrow Exploration said Tuesday that its 2022 pretax income significantly rose and revenue nearly quadrupled on a large increase in production.
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East Imperial Shares Fall on Going Concern Uncertainty
Shares in East Imperial fell Tuesday after the company said there is material uncertainty about its ability to continue as a going concern.
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Knights Group Expands Presence In North England With Two Acquisitions
Knights Group Holdings said Tuesday that it has agreed to buy St James Law and Baines Wilson for a total cash consideration of 1.75 million pounds ($2.2 million) and GBP3.4 million, respectively.
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National World Buys Two UK Media Companies
National World PLC said Tuesday that it completed the acquisition of two businesses on Friday, and that it expects the purchase it has completed since December to more-than compensate for the recent downturn in advertising sales which has hurt the whole sector.
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Fox Marble Holdings to Consolidate Shares, Secures $125.1 Mln Orderbook
Fox Marble Holdings said Tuesday that it will propose to reorganize its share capital after the completion of the reverse takeover of Fox Marble by Eco Buildings Group and requested the lift of its share trading suspension.
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Mode Global Holdings Shares Suspended on Audit Delay
Mode Global Holdings said Tuesday that trading in its shares hsd been suspended due to the delays in the completion of its annual audit.
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Greatland Gold Evaluates Reorganization as It Prepares Australia Listing
Greatland Gold on Tuesday said it is considering a corporate reorganization as it prepares to list on Australia's ASX stock exchange in the September quarter.
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88 Energy Shares Fall on Warning of Low Shareholder Votes at AGM
Shares in 88 Energy fell Tuesday after the company said the current tally of proxy votes for its annual general meeting represents less than 4% of registered shares, which may lead to a spill meeting.
MARKET TALK:
HSBC Had Good 1Q, But Outlook is Conservative
0830 GMT - HSBC's first-quarter results were strong but messy and the outlook was cautious, Citigroup says. Issues such as accounting restatements complicated the numbers, though underlying pretax profit topped expectations, Citi says. "The absence of IFRS 17 and one-off gains in consensus make direct comparison difficult, but on an underlying basis we would expect low single-digit upgrades to consensus EPS for 2024+," Citi analysts say in a note, adding that overall, the results were good and the company's buyback update was encouraging, thoug the outlook was conservative. Shares rise 6%.(philip.waller@wsj.com)
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BP Drops as Profit Tops Hopes, But Buyback Disappoints
0817 GMT - BP drops 5% after the oil major reported better-than-expected 1Q profit, but slowed its share buyback run rate. "We expect a neutral to slightly negative reaction to the BP release this morning," Barclays analysts say in a note. "Adjusted net income was 16% ahead of consensus reflecting good operational performance and trading. Yet the cut in the buyback to $1.75 billion fell short of our expectations, partly due to a surprise build in working capital." (philip.waller@wsj.com)
Contact: London NewsPlus, Dow Jones Newswires;
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-02-23 0508ET
