London’s FTSE 100 jumped 2% to 6,110 points on Tuesday following on from gains across Asia on speculation of coordinated stimulus from global central banks and governments.
Brent crude gained 5% to $36 a barrel paring back yesterday’s brutal falls while the pound was steady against the US dollar trading at $1.31.
In corporate news, events and publishing company Informa (INF) gained 4% 580p after reporting statutory pre-tax profit increased 13.0% to £318.7m and revenue increased by 22.0% to £2,890.3m in 2019.
The firm was able to move back some events to later in the year due to the coronavirus and said, ‘We are facing a 2020 impact from Covid-19 in our events-related businesses and so we have used our strong customer and supplier relationships to swiftly deploy a material postponement programme, shifting our events calendar to later dates in 2020.’
Maiden results from fund manager M&G (MNG), which was recently spun out of insurer Prudential, posted a fall in adjusted annual profit after it experienced net outflows from its funds.
Pre-tax profit for the year through 31 December fell 29% to £1.1bn, down from £1.6bn. Chief executive John Foley said the company had posted a 'resilient performance' in a challenging market.
M&G declared an ordinary dividend of 11.92p per share and special demerger dividend of 3.85p. The shares nudged-up 0.4% to 173.2p.
Sticking to the asset management sector, peer Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) posted a 10% fall in adjusted annual profit after net outflows from its funds sapped it of fee revenue.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December amounted to £243m, swinging from a loss of £787m on-year. The shares traded 1% higher at 241.9p.
Trading near the top of the FTSE 350 leader board was defence contractor Ultra Electronics (ULE), up 10% to £21.4 after profit more than doubled on new contracts wins in the US.
Pre-tax profit jumped to £91.0m, up from £42.6m on-year, as revenue climbed 7.7% to £825.4m.
The company declared a full-year dividend of 54.2p per share, up 5% on-year.
Engineering company Wood Group (WG.) swung to a full-year profit, as it benefited from a reduction in write-downs and improved its margins.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December amounted to $73m, compared to a loss of $8m on-year.
Inter-dealer broker TP ICAP (TCAP) booked a 50% rise in annual profit after it completed a merger integration programme, though it warned of an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop as the coronavirus spreads.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December increased to £93m, up from £62m on-year. The shares traded 0.7% higher to 357p.
Aviation services specialist John Menzies (MNZS) reported annual revenues up 2% to £1.3bn as expected and operating profit down 32% to £29.8m.
The dividend was suspended as the company focused on debt reduction. On Covid-19 the group said it is likely to see an impact of £6m to £9m on the assumption the virus subsides towards the second quarter. The shares fell 1% to 249.5p.
Shares in auto dealer Marshall Motor (MMH:AIM) skidded 4% lower to 138p after it posted a fall in annual adjusted profit as ‘challenging’ market conditions put pressure on margins.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December increased 8.9% to £19.6m, up from £18.0m on-year, as revenue rose 4.1% to £2.28bn.
Video games developer Team17 (TM17:AIM) more than doubled its annual profit after it released seven new games and also boosted sales of third-party titles.
Pre-tax profit for the year through December jumped to £19.2m, up from £8.7m on-year, as revenue climbed 43% to £61.8m.
Team17 said it had a solid pipeline of game launches planned for 2020, with 10 titles already announced, including Moving Out and Main Assembly.
