Luxury sports cars maker Aston Martin Lagonda (AML) has issued a profit warning on Wednesday blaming pressure on its caused by ongoing economic uncertainty, much of which is being caused by Brexit unknowns.
Shares in the company crashed 23% to 799.8p with full guidance for full year car volumes and earnings cut, and worryingly, hinting that things may yet get worse.
‘We anticipate that this softness will continue for the remainder of the year and are planning prudently for 2020,’ the company says.
This sets a rather bleak tone for overall trading on Wednesday with miners also dragging on the FTSE 100 index. It dell around 38 points early on to 7,518.00.
Mining groups Rio Tinto (RIO), BHP (BHP) and Anglo American (AAL) all declined by 3% or more in early trade as wider macroeconomic concerns and worries about global growth come to the fore.
MORE LOVE ISLAND
ITV (ITV), the maker of popular reality TV show Love Island, saw its pre-tax profit slump 16% to £222m in the first half to 30 June.
But investors are clearly encouraged by the broadcaster’s announcement that it plans to double the number of episodes viewers can tune in to by rolling out a second series every year, starting in 2020. The latest season saw a new record of over 6m viewers tune in across TV and devices.
That sees ITV shares rally more than 6% to 112.7p.
Insurance group Standard Life Aberdeen (SLA) saw its shares add 1.4% to 311.5p after the company agreed a final settlement with Lloyds (LLOY) related to a dispute over an unwanted termination of its asset management arrangements with the bank.
Standard Life Aberdeen will receive a £140m settlement payment from Lloyds and still get to manage about a third of the original assets.
Pub owner Marston's (MARS) became the latest drinks-driven business to lament the slow start to British summer with weaker revenue in the past 16 weeks capping like-for-like sales so far this year to just 0.5%.
Fizzy pop producer AG Barr (BAG) recently flagged similarly weather-related gloomy news.
Marston’s update gets an ugly response from investors who send the stock plunging nearly 9% in early trade to 11.3p, valuing the pubs chain at a little more than £700m.
Mixer drinks maker Britvic (BVIC) is also struggling, although not necessarily due to wet previous rain. It reported a fall in third quarter revenue amid a more challenged performance in France and Ireland.
Britvic shares nudge 0.8% lower to 882.5p.
VODAFONE SECURES 5G SHARING DEAL
European mobile network Vodafone (VOD) has struck a deal to share some 5G mobile equipment and infrastructure with rival O2 in the UK. The deal will include things like radio antennas nationwide to speed up the roll-out of the faster wireless network.
‘This means more people will get 5G sooner, helping to build a competitive digital economy and encouraging innovative new services that use 5G's speed and greater reliability,’ Vodafone said in a statement.
Getting 5G to more Brits sooner could potentially help Vodafone arrest declining UK revenues in its mobile business yet investors largely shrug-off the announcement with Vodafone shares dipping 0.6% to 129.98p.
O2 is owned by Spanish firm Telefonica.
Shares in property investor and developer Segro (SGRO) gained 2% to 771p despite the company posting a 28% fall in first half profit because of lower property revaluations.
Importantly, the company did post higher adjusted earnings, boosted by higher rental income, and hiked its interim dividend 14%.
Payments services group Paypoint (PAY) nudges 1% higher to 912p after the company posted 3.6% growth in first quarter revenue, driven by an increased site rollout.
