Despite a raft of positive earnings announcements, UK stocks drifted from their earlier highs on Thursday afternoon dragged down by banking and oil and gas shares.
At 16:30 the FTSE 100 of leading shares was up just 0.1% at 6,528 points, hampered by losses in Barclays (BARC), Lloyds (LLOY), NatWest (NWG) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB).
COMPANY NEWS
Shares in packaging and bottling firm Coca-Cola Hellenic (CCH) fizzed 5% higher to £23.71 as it delivered a ‘resilient’ performance last year despite the closure of most of the foodservice industry and the on-trade.
Despite a fall of 12.7% in revenues, the company’s EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) profit margin increased slightly thanks to structural improvements to the firm’s cost base and a decision to cut discretionary capex early in the pandemic.
Shares in house builder MJ Gleeson (GLE) climbed 6.8% to 786p after the firm posted a 36% increase in first half revenues and a 53% increase in pre-tax earnings, and said that full year results would be ‘significantly ahead of current market consensus’.
Shares in delivery firm Royal Mail (RMG) delivered a 4.7% gain to 449.9p after it said it experienced an ‘unprecedented’ third quarter to December, including its busiest day ever, delivering 11.7 million parcels or 32% more than the busiest day during the first national lockdown.
At the same time, addressed letter volumes improved, declining by 14% in the third quarter compared with a drop of a third during the first quarter.
Media group RELX (REL) posted close to a 10% decrease in turnover for the year to December as growth in digital services was offset by a steeper than normal fall in print revenues and significantly lower revenues from its exhibitions business.
Despite a more than 16% fall in operating profits, the board raised the dividend by a small amount ‘reflecting our consistent track record and our confidence in the outlook for the company’. That was enough to see the shares gain 2.9% to £18.25.
Drug giant AstraZeneca (AZN) reported full year 2020 earnings in line with its previous guidance. Total revenues rose by 10% to $26.6 billion and accelerated in the final quarter to over $7 billion, a milestone for the firm.
For this year the company expects revenues to grow by a low-teens percentage, with faster growth in earnings per share from $4.02 to between $4.75 and $5.00. The shares gained 0.2% to £72.58.
Shares in insurer Prudential (PRU) dipped 0.3% to £12.92 after the firm shuffled the deck at its US subsidiary Jackson Financial following its decision to demerge it rather than list it separately, a move which caused the shares to fall sharply last month.
After 'a review of Jackson’s management needs’ ahead of the demerger, 30-year veterans of the firm Laura Prieskorn and Marcia Wadsten were appointed chief executive and chief financial officer respectively.
Pub group Marston’s (MARS) fell 13% to 86.6p following the announcement from private equity firm Platinum Equity Advisors that, after the board rejected its approach earlier this month, it wouldn’t be making a revised proposal or indeed a firm offer for the company.
The board of Marston’s said it ‘continues to believe that the company is well placed to benefit from the opportunities in a post-COVID 19 trading environment, harnessing factors such as a reduction in on-trade industry supply, and increased home-working that will benefit pubs in suburban locations.’
