The half-year figures of Ladbrokes owner Entain and a profitable Deliveroo pleased investors today.
Other players in the spotlight include housebuilder Persimmon and cyber insurance firm Beazley.
The overall market sentiment was cautious as the FTSE 100 gave up much of yesterday’s recovery.
FTSE 100 Live Thursday
-
Deliveroo reports first profit
-
Entain benefits from European Championship betting
-
Barratt-Redrow deal gives CMA a boost
Beazley and Entain rise, but FTSE 100 falls, Deliveroo rises 6%
08:26 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index has given back about half of yesterday’s recovery, with the London leader falling 0.9 percent or 75.15 points to 8091.73.
Big losers included BP, BT and NatWest after their shares traded without entitlement to the latest dividend payments.
Spirax, the thermal energy and fluid technology company, also fell 8%, or 680 pence, to 7,855 pence after releasing its half-year results.
Elsewhere in the FTSE 100, shares in Beazley rose 11% and Ladbrokes-owned Entain gained 7%. Persimmon rose 1%, or 12.5p, to 1551p.
The FTSE 250 index fell 0.9%, or 189.64 points, to 20,386.39, with road infrastructure company Hill & Smith down 100p to 2,060p after releasing half-year results.
Deliveroo shares rose 6%, or 7.5 pence, to 135 pence after the company reported its first profit in half-year results.
Beazley said its cyber insurance strategy proved “resilient” to the CrowdStrike outage, while profits reached a record high
07:56 , Michael Hunter
Beazley said its approach to cyber insurance was “tested and proven to be extremely resilient” by the Microsoft/CrowdStrike IT outage, which the company called “the largest in the world.”
The FTSE 100-listed insurance group Lloyds of London has developed into a major cyber insurer.
Its CEO Adrian Cox said today:
“In the face of the world’s largest IT outage, Beazley’s approach to insuring cyber risk was put to the test and proved extremely resilient.”
Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of June almost doubled to a record $728.9 million (£572.9 million).
Barratt’s £2.5bn deal for Redrow Homes moves closer as regulator focuses on one site
07:42 , Michael Hunter
Barratt Homes’ £2.5 billion bid for fellow property developer Redrow is close to being cleared by regulators but has not yet been given the green light.
There are no concerns across the UK, however the Competition and Markets Authority has singled out one location where it has concerns about the impact of the deal on local markets.
It is located in Whitchurch in Cheshire and includes surrounding towns such as Nantwich, Ellesmere and Market Drayton.
The CMA found that both housebuilders have a large proportion of building land around a Barratt development on Tisltock Road and around Redrow’s Kingsbourne development in Nantwich.
Barratt and Redrow may submit plans to address the issues surrounding Tilstock Road.
Persimmon points to signs of improvement in the housing market, completions are at the upper end of the forecast
07:32 , Michael Hunter
FTSE 100-listed property developer Persimmon pointed to signs of improvement in today’s property market, including a “strong increase in enquiries and visitor numbers” to its sites.
It said the trend was “further supported by the Bank of England’s recent cut in base rates,” with the net private sales rate already up 68 percent in July compared to the same period last year.
The FTSE 100 company expects the number of completions for the full year to be at the upper end of its forecast range, at around 10,500. In the first half of the year, 4,445 were completed, compared to 4,249 in the same period last year.
In the six months to the end of June, profit before tax fell from £151 million to £146.3 million, on sales of £1.3 billion (previous year: £1.2 billion).
The average selling price increased by 3% to £263,288.
Persimmon is supporting the industry’s plans to build 1.5 million homes over the next five years.
CEO Dean Finch said: “Strengthening consumer sentiment, improving macroeconomic conditions and the Government’s welcome and ambitious planning reforms, which require more of the high-quality, affordable homes that are Persimmon’s core strength, support our ambitions to grow this year and into the future.”
Entain raises forecast in view of euro recovery
07:30 , Graeme Evans
Ladbrokes and BetMGM subsidiary Entain today raised their full-year guidance after second-quarter performance beat forecasts.
Stronger than expected profit margins at the European Championships helped the results, as half-year profits rose 5% year-on-year to £524 million. Full-year profits are now expected to be between £1.04 billion and £1.09 billion.
Interim CEO Stella David said: “Entain’s half-year results are clear evidence that our hard work to improve the Group’s operating performance is bearing fruit.”
“While much work remains to be done, we are pleased with the progress we have made to date and look forward to building on these solid foundations in the second half of the year and beyond.”
The company has announced an interim dividend of 9.3 per share, an increase of 5% year-on-year and worth approximately £60 million.
Deliveroo reports first profit
07:23 , Simon Hunt
After continuous growth, Deliveroo has posted a profit for the first time – an important milestone for the London-based delivery app.
The company reported a profit of £1.3 million for the first six months of the year, compared to a loss of £82.9 million a year earlier.
The number of orders for the period rose 2% to 147 million, while gross transaction value, a measure of the value of all orders, rose 6% to £3.7 billion.
CEO Will Shu said: “While the external environment remains uncertain, I am encouraged by the turnaround we are currently seeing in consumer behavior in many of our markets.
“The Deliveroo platform is more powerful than ever and we continue to respond to the external environment while further optimising our offering for consumers, riders and merchants.”
Nvidia decline continues amid further volatility in S&P 500
07:22 , Graeme Evans
The 0.8 percent decline in the S&P 500 index followed a good start for the US benchmark, which was trading 1.7 percent higher at the start of the session.
Deutsche Bank points out that this was the sixth consecutive session with a trading range above 2%. Before the Federal Reserve meeting last Wednesday, there had only been five such days all year.
The “Magnificent Seven” lost 1.4 percent, including Nvidia with a decline of 5 percent. In the past week, the stock has lost a fifth of its value.
In terms of earnings, Airbnb shares fell 13% and Super Micro Computer fell 20% after the previous evening’s results were released. Walt Disney lost 4%.
FTSE 100 set for decline after 1.75% rally, Brent oil at $78 per barrel
07:08 , Graeme Evans
The FTSE 100 index is set to give back much of Wednesday’s 1.75% recovery, with futures trading pointing to a 75-point decline to 8092.
The expected decline came after a weak close on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 index closing 0.8 percent lower and the Nasdaq Composite down 1 percent.
Given the ongoing fear of a recession in the US, traders are holding back ahead of the release of the weekly unemployment figures this afternoon.
In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index is down 0.7 percent, but the Hang Seng index and the Shanghai Composite are moderately up.
In raw materials, the price of Brent Crude rose for the third consecutive day to $78.14 a barrel after US crude oil inventories fell more than expected.
