Shares in Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) hit as problem with jet engine forces Airbus A350 into emergency landing, sparking fears that design flaws may be more widespread than first thought
The bosses of Britain’s four biggest banks have pocketed almost £178m since the financial crisis struck – while average wages have fallen by £760 a year. Vast payouts to the chief executives of Barclays (BARC), HSBC Holdings (HSBA), Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) have continued despite bailouts, mis-selling scandals and massive fines. Meanwhile a report by the Institute For Fiscal Studies shows the typical worker is still earning significantly less.
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) looks set to be the ‘kingmaker’ in the £14bn merger of Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) and Asda as they are forced to offload stores to get the deal done. The Mail understands that Morrisons, the fourth-largest supermarket in the UK, is eyeing shops that Sainsbury’s and Asda could be forced to sell as part of a probe into the tie-up. And they could come at a knockdown price. Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe has already admitted that of Sainsbury’s 644 supermarkets in the UK, 138 are within a mile of an Asda store, raising potential competition issues once they are owned by the same company. In ten locations the two firms are less than 200 yards apart.
Housebuilding and construction group Galliford Try (GFRD) said Help to Buy schemes and a cut in stamp duty for first time buyers helped boost its annual profits. In the last year, Galliford, which also owns Linden Homes, saw its profits increase by 145 per cent, from £58.7million to £143.7million.
An outgoing senior executive at has revealed that merging its newly acquired House of Fraser business with fellow department store Debenhams (DEB) ‘has been discussed’. Speaking at the company’s AGM, senior non-executive director Simon Bentley implied that one reason this hadn’t occurred was that Sports Direct still had its ‘hands full’ with integrating House of Fraser after recently acquiring the department store chain in a £90million deal.
National Grid (NG.), Centrica (CNA), United Utilities Group (UU.) – Big Four energy firm SSE (SSE) sees it shares plunge after warning profits will be only half of last year’s total due to hot weather and high gas prices. SSE’s chief executive, Alistair Phillips-Davies, had branded his company’s performance in the first five months of this year as ‘disappointing’ and ‘regrettable.’ Hampered by warm weather and high wholesale gas prices, the energy giant said it now expects its adjusted operating profits for the six months to 30 September to come in at half the level they were a year ago. Looking ahead to the imposition of a price cap for energy consumers next year, SSE said the cap would lead to ‘significantly lower’ profits than it had expected at the start of the financial year
M Winkworth (WINK) was in demand as it reported a pick-up in rental activity in its core London market. Record numbers of renters are registering in the capital, and Winkworth expects that to continue as more people are priced out of buying their own home. Perhaps more importantly, it reckons sales volumes, which have fallen due to Brexit uncertainty and higher stamp duty fees, are unlikely to slide further.
London’s biggest faller was also to be found among the small caps. Trakm8 Holdings (TRAK) dropped after the telematics and data supply firm warned that it had had a weak start to the current financial year.
MyCelx Technologies Corporation (DI) (MYX) gushed 40.7% higher, or 55p, to 190p after it posted a sharp rise in first-half revenue and earnings. It uses its tech to help oil and gas companies remove hydrocarbons from water, and saw revenues more than double to £9.3m from £4.5m last year, while the firm’s earnings surged to £2.1m from £229,000.
