Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) has launched a new ‘slimmer, sharper, more stylish’ range for men who dress casually at work. The high street stalwart is sidelining formal work clothes and targeting younger customers, who tend to dress down in the office. The company has cut the number of suits and ties by a seventh, or 14%, and will instead fill the space with casual clothing and jumpers. M&S is trying to persuade customers it has shaken off its old-fashioned and dowdy image. The new range of products will target a ‘busy, family-aged customer’, it said yesterday, and be aimed at those who spend more time ‘taking care of themselves’. A week-long advertising campaign will highlight ‘new and improved fit’, which bosses had previously identified as a problem for consumers.
Profits at BP (BP.) tumbled by 40% as the oil super-major was hammered by tropical storms and lower prices. They fell to £1.8 billion between July and September, from £3 billion in the same quarter of 2018. But this was higher than the £1.3 billion analysts expected, as growth in the refining division offset a weaker performance in its oil production. Revenue dropped 23% to £48 billion. BP was also hit by maintenance costs at some of its most profitable fields and the effect of Hurricane Barry, which shut facilities in the Gulf of Mexico for around a fortnight and dealt a ‘significant’ blow to production in July. Overall, oil and gas production fell 2.5% when stripping out BP’s stake in Russian group Rosneft. It expects fourth-quarter production will improve as maintenance works wind down. Bernstein analyst Oswald Clint said: ‘In a challenging quarter for energy, BP’s results are remarkably resilient.’
A big loser yesterday was Royal Mail (RMG), after JP Morgan Cazenove analysts sounded the alarm over industrial action. More than 97% of Royal Mail staff balloted by the Communication Workers Union have backed a strike – though whether this will go ahead is very much uncertain. Royal Mail yesterday made a fresh plea to avoid the strikes, saying it would speak to the CWU ‘without preconditions’ if it removes the threat of walkouts. JP Morgan has been rattled by the fact that the union intends to time a strike for maximum impact – meaning it could coincide with Black Friday sales on November 29, Cyber Monday on December 2 and December General Election. Although analysts believe the direct cost may be ‘manageable’, the knock-on effects, such as fewer parcels being sent, could hit the 500-year-old postal service where it hurts. JP Morgan cut its rating to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ and trimmed its target price to 192p from 252p.
Analysts took a swipe at Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), after the lender revealed last week it had swung into the red in the third quarter. UBS downgraded its shares from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ and rolled back its target price from 225p to 235p.
Dawn Fitzpatrick, a non-executive director at Barclays (BARC) who is also chief investment officer at billionaire George Soros’s hedge fund Soros Fund Management, splashed out £1.5m buying shares in the British bank.
The volatility on global stock markets over the summer, driven by Brexit and the US-China trade spat, was a boon for Plus500 Ltd (DI) (PLUS). Revenues between July and September rose 10% to £86m and the number of new customers using Plus500 to trade surged to 24,359 from 20,684 in the same period of 2018. It follows a plunge in profits last year when Plus500 and its peers were knocked by European regulators clamping down on trading of risky financial products.
Oilfield drilling equipment provider Hunting (HTG) lost ground as it said challenging conditions, particularly in the US market, would hit profits, putting full-year figures at the lower end of City forecasts.
