5th May 2020 08:12
(Alliance News) - British Honey Co, which normally focuses on making honey-infused spirits, said Tuesday its quick pivot to ramping up hand sanitiser production has paid off.
The Aquis Stock Exchange-listed company said sales of its Drip+Drop alcohol sanitiser, launched in the last week of March as the Covid-19 crisis worsened, have generated more than GBP500,000 in revenue, more than offsetting a lost sales from its drinking spirits.
British Honey said sales "have considerably exceeded management expectations" and it will focus its current production capacity on Drip+Drop while demand remains "extremely high".
"Very early on during the Covid-19 outbreak we identified a clear opportunity for the company to move into the production of alcohol-based sanitisers, to meet exceptional demand and supply shortages, given the basic ingredient is the same as for our infused spirit brands," said Chief Executive Officer Michael Williams.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 1.4% at 5,836.82
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Hang Seng: up 1.0% at 23,845.54
Nikkei 225: Tokyo market closed for holiday.
DJIA: closed up 26.07 points, 0.1%, at 23,749.76
S&P 500: closed up 0.4% at 2,842.74
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GBP: up at USD1.2459 (USD1.2425)
EUR: flat at USD1.0909 (USD1.0913)
Gold: down at USD1,702.50 per ounce (USD1,705.55)
Oil (Brent): up at USD28.56 a barrel (USD26.12)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
China Labour Day holiday continues. Shanghai market closed, HK market open.
Japan Children's Day. Financial markets closed.
0900 BST UK SMMT registration figures
0930 BST UK services purchasing managers' index
1100 CEST EU producer price index
0830 EDT US international trade in goods & services
0945 EDT US services PMI
1000 EDT US ISM non-manufacturing report on business
1630 EDT US API weekly statistical bulletin
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The global death toll from the coronavirus pandemic topped a quarter of a million, with the US government predicting a further surge in fatalities as an international vaccine drive garnered USD8 billion in pledges. The dire forecast from the US came as much of the Western world emerged from weeks of lockdown, with hopes that the disease may have peaked in Europe, where deaths in the worst affected countries have dropped after nearly two months of confinement. But the global progress did little to cool a war of words between the US and China over responsibility for the pandemic – a feud that has been fuelled by US claims the virus originated in a Chinese laboratory – a theory the World Health Organization labelled "speculative". An AFP tally of official figures showed Europe is the hardest-hit continent with around 145,000 fatalities. The US has recorded close to 68,700. Together they account for more than 85% of global deaths.
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Trials are beginning on a new coronavirus contact-tracing app which ministers say will save lives and help lift Britain out of lockdown, PA reports. NHS and council staff on the Isle of Wight are being urged to download the Covid-19 smartphone app from Tuesday with the rest of the island's population invited to follow from Thursday. If the tests are successful it could be rolled out across the country within weeks as UK ministers seek to shape a strategy to allow some economic activity to resume, with the long-awaited "roadmap" for easing lockdown being published on Sunday. The Sun reported that industry has been warned some social distancing measures will be required for between six months to a year, with growing fears among the government's medical advisers that the coronavirus is seasonal. An industry source told the newspaper: "If it survives the winter, these measures will have to be in place longer." UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak said spending GBP8 billion on the furlough scheme to support workers through the pandemic was not "sustainable" which was why "as soon as the time is right, we want to get people back to work and the economy fired up again".
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG INITIATES RATHBONE BROTHERS WITH 'HOLD' - TARGET 1350 PENCE
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BERENBERG INITIATES BREWIN DOLPHIN WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 310 PENCE
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JPMORGAN CUTS ASHMORE GROUP TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 310 (350) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Royal Dutch Shell is selling its Appalachia shale gas assets, in the US, for USD541 million. Shell, through its affiliate SWEPI, has agreed to sell its integrated upstream and midstream assets in Pennsylvania to US firm National Fuel Gas. "Divesting our Appalachia position is consistent with our desire to focus our Shales portfolio," said Shell Upstream Director Wael Sawan. "While we maximise cash in the current environment, our drive for a competitive position in Shales continues. It is a core part of our Upstream portfolio along with the Deep Water and Conventional oil and gas businesses." The deal will be made in cash, but National Gas has the option to provide up to USD150 million of stock as consideration. The transaction includes the transfer of about 450,000 net leasehold acres across Pennsylvania, with approximately 350 producing Marcellus and Utica wells in Tioga County and associated facilities.
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Carnival said its P&O Cruises unit has extended its voluntary pause in operations in Australia and New Zealand to August 31, in response to continuing travel restrictions due to Covid-19. Carnival on Monday had said it plans to phase in the resumption of its North American service over the summer, with operations to remain on pause for all but eight of its ships. These will be the Carnival Dream, Carnival Freedom and Carnival Vista ships from Galveston, Texas; as well as the Carnival Horizon, Carnival Magic and Carnival Sensation ships from Miami, Florida. Ships Carnival Breeze and Carnival Elation from Port Canaveral, Floria will also resume cruises. All North American cruises between June 27 and July 31 are cancelled and, outside of the eight ships specified, all other North American cruises are cancelled through August 31.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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LondonMetric Property said it will raise GBP100 million from the issue of 56 million shares, representing 6.7% of its issued share capital. Proceeds from the share placing will be used to fund existing deals as well as other potential pipeline opportunities, LondonMetric said. The placing is being run by JPMorgan and Peel Hunt. In addition, LondonMetric said its progressive dividend policy remains unchanged. It expects to pay a fourth quarter dividend to shareholders of 2.3 pence per share. The dividend for all of financial 2020 will be 8.3p, up from 8.2p last year. For the financial year ended March 31, LondonMetric reported a 24% increase in net rental income to GBP116 million and EPRA earnings per share of 9.3 pence, up from 8.8p last year.
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Eastern European-focused Wizz Air reported a 98% fall in April passenger numbers to 78,389 from 3.3 million in April 2019, due to the coronavirus pandemic. More positively, Wizz Air announced five new destinations to Abu Dhabi, with the first flights from Budapest and Bucharest commencing in June 2020, and three additional destinations starting in September. The launch of the company's new low-cost airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi is progressing in line with the initial timeline, it said.
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COMPANIES - OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Ryanair Holdings reported a 99.6% drop in April traffic to just about 40,000 passengers from 13.5 million in April 2019 due to flight bans and travel restrictions. The Irish airline said it operated just 600 scheduled flights in April and expects to carry minimal traffic during the months of May and June as well.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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BNP Paribas said additional costs associated with global Covid-19 pandemic hurt its income in the first quarter of 2020. The Paris-headquartered bank reported a 2.3% fall in revenue in the three months to the end of March to EUR10.89 billion from EUR11.14 billion a year ago, taking pretax income down 33% to EUR1.80 billion from EUR2.68 billion. "The results of BNP Paribas for the first quarter 2020 were impacted by the harshness of the health crisis. The good resilience of revenue and results despite this shock demonstrates the robustness of the group's diversified and integrated model," asserted Chief Executive Jean-Laurent Bonnafe. Looking ahead, BNP Paribas said its net income for 2020 could be about 15% to 20% lower than in 2019.
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Deutsche Lufthansa, facing perhaps its biggest financial crisis due to the coronavirus pandemic, is holding a general meeting on Tuesday in the hope of deciding on a huge state bailout. Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr is expected to tell the gathering that "the future of Lufthansa will be decided in the coming days," according to remarks released ahead of the meeting, dpa reports. The state aid under negotiation is said to amount to about EUR10 billion. In the ongoing talks on how to save the airline group, which has grounded most of its planes, Lufthansa is resisting suggestions that the German state should take a stake in the firm, along with seats on the supervisory board. Lufthansa is aiming for the state to be a sleeping partner, meaning its role in the firm would be limited. "It was not our fault that we are in this crisis," Spohr is expected to tell the shareholders. "Now we need state support. But we do not need any state management."
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Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings
GetBusy
Anglo American
4imprint
Johnson Service Group
Providence Resources
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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