10th Aug 2021 09:07
(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened slightly higher on Tuesday as positive company earnings were counterbalanced by concerns over the spread of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
While vaccinations are being rolled out, infection rates continue to climb around the world, forcing some governments - particularly China and Australia - to impose fresh lockdowns and other containment measures.
The FTSE 100 index was up 9.10 points, or 0.1%, at 7,141.40. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 67.78 points, or 0.3%, at 23,521.22. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.2% at 1,263.65.
The Cboe UK 100 index was flat at 711.30. The Cboe 250 was up 0.2% at 21,279.35, and the Cboe Small Companies up 0.1% at 15,421.34.
In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were both up 0.2%.
In the FTSE 100, Flutter Entertainment was the best performer, up 5.2%, after the gambling firm said it enjoyed a very strong first half with revenue growth driven by increased average monthly players.
For the six months to June 30, revenue was up 99% at GBP3.05 billion from GBP1.54 billion in the prior year and pretax profit more than tripled to GBP77 million from GBP24 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation - excluding the US business - doubled to GBP684 million from GBP339 million. Looking ahead, Flutter expects second half adjusted Ebitda of between GBP1.27 billion to GBP1.37 billion.
Flutter did not declare an interim dividend but said its payout policy was to be kept under review.
Hargreaves Lansdown was up 1.8%, the wealth manager staging a mild rebound after Monday's 9.0% decline on a restrained business outlook.
Phoenix Group was up 1.1% after Peel Hunt upgraded the life insurer to Hold from Reduce.
At the other end of the large-caps, asset manager M&G was the worst performer, down 1.3%
For the half year to June 30, pretax profit plunged to GBP74 million from GBP665 million recorded a year ago. However, first half adjusted operating pretax profit - the company's preferred profit measure - totalled GBP327 million, up from GBP309 million.
The company's assets under management and administration rose to GBP370 billion from GBP338.7 billion.
"Assets under management came in at GBP370 billion, 1.5% behind consensus expectations primarily due to a miss at Heritage, the run-off annuity business," explained Shore Capital analyst Abid Hussain.
AUMA reduction of GBP3.6 billion in the Heritage business was GBP130.1 billion at June 30, down from GBP133.7 billion at December 31 and was driven by net client outflows of GBP3.3 billion.
"The retail asset management net flows suffered from one-off negative flows due to repatriation of funds by Prudential and property fund redemptions," Hussain added.
InterContinental Hotels Group was down 0.5%. The hotel operator said trading improved significantly during the first half of 2021, as travel demand returning strongly as vaccines were roll out, restrictions eased and economic activity began to rebuild.
For the six months to June 30, total revenue was USD1.18 billion, down 6% from USD1.25 billion a year before, but IHG swung to an operating profit of USD138 million from a loss of USD233 million.
Revenue per available room - a key metric in the hotel industry - was 20% higher than at the same time in 2020.
IHG noted the Covid-19 pandemic continued to hurt its financial performance through the first half, as government travel restrictions introduced in 2020 were maintained in most markets to varying degrees.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.3%, having reopened after being closed on Monday for a holiday. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.3%.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3847 early Tuesday, down from USD1.3856 at the London equities close Monday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1740, lower from USD1.1748. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar was trading at JPY110.37, up from JPY110.24.
Brent oil was quoted at USD69.86 Tuesday morning, up sharply from USD68.80 late Monday. Gold was trading at USD1,736.63 an ounce, higher against USD1,730.32.
Tuesday's economic calendar has the ZEW economic sentiment indicator for Germany at 1000 BST.
By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]
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