11th Jan 2021 11:12
(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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JD Sports Fashion raised its annual profit guidance, and the sportswear retailer said demand during the key festive period was "robust". The FTSE 100 firm, hit by store closures due to national Covid-19 restrictions, said it expects full-year headline pretax profit of at least GBP400 million, up from the previous forecast of GBP295 million. This would be down 8.8% from its pretax profit before exceptional items of GBP438.8 million in the financial year that ended February 1, 2020. It would however be a 15% climb from its statutory pretax profit that year of GBP348.5 million. Over the 22 weeks to January 2, revenue in JD's like-for-like businesses were 5% higher annually, helped in part by consumers "readily" switching between bricks and mortar and digital channels amid the high-street closures.
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Entain said Chief Executive Officer Shay Segev has given notice of his intention to leave the company to become co-CEO of sports streaming platform DAZN. The gambling operator, formerly known as GVC Holdings, said Segev has a notice period of six months and will remain in his current role for that period or until a successor is in place. It added a process is "well under way to find his successor". Entain is a takeover target for US casino operator MGM Resorts International, and it reiterated its stance that the MGM bid "significantly undervalues the company and its prospects".
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Vodafone Group said subsidiary Vodafone UK and Telefonica UK have entered into eight-year master services agreements to commercialise Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure, a joint venture that manages the two company's UK passive tower infrastructure. The Newbury, England-based telecommunications company noted it established Cornerstone in 2012 with Telefonica UK, part of Spain's Telefonica, to create and manage a single network of passive infrastructure contributed by both mobile network operators. Cornerstone operates 14,200 macro sites and 1,400 micro sites for the two companies. Vodafone UK said the master services agreement will establish Cornerstone as a preferred supplier of new macro and micro sites for both companies. Additionally, Vodafone UK said it plans to transfer its 50% holding in Cornerstone into its European infrastructure unit Vantage Towers this month. The Cornerstone transfer will extend Vantage Towers' portfolio to 82,000 macro sites in 10 markets across Europe, Vodafone said.
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Smith & Nephew said it expects its fourth-quarter and full-year sales to be hurt by Covid-19 restrictions, which resulted in surgical procedures being postponed. The medical devices manufacturer stated it expects to post a fourth-quarter underlying revenue decline of around 7.0%. It said sales were hurt by increased rates of Covid-19 infection from mid-October onwards, particularly in the US and Europe, as surgical procedures unconnected to the pandemic were postponed following the reintroduction of restrictions. Smith & Nephew added that annual underlying revenue is expected to have declined by around 12%. The company reiterated trading profit margin will be substantially lower year-on-year, with negative operating leverage due to lower volumes partially offset by cost control measures. It posted a trading profit margin of 22.8% in 2019 and revenue of USD5.14 billion.
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British Land Co said it collected less than half of its retail rents in its latest quarter, with high streets and shopping centres in the UK hit by Covid-19 restrictions and a national lockdown in England. For rent due between December 25 and January 7, the property developer collected 71% of its total rent, with an extra 5% being paid monthly and 24% outstanding. By segment, British Land pocketed 95% of office rent but just 46% of retail rent. The December quarter was the third of the company's financial year. "In Offices, we have continued to demonstrate excellent rent collection. We have now received 99% of September rent, 99% of June rent and 98% of March rent," British Land said.
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Royal Mail set out a new two-headed operational management structure with no group CEO, as the FTSE 250 firm presses ahead with its transformation strategy. The parcel and letter carrier named Non-Executive Director Simon Thompson as chief executive of its UK business, effective immediately. Thomson has been a Royal Mail director since 2017. Prior to that, he was chief product officer for online grocer Ocado Group, having also worked at Wm Morrison Supermarkets, lender HSBC Holdings, iPhone-maker Apple and holiday booking platform lastminute.com. Seidenberg, the head of international arm GLS, will join the board on April 1. Seidenberg joined GLS in 2015 from German parcel firm DHL International and became GLS's CEO back in May. Executive Chair Keith Williams will revert to non-executive chair, and Stuart Simpson, who has been acting as interim CEO of the UK business since last May, will leave, both at the end of January.
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Signature Aviation has agreed to a USD4.63 billion takeover, suitor Global Infrastructure Partners said, fighting off interest from US-based private equity firm Blackstone, which had secured the backing of Bill Gates. Global Infrastructure said it will pay USD5.50 for each Signature Aviation share, a 51% premium to the aviation services company's 268 pence share price on December 16, the day before talks between the two parties were first announced. Signature Aviation's directors said the offer from GIP IV Hancock Bidco, controlled by GIP, is "fair and reasonable" and have backed the takeover bid.
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MARKETS
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London shares were mostly lower as Covid-19 cases in the UK remain at elevated levels. JD Sports was the best blue-chip performer, up 4.7%. Stocks in the US are called for a lower open later on Monday, while the dollar regained some strength.
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FTSE 100: down 0.5% at 6,842.12
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 21,052.73
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 1,181.45
GBP: down at USD1.3495 (USD1.3585)
EUR: down at USD1.2160 (USD1.2250)
GOLD: down at USD1,848.00 per ounce (USD1,856.00)
OIL (Brent): down at USD55.23 a barrel (USD55.50)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Senior UK government ministers have discussed the prospect of introducing tighter lockdown controls in an effort to improve compliance with the current rules, according to media reports. The prime minister reportedly spoke with senior ministers on Sunday to evaluate "whether the current lockdown rules were working" in reducing the spike of coronavirus cases, the Daily Telegraph suggested. The newspaper said the UK government was considering scrapping the exemption allowing people to exercise with one other person from outside of their household or support bubble. A government source is said to have told the paper that the allowance was "being used as an excuse for people to go for a coffee in the park with their friends", adding: "It may be we tighten up on things like that." Ministers are also preparing to tell supermarket bosses to get tougher on policing social distancing restrictions and mask wearing in-store, the Times said. People could be asked to wear face coverings in shop queues and even at work, it was claimed.
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The US House of Representatives will proceed Monday with steps to impeach President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi confirmed Sunday in a letter to Democratic lawmakers. On Monday morning, Pelosi wrote, a resolution is to be tabled calling on Vice President Mike Pence "to convene and mobilize the Cabinet to activate the 25th Amendment to declare the president incapable of executing the duties of his office." "We are calling on the vice president to respond within 24 hours," the Speaker said further. "Next, we will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the Floor," Pelosi said. "In protecting our Constitution and our democracy, we will act with urgency, because this president represents an imminent threat to both," she asserted. Earlier on Sunday, US Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican from Pennsylvania, joined the growing number of lawmakers calling on the president to resign in the wake of Wednesday's violence in Washington.
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Ten World Health Organization scientists will visit China from Thursday to probe the origins of Covid-19, authorities said, more than a year after the pandemic began and amid accusations Beijing delayed the investigation. The WHO team "will conduct joint research cooperation on the origins of covid 19 with Chinese scientists," the National Health Commission said in a statement. The long-awaited mission – which has been under discussion since last year – is of great political significance at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has devastated major countries worldwide, caused almost two million deaths and brought the global economy to a standstill. A last minute delay to the mission earlier this month earned China a rare rebuke from the head of the WHO. The team of WHO experts will be expected to quarantine for two weeks upon arrival in China, and are expected to visit Wuhan – the city where a deadly virus cluster first emerged late last year – in the course of their trip.
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China's consumer prices rebounded in December, official data showed Monday, as food prices picked up due to weather difficulties and rising demand ahead of the Lunar New Year festival. In December, the consumer price index rose more than expected at 0.2% on-year, said the National Bureau of Statistics, with prices increasing for fresh produce and meats such as pork, beef and mutton ahead of next month's nationwide holiday. "Due to continued low temperatures, the production, storage and transportation costs of fresh vegetables and fruit increased," said NBS senior statistician Dong Lijuan. The index is a key gauge of retail inflation, and the rebound follows the first negative reading in over a decade the month before as food costs fell. On Monday, Dong said that consumer demand was picking up due to New Year's Day and the upcoming Lunar New Year, bumping up prices of other food items.
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