Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 falls 22 points to 8402
- Pennon leads water companies lower
- AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) sets new targets for decade
Water companies weigh
After almost half an hour the shape of the FTSE 100 index is now settling down, with the morning likely to be spent in red.
The blue-chip benchmark is down 22 points at 8402, joined by the FTSE 250 index today too, after they diverged yesterday.
The mid-cap index is down 80 points at 20,793.
Water companies Severn Trent PLC (LON:SVT) and United Utilities Group PLC (LON:UU) are at the bottom of the blue-chip list after mid-cap peer Pennon Group PLC (LON:PNN) fell 5% on the back of its annual results.
The owner of South West Water has cut its dividend by £2.4 million after navigating a series of widely publicised water offences.
“In the context of the wider group performance, we have carefully considered Ofwat's new dividend guidance for water businesses,” said Pennon, to reflect the £2.1 million fine it received for a series of environmental offences across Devon and Cornwall spanning a period of four years.
Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) is down just 0.2% after it reported a smaller fall in sales in the first quarter.
AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) is up 0.9% as it set out a new target to grow revenue around 75% to $80 billion by the end of the decade.
In an announcement made ahead of the drug giant's investor day event on Tuesday, CEO Pascal Soriot, who has revitalised the company's drug pipeline over the past decade, highlighted potential blockbusters such as the lung cancer drug Tagrisso, Calquence for leukaemia, and diabetes treatment Farxiga.
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FTSE 100 falls out of bed
The FTSE 100 has dropped 30 points to 8394 in initial trades, with all but two of the top 20 shares by market cap in the red.
Fallers are led by several Asia focused names, including insurer Prudential (LON:PRU) and lender Standard Chartered (LON:STAN), drinks maker Diageo (LON:DGE), fashion house Burberry, which all ties in with the falls in Asia stocks this morning.
AstraZeneca is one of the rare risers, up over 1% on the back of its new 2030 targets.
Bigger fall expected now, Asia setting tone
Spread-betters are now calling the FTSE over 36 points lower.
Asian markets are in the red this morning, led by the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, down 2.2%.
Japan's Nikkei, China's Shanghai Composite, India's Sensex and Singapore's STI are all lower too, with the Asia Dow down 0.99% and the MSCI Asia Pacific up 0.1%.
Kingfisher sales down but guidance maintained
B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher PLC reported a 0.9% decline in like-for-like (LFL) sales in the first quarter, worsening into the second quarter.
Full year guidance was unchanged, however, as the FTSE 100 group said it was "making progress against our key strategic priorities".
Total sales came to £3.3 billion in the three months to 30 April, down 0.3% on a year ago, or up 0.3% on a constant currency basis.
Sales in the UK & Ireland were up 2.6%, or 1.2% on a LFL basis, while France was down 8.1% or 5.3% LFL.
"We have seen continued resilience in our core categories, although 'big-ticket' sales have been weak reflecting the broader market as expected," said CEO Thierry Garnier.
He hailed the gaining of "considerable" market share, with positive LFL sales at Screwfix and strong LFL sales growth of 8.5% at TradePoint.
"In France, while slightly improved on Q4, trading reflects the weak overall retail market. And in Poland, we are seeing encouraging sales trends as the consumer environment improves."
AstraZeneca profit plan
AstraZeneca PLC has set out its ambition to deliver $80 billion in annual revenue by the end of the decade, boosted by the launch of 20 new drugs from its pipeline.
This would almost double the level of sales, having generated $45.8 billion in 2023.
It believes this growth can come from its existing oncology, biopharmaceuticals and rare disease portfolio and the flow from its pipeline.
As for profits, it is targeting a mid-30s percentage core operating margin by 2026, then "at least" that same range after that.
JPMorgan boss's announcement hits Dow Jones
The reason the Dow Jones fell yesterday was that JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon, 68, signalled that his retirement is closer than ever.
It was the big surprise at the Wall Street bank's investor day, with Dimon having held the reins for nearly two decades and driven the lender to become the largest in America by assets and market cap.
"The timetable isn’t five years anymore," Dimon said adding that new board assignments were being made to prepare. "We’re on the way, we’re moving people around," he added.
JPM shares fell 4.5%.