Proactive Investors - Persimmon (LON:PSN) PLC remains on course to hit current profit expectations despite a brutal first half which saw revenue, profit and completions tumble as rising interest rates took their toll.
Chief executive Dean Finch said: “Against a backdrop of higher mortgage rates, the removal of Help to Buy and significant market uncertainty, Persimmon has delivered a robust sales rate excluding bulk sales whilst growing the private average selling price in our forward order book and also securing cost savings.”
“We are on track to deliver profit expectations for the year and are building a platform for future growth.”
New home completions in the six months to June 30 slid to 4,249 down from 6,652 the year before while revenue of £1.19 billion was down from £1.69 billion.
Pre-tax profit more than halved to £151.0 million down from £439.7 million before with EPS of 34.4p down from 106.5p.
But the housebuilder did reinstate the interim dividend at 20p per share.
Entain takes £585 million hit for bribery probe
Kicking off Thursday with news that Entain PLC (LON:ENT), the betting operator, is seting aside a whopping £585 million provision as it closes in on an agreement into an HMRC probe into potential bribery offenses at the group’s former Turkish subsidiary.
The betting firm said the sum would be paid over a four-year period.
“We are pleased to be making good progress towards drawing a line under this historical issue, which relates to a business that was sold by a former management team of the group nearly six years ago,” Chairman Barry Gibson said in a statement.
In June, investment bank Citi estimated a fine could be between £200-£300 million.
The news came as the owner of Coral and Ladbrokes reported a 13% increase in revenue to £2.38 billion from £2.09 billion the year including a record number of online customers.
Total net gaming revenue (NGR) rose 19%, with online NGR up 15% while the retail arm performed ahead of expectations, with NGR up 12%.
Bet MGM performed strongly with NGR up 55% to $944 million.
Entain said the 50/50 joint venture with MGM was on track to deliver the upper end of 2023 NGR guidance of $1.8-$2.0 billion and be Ebitda positive in the second half of the financial year.
Underlying pre-tax profit jumped 89% to £287.6 million from £152.4 million but on a statutory basis the firm swung to a pre-tax loss of £502.5 million from a profit of £28.1 million.
The dividend was lifted 5% to 8.9p.
Steady progress seen in London, US CPI lies ahead
Good morning. A bright start is expected in London ahead of US inflation figures which will take centre stage on Thursday.
In London, spread betting firms are calling the FTSE 100 up by around 12 points after closing up 59.88 points at 7,587.30 on Wednesday.
Thursday’s US CPI report is expected to show that inflation increased at a 3.3% annual pace in July, up from 3.0% in June, marking the first acceleration since June 2022, while the core measure, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, is expected to ease slightly to 4.7% from 4.8%.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya at Swissquote Bank said: “Any bad surprise on the inflation front could revive the Federal Reserve hawks, but we are far from pricing another hike in September just yet.”
Markets currently see a 87% chance of the Fed holding interest rates steady at its September meeting, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
US markets closed down ahead of the inflation print while Asian markets were mixed.
Updates from Antofagasta (LON:ANTO), Entain, Persimmon, Spirax-Sarco will grab early attention in London as will the ongoing spat between the US and China after the White House unveiled a ban on US investment in Chinese tech sectors.