Proactive Investors -
- FTSE 100 drops 5 points to 8,163
- easyJet (LON:EZJ) profits jump 16%, summer bookings solid
- Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RKT) to sell Air Wick, Cillit Bang and Calgon brands
'Surveillance pricing' probe
The US Federal Trade Commission has started a probe into the possible misuse of personal data to set prices for different customers.
Mastercard (NYSE:MA), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), IT services provider Accenture (NYSE:ACN), consulting firm McKinsey and software providers Pros, Revionics, Bloomreach, and Task Software all have been asked for information by the FTC.
In particular, the FTC said it wants to assess how AI and consumer data might be utilised to target specific customers, though it added none of the companies asked to participate have been accused of wrongdoing.
European stocks in the red
The FTSE 100 is now down just under 14 points or 0.17%, while the FTSE 250 is down 0.27%.
It's doing the best of the European benchmarks, with Germany's DAX falling 0.65%, France's CAC 40 sinking 1%, Italy's FTSE MIB down 0.4% and Spain's IBEX flat.
The continent-spanning Euro Stoxx 600 is down 0.42%, with big fallers including Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn), Ocado (LON:OCDO), Christian Dior and Hugo Boss (LON:0Q8F).
US stock futures are also in the red.
The Nasdaq 100 is poised to lead the losses, with futures down 1.05%, while S&P 500 futures are down 0.7%, down 0.4% for the Dow Jones and 0.5% for the Russell 2000.
Grocery trends show increase in promotion spending
Whilst the Spanish outclassed England's 'galacticos' in the Euros, Gareth Southgate's boys provided an "assist" for the British supermarkets and public houses, says analyst Clive Black at Shore Capital.
This is based on the NIQ (NielsenIQ) four-week grocery sales data, showing growth of 3.6% in June, compared to growth of 1.1% in last month's report. Volumes were up by 1.5%.
Branded promotions were also notably ahead year-on-year, with overall level of promotional spending maintained at 25%, but 38% of branded fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales were on promotion, compared with 33% a year ago.
"We are encouraged by this momentum ahead of a Q3 when comparatives ease," says Black, noting that Ocado gained market share in a slightly stronger online channel with Marks & Spencer going well too, Sainsbury and Tesco (LON:TSCO) also remaining winners in UK grocery, "auguring well for earnings momentum" as Aldi, Asda and Co-op saw falling value sales.
The analysts noted further evidence of the beginnings of a reversal of one of the key features of the pandemic and subsequent inflationary period was around a 5% shift out of brands into private label, "which in a circa £200 billion retail value market is important".
With UK food inflation easing, Black and his team have been anticipating that brand owners would start investing a little in promotions to seek to recoup some of that lost share, a process that he says was evident in the recent trading update from Premier Foods (LON:PFD).
Small cap movers
Looking at some small and mid-cap movers, Shield Therapeutics (LON:STXS) is a standout, up 47% on the back of strong second-quarter sales of its iron deficiency product ACCURUFeR.
The update, which was accompanied by the news of CEO Greg Madison's departure, revealed net sales of ACCURUFeR jumped 69% quarter on quarter at $6.9 million and were up 259% year on year.
Anders Lundstrom, a non-executive director, has been appointed interim CEO, bringing extensive international experience from AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN), Biogen (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Orexo.
Braveheart Investment Group PLCis up 37% after announcing that 86% owned subsidiary Kirkstall has appointed Beijing Kilby Biotechnology (BKB) as exclusive China distributor for its 3D cell culture and organ-on-chip related products products.
These products are "currently in high demand in the Chinese market", BKB said.
AIM-listed Nexteq is down 34% after warning on profits as the industrial technology provider says business has "continued to see persistent softer customer demand" in line with with wider industry destocking it flagged in March.
Tortilla Mexican Grill PLC (LON:MEX) is down 25% after also serving up a spicy profit update, warning that changes to boost profits are taking longer than expected to show a benefit.
Revenues at the Tex-Mex food chain dropped 5.9% like-for-like to £31.5 million in the half year to June 2024, with a switch to a dual-delivery platform was blamed.