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Kingfisher tops risers for second day running
B&Q owner Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF) topped the FTSE 100’s risers with gains of 4% come Tuesday afternoon, aided by a share price target upgrade from Deutsche Bank (ETR:DBKGn).
Following the retailer’s annual results on Monday, Deutsche hiked Kingfisher’s share price target from 225p to 245p, which would see it climb 2.25% on Monday’s close.
“In our view, investor sentiment on the stock remains negative with short interest approaching around 10%,” Deutsche acknowledged.
However, “in combination with the management focus on free cash flow, many boxes are being ticked for an attractive value stock,” the bank added.
Kingfisher had unveiled cautious guidance for the year ahead, citing a lag between housing demand and home improvement demand.
This followed a 22.3% drop in statutory pre-tax profit to £475 million over last year.
“The biggest question remains one of catalyst timing in our view,” Deutsche continued, especially with regards to Kingfisher’s French business.
Kingfisher noted a plan was underway to simplify the French business though, aimed at growing profitability ahead.
“We appreciate the more detailed guidance given by management,” Deutsche added, setting its pre-tax profit forecast for the year ahead at £500 million.
Though the bank maintained a ‘hold’ rating on Kingfisher, analysts said “we can see a much more balanced risk and reward at this stage”.
Irn-Bru maker soars as sales jump
Irn-Bru maker AG Barr PLC gained 6% on Tuesday after unveiling a one-quarter jump in sales over the last year and laid down optimism for the coming months.
Revenue climbed 25.9% to £400 million over the year to January, the drink maker said, with the figure climbing 8% on a like-for-like basis.
Adjusted pre-tax profits rose ahead of industry expectations by 16.1% to £50.5 million on the back of this.
Outgoing chief executive Roger White signalled that reduced cost pressures on both the industry and consumers would likely bode well over the coming year, meanwhile.
“The outlook is certainly more settled from a price and cost point of view,” he said, with the FTSE 250 firm climbing just over 6% to 544.88p on the news.
Ocado, Waitrose boost customers, branded goods resurge
More on this morning's Kantar data and Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) and Waitrose were the only two grocery retailers to boost customer numbers over the first quarter as inflation eased.
Ocado enjoyed a 9.5% jump in sales over the three months to March, ahead of the wider online market growth of 6.6%.
John Lewis Partnership-owned Waitrose saw sales climb by 3.9% over the period meanwhile, against overall market growth of 4.6%.
“[Ocado] was the only grocer other than Waitrose to boost its number of shoppers in the latest three months,” Kantar reported, with both outdoing discounter Aldi’s 3.1% increase in sales.
This came as grocery price inflation subsided to a two-year low of 4.5% in March, compared to 5.3% in February and 17% a year ago.
Ocado and Waitrose's gains coincided with a resurgence of demand for branded and, in particular, premium own-labelled goods in the four weeks to March 17, as per the report.
Branded goods sales were up 6.1%, against 4.7% growth of own-label products. Premium own-branded goods saw sales jump by 16.1% in the meantime.
Bitcoin bulls back in action
Bitcoin (BTC) bulls are back in the driving seat after a period of sell-side dominance.
The benchmark cryptocurrency added 4% against the US dollar yesterday after a solid weekend trading session, with further gains this morning.
At the time of writing, the BTC/USD pair was swapping for $71,000.
Though still a few thousand dollars below the all-time high two weeks ago, it’s a step up from bitcoin’s post-ATH plummet to the low-60k range.
As shown by Farside Investors’ tracker, bitcoin exchange-traded funds broke their five-day outflow streak to add $15.4 million yesterday.
These ETFs, which were approved in January, have been a major source of bitcoin bullishness in 2024, so a return to form has galvanised the buy-side market.
Year-to-date inflows across the whole bitcoin ETH market are currently around $11.3 billion.