By Samuel Indyk
Investing.com – At 07:35GMT, FTSE 100 futures are trading lower by 0.9% at 7458.
In FX markets, GBP/USD is trading at 1.3587, EUR/GBP is trading at 0.8341. The US Dollar Index is down 0.1%.
Bitcoin is trading at $38,809.
Today’s calendar highlights include Canadian Retail Sales, US Leading Index.
Data
UK retail sales fell 3.7% MoM in December, versus expectations of a 0.6% fall. Core retail sales declined 3.6%.
ONS Deputy Director for Surveys and Economic Indicators Heather Bovill said that feedback from retailers suggested that Omicron impacted on footfall. Bovill added there was also a notable fall in fuel sales as more people were working from home.
Stocks
Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) - Serbia has revoked Rio Tinto’s lithium project licences following protests that opposed the mine on environmental concerns.
Playtech (LON:PTEC) - JKO Play has said it does not intend to make an offer for Playtech.
Close Brothers (LON:CBRO) - Common Equity Tier 1 ratio was 15.7% at 31 December 2021, well above applicable minimum requirement. In Banking, the loan book increased 2.9% to £8.69 billion. CBAM delivered net annualised inflows of 8%. Winterflood's trading performance has moderated since the end of the 2021 financial year. As a result, operating profit in the period is broadly in line with the H1 2020 run rate.
M&C Saatchi (LON:SAA) - The UK Financial Conduct Authority is to close its investigation into the company and no enforcement action will be taken. Separately, the Board now believes full year 2021 headline profit before tax will be materially ahead of its previous expectations. The company said strong trading has provided balance sheet flexibility to resume the payment of dividends.
Restaurant Group (LON:RTN) - Management now expects the Group's FY21 Adjusted EBITDA will be at the top end of the range (£73-£79 million) and FY21 year-end Net Debt will be less than £180 million.
4Imprint (LON:FOUR) - Unaudited Group revenue for the 2021 financial year was approximately $787 million, an increase of 41% compared to 2020. Profit before tax is expected to be towards the upper end of the range of analysts' forecasts.
Photo-Me International (LON:PHTM) - CEO Crasnianski has bought a large enough stake in the company to trigger a mandatory offer under Rule 9 of the takeover code. The Mandatory Offer will be made in cash at a price of 75p per Ordinary Share.
Ninety One (LON:N91) - Assets under management at 31 December 2021 of £141.7 billion, up from £128.6 billion on 31 December 2020.
Baltic Classifieds Group (LON:BCG) - Antler Equity, which is controlled by funds of Apax Partners, has sold 37.5 million shares in BCG, representing approximately 7% of share capital, at a price of 207 pence per share.
HgCapital Trust (LON:HGT) - Announced an additional investment into Lyniate, a leader in healthcare data interoperability. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
GCP Infrastructure Investments (LON:GCPI) - The net asset value at 31 December 2021 was 107.18 pence per ordinary share. At 31st December the Company was exposed to a diversified and partially inflation protected portfolio of 47 investments with an unaudited valuation of £1.1 billion. In the period, the Company made three investments totalling £52.8 million. The Company also disposed of its investment in an offshore wind farm with proceeds representing a circa 12% premium to carrying value.
Onthemarket (LON:OTMPO) - Revenues for the full year ended 31 January 2022 are now expected to be slightly ahead of market consensus. The Group now expects adjusted operating profit to be positive in H2 21/22 and to be at least £2.5 million for the full year FY 21/22. The Directors believe the outlook for the Group is unchanged to that announced in its interim results on 12 October 2021 and the Board looks to the future with confidence.
The Works - H1 revenue increased by 30.6% compared with H1 FY21. Reported loss before tax of £1.0 million, an improvement on the prior year loss of £4.3 million. Pre IFRS 16 Adjusted EBITDA for FY22 is forecast to be approximately £15.0 million, assuming no further COVID related impact on trading, ahead of the Board's previous expectations. The Board proposes to bring forward its review regarding dividends, with a view to recommending a final dividend for FY22 provided the preliminary results to be published in late July 2022 are in line with the forecast.
Sectors
FTSE 350 Telecommunications - BT (LON:BT) is to raise prices for its broadband services by inflation (as measured by CPI) plus 3.9%, taking the total increase to 9.3%. TalkTalk and Vodafone (LON:VOD) are also set to increase their broadband prices.