The Times - UK (2020-08-28)

the times | Friday August 28 2020 1GM 47

MarketsBusiness

Exchange rates

Bank sells Bank buys

Australia $ 1.734 1.994

Canada $ 1.644 1.891

Denmark Kr 7.820 8.919

Euro ¤ 1.065 1.217

Hong Kong $ 9.649 10.971

Hungary 357.873 434.984

Indonesia 17743.000 22244.000

Israel Shk 4.201 4.924

Japan Yen 131.165 151.452

New Zealand $ 1.898 2.243

Norway Kr 11.054 12.788

Poland 4.450 5.431

Russia 89.723 107.747

S Africa Rd 20.848 24.619

Sweden Kr 10.932 12.295

Switzerland Fr 1.135 1.317

Turkey Lira 9.304 10.875

USA $ 1.261 1.437

Rates for banknotes as traded by Royal Bank of

Scotland plc yesterday

Dollar rates

Australia 1.3772-1.3772

Canada 1.3127-1.3127

Denmark 6.2958-6.2963

Euro 0.8460-0.8461

Hong Kong 7.7498-7.7503

Japan 106.53-106.53

Malaysia 4.1700-4.1750

Norway 8.8966-8.9011

Singapore 1.3658-1.3660

Sweden 8.7167-8.7202

Switzerland 0.9084-0.9084

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 97.306-97.316

Australia dollar 1.8191-1.8193

Bahrain dinar 0.4938-0.5005

Brazil real 7.3828-7.3854

Euro 1.1174-1.1175

Hong Kong dollar 10.236-10.238

India rupee 97.513-97.575

Indonesia rupiah 19081-19595

Kuwait dinar KD 0.4018-0.4041

Malaysia ringgit 5.5081-5.5147

New Zealand dollar 1.9899-1.9904

Singapore dollar 1.8040-1.8043

S Africa rand 22.505-22.518

U A E dirham 4.8451-4.8478

Money rates %

Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.10 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.74

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.015; 3 mth 0.010. Sell: 1 mth 0.000; 3 mth 0.004

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 0.0544 0.0681 0.0656 0.1200 0.2486

Eurodollar Deps 0.05-0.25 0.06-0.26 0.11-0.31 0.16-0.36 0.30-0.50

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.3020-8.3340 8.3155-8.3167 33ds 115ds

Euro 1.1200-1.1156 1.1175-1.1174 4pr 13pr

Montreal 1.7306-1.7404 1.7338-1.7340 2pr 4pr

New York 1.3165-1.3277 1.3208-1.3209 2pr 6pr

Oslo 11.685-11.814 11.751-11.758 1ds 5pr

Stockholm 11.492-11.553 11.500-11.510 14ds 57ds

Tokyo 139.72-140.83 140.70-140.72 3ds 10ds

Zurich 1.1978-1.2019 1.1998-1.1999 8ds 26ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

London Grain Futures
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)

Nov 169.00 Jan unq Mar unq
May unq Jul unq Volume: 875
London Metal Exchange
(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 21

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
6602.5-6602.5 6575.0-6575.0 6566.0-6566.0

Lead ($/tonne)
1954.0-1954.0 1977.5-1977.5 2017.5-2017.5

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2455.0-2455.0 2482.0-2482.0 2522.0-2522.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
1738.0-1738.0 1776.5-1776.5 1852.5-1852.5

Nickel ($/tonne)
15120.0-15120.0 15175.0-15175.0 15404.0-15404.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
17690.0-17690.0 17680.0-17680.0 17529.0-17529.0

European money

deposits %

Currency

1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth

Dollar

0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55

Sterling

0.05 0.07 0.12 0.25

Euro

0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50

Gold/Precious

metals (US dollars per ounce)

Bullion: Open $1952.01

Close $1924.03-1924.49 High $1975.42

Low $1914.53

AM $1938.80 PM $1923.85

Krugerrand $1904.00-2007.00 (£1441.42-1519.40)

Platinum $932.00 (£705.57)

Silver $26.97 (£20.42)

Palladium $2177.00 (£1648.09)

Data as shown is

for information

purposes only. No offer is made by

Morningstar or this publication

A

rebound in
China and
strong sales
online helped Tiffany
& Co — a favourite
jeweller of stars such
as Priyanka Chopra,

above — to report

numbers for the

second quarter that

were better than

analysts had expected

(Ben Martin writes).

Sales in China

started to recover in

April and were up by

about 90 per cent in

May year-on-year.

Online sales in the

United States were up

by 122 per cent and

Reports suggested that bosses were

hoping the division would fetch as

much as $250 million. Playtech’s

shares inched up 1¼p, or 0.3 per cent,

to 374p.

Five of the top ten FTSE 350 risers

were travel and leisure stocks, whose

August revival continued after US

regulators approved a $5, 15-minute

coronavirus test from Abbott

Laboratories, which the market hoped

would encourage people to start

getting out and about again.

Mitchells & Butlers, the pubs group,

frothed 12p, or 7.6 per cent, to 170¼p;

PPHE Hotels Group improved 55p,

or 5.2 per cent, to £11.20; and

Carnival, the cruise ship operator,

gained 50p, or 5.2 per cent, to £10.19.

Morses Club, the doorstep lender,

was knocked 9¼p, or 14.2 per cent,

lower to 56p after it spooked investors

by delaying the release of its annual

results. The figures for the year to

February were due to be published

today, but Morses has been granted a

three-month extension.

NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES FOR TIFFANY & CO.

Winter warning is a chilly

reminder for Homeserve

Tom Howard Market report

I

t has been a steady year for

Homeserve, which so far has

been immune to the coronavirus.

In its latest set of accounts for

the year to the end of March, the

seller of emergency home repair

cover reported a 13 per cent rise in

revenue to £1.13 billion, while adjusted

operating profits rose 15 per cent to

£201.7 million. Subsequent updates

have confirmed that it is continuing

to plod along despite the pandemic.

Much of its recent growth has come

in the United States, where it services

4.4 million customers who account for

about 40 per cent of its annual profits.

In Homeserve’s words, North

America “remains the outstanding

growth driver”.

So investors were understandably a

little put off when Morgan Stanley

warned that this side of the business

was “susceptible” should the US

continue to struggle with getting the

virus under control. The analysts’

concern stems from the fact that most

of Homeserve’s customers renew

between October and March, which is

why bosses have seen little impact

from the pandenic. “However, should

there be another round of infection-

lockdowns in the US in winter, the

policy business may not be as resilient

then,” Morgan Stanley said.

The American bank cut the stock

to “equal weight”, as the post-March

recovery meant, in its view, that the

shares were “fully valued”.

Homeserve’s shares fell 45p, or 3.4 per

cent, to £12.93.

Stock markets have been largely

propped up by the financial “juice”

that central banks have been

pumping into the system in recent

months in an attempt to keep the

global economy ticking over. A

speech yesterday by Jerome Powell,

chairman of the US Federal Reserve,

signalled that the Fed won’t be taking

the punch bowl away any time soon.

While that helped to send US

equities to their latest record highs,

though, it did little for European

stocks. The FTSE 100 — which

popped initially during Mr Powell’s

speech — closed 45.61 points, or 0.8

per cent, lower at 5,999.99, with its

cause not helped by another rise in

the value of sterling, which briefly hit

its highest level of the year against

the dollar. London’s leading public

companies make most of their money

overseas, so a stronger pound makes

their profits worth less when

translated back. The FTSE 250, whose

UK-biased constituents are less

affected by sterling’s movements,

edged up 8.46 points, or 0.1 per cent,

to 17,762.03.

Playtech, which supplies software

to gambling companies, was little-

moved by confirmation that it is in

talks with “a number of parties” over

a possible sale of Tradetech, its

struggling financial trading operation.

Novacyt passes another test

healthcare

A

n Aim-quoted

diagnostics

company has

developed a new test

that can tell people if

they have the

coronavirus or

common winter flu.

Covid-19 patients

typically present with

symptoms such as a

high temperature,

shortness of breath

and fatigue. However,

those symptoms also

show up in people

with seasonal flu or

other respiratory

diseases, which can

make it difficult for

doctors to diagnose

the illness correctly.

Novacyt bosses

expect its Winterplex

test panel to “drive

significant

incremental revenue”

for the group, saying

that it is likely to be

useful for doctors in

Europe and the

United States as the

flu season in the

northern hemisphere

approaches. “Novacyt

has established itself

as a pioneer in Covid-

19 diagnostics

through the rapid

development and

success of its Covid-19

test, and the launch of

Winterplex is another

example of this

innovative approach,”

Graham Mullis, chief

executive, said. “We

believe Winterplex is

one of the world’s first

approved respiratory

test panels that can

differentiate between

Covid-19 and other

common respiratory

diseases.”

The shares closed

up 22½p, or 7.8 per

cent, at 310p, valuing

the business at about

£210 million.

Novacyt says the new

test can differentiate

winter flu and Covid

Wall Street report

The S&P 500 reached its fourth

record this week, rising 5.82 points,

or 0.2 per cent, to 3,484.55 after

news of the Federal Reserve’s fresh

inflation strategy, while the Dow

Jones industrial average rose 160.35

points, or 0.6 per cent, to 28,492.27.

Company Change
One Savings Bank Profitability holding up better than feared 15.7%
Mitchells & Butlers Erases all of this week’s losses in one session 8.0%
James Fisher Extended post-results rebound 7.1%
WPP Reinstatement of dividend delights investors 6.5%
PPHE Hotel Fast, cheap Covid-19 test approval bodes well for travel 5.2%
Petrofac Analysts concerned about SFO investigation -3.2%
Homeserve Downgraded by Morgan Stanley analysts -3.4%
Bodycote Has fallen in ten of the past twelve sessions -3.5%
Ferrexpo Stock at a one-month low -4.0%
Sirius Real Estate Investors take profits after five-day winning streak -4.3%

The day’s biggest movers

Name Pre-tax figure
Profit (+) loss (-)

Dividend

Flutter Entertainment (leisure HY) £24m (£81m) nil
Grafton (services HY) £20.5m (£84.4m) nil
Hays (services FY) £86.3m (£231.2m) nil
Hunting (resources HY) -$185.4m ($40.1m) 2 cents p Oct 23
Independent Oil & Gas (resources HY) -£3.7m (-£4.6m) nil
Irish Continental (transport HY) -€11.2m (€24.9m) nil
Macfarlane (services HY) £3.6m (£3.8m) 0.70p p Oct 8
One Savings Bank (banking HY) £99.3m (£90.5m) nil
Puretech Health (health HY) $174.5m ($56.3m) nil
Rolls-Royce (engineering HY) -£5.4bn (-£791m) nil
Sopheon (technology HY) $0.5m ($0.9m) nil
WPP (media HY) -£2.6bn (£409m) 10p p Nov 6
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable

Results in brief

rose by 93 per cent in

Britain.

The closure of most

of the jeweller’s stores

resulted in a loss in its

first quarter, but it

announced net profits

of $31.9 million for the

three months to the

end of July, down from

$136.3 million last year.

Shares in Tiffany

closed up $1.72, 1.4 per

cent, at $123.24.

Tiffany sees

sparkling

profits