The Times - UK (2020-11-26)

the times | Thursday November 26 2020 1GM 51

MarketsBusiness

Exchange rates

Bank sells Bank buys

Australia $ 1.713 1.970

Canada $ 1.616 1.859

Denmark Kr 7.757 8.848

Egypt n/a n/a

Euro ¤ 1.056 1.207

Hong Kong $ 9.585 10.898

Hungary 359.058 436.425

Indonesia 17253.500 21630.300

Israel Shk 4.135 4.847

Japan Yen 127.068 146.722

New Zealand $ 1.833 2.166

Norway Kr 11.281 13.052

Poland 4.525 5.522

Russia 90.714 108.937

S Africa Rd 19.386 22.892

Sweden Kr 10.789 12.134

Switzerland Fr 1.123 1.303

Turkey Lira 10.625 12.418

USA $ 1.252 1.426

Rates for banknotes as traded by Royal Bank of

Scotland plc yesterday

Dollar rates

Australia 1.3585-1.3589

Canada 1.2987-1.2991

Denmark 6.2439-6.2464

Euro 0.8392-0.8393

Hong Kong 7.7508-7.7513

Japan 104.35-104.37

Malaysia 4.0850-4.0900

Norway 8.8314-8.8364

Singapore 1.3397-1.3403

Sweden 8.5127-8.5157

Switzerland 0.9082-0.9084

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 108.11-108.12

Australia dollar 1.8172-1.8181

Bahrain dinar 0.5013-0.5081

Brazil real 7.1255-7.1275

Euro 1.1225-1.1229

Hong Kong dollar 10.369-10.370

India rupee 98.712-98.714

Indonesia rupiah 18859-18893

Kuwait dinar KD 0.4075-0.4097

Malaysia ringgit 5.4547-5.4614

New Zealand dollar 1.9077-1.9089

Singapore dollar 1.7923-1.7931

S Africa rand 20.303-20.316

U A E dirham 4.9084-4.9087

Money rates %

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.74

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth -0.041; 3 mth -0.100. Sell: 1 mth -0.080; 3 mth -0. 120

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 0.0391 0.0416 0.0440 0.0628 0.1300

Eurodollar Deps 0.06-0.26 0.07-0.27 0.08-0.28 0.12-0.32 0.19-0.39

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.3256-8.3692 8.3521-8.3577 35ds 128ds

Euro 1.1248-1.1190 1.1229-1.1226 5pr 14pr

Montreal 1.7321-1.7412 1.7376-1.7379 1pr 6pr

New York 1.3306-1.3393 1.3376-1.3379 2pr 10pr

Oslo 11.810-11.899 11.817-11.821 15pr 72pr

Stockholm 11.337-11.417 11.375-11.385 23ds 83ds

Tokyo 139.01-139.74 139.58-139.65 3ds 10ds

Zurich 1.2135-1.2185 1.2151-1.2153 9ds 27ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

London Grain Futures
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
Jan 192.50 Mar unq May 193.00
Jul 196.00 Nov 159.50 Volume: 1298

London Metal Exchange
(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 21

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
7238.5-7238.5 7257.5-7257.5 7261.0-7261.0

Lead ($/tonne)
2030.0-2030.0 2042.5-2042.5 2073.5-2073.5

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2727.5-2727.5 2744.5-2744.5 2767.5-2767.5

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
1967.0-1967.0 1981.5-1981.5 2004.0-2004.0

Nickel ($/tonne)
15975.0-15975.0 16028.0-16028.0 16150.0-16150.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
18790.0-18790.0 18750.0-18750.0 18566.0-18566.0

Gold/Precious

metals (US dollars per ounce)

European money

deposits %

Currency

1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth

Dollar

0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55

Sterling

0.04 0.04 0.06 0.13

Euro

0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50

Bullion: Open $1808.98

Close $1809.26-1809.74 High $1817.23

Low $1800.70

AM $1804.85 PM $1808.66

Krugerrand $1790.00-1887.00 (£1337.89-

1410.39)

Platinum $972.43 (£726.82)

Silver $23.40 (£17.49)

Palladium $2361.00 (£1764.67)

Data as shown is

for information

purposes only. No offer is made by

Morningstar or this publication

L

ookers has
revealed losses of
£45 million for
2019 as the motor
dealer tries to fight
back from financial
mismanagement and
an investigation into
sales practices (Robert
Lea writes).
The company, which
has admitted to
overstating profits for
three years, said

yesterday that it hoped

that trading in its

shares could

recommence next

month when it finally

publishes its 2020 half-

year results. Trading in

Lookers shares has

been suspended since

June.

Lookers is one of the

largest car retailers in

the country. Yesterday

it revealed how far its

previous accounts had

misled investors. It said

that pre-tax profits had

been overstated in

2019 by £11 million —

or more than 25 per

cent of what had been

rebuilding their herds after a strain of

African swine fever ripped through

the country’s pig population.

Jefferies analysts defended their

downgrade of Reckitt Benckiser, the

Dettol maker, last week. The number-

crunchers said that their bearish

report had met with “strong

pushback” from some investors.

Undeterred, they repeated their

“underperform” rating yesterday as

they reckoned sales of Dettol and

Lysol, the disinfectants, would

struggle to keep pace with the growth

of this year, while the opportunity for

its professional hygiene business

“appears small”. Still, Reckitt shares

rose 134p, or 2.1 per cent, to £64.44,

no doubt helped by Laxman

Narasimhan, its chief executive,

buying up £500,000 of shares.

Speaking of downgrades, UBS said

that B&M shares are not the bargain

they once were as it did away with its

“buy” rating on the discount retailer.

The stock edged down 6½p, or 1.4 per

cent, to 461½p.

PETER BYRNE/PA

Investors hit default mode

and hammer banks again

Tom Howard Market report

B

anking stocks came under

pressure yesterday as

investors fretted that the

nation’s lenders might have

to set aside even more

money to cover loan defaults in the

new year.

On the whole, businesses have been

able to keep up with their repayments

during the pandemic, but that is

largely thanks to support provided by

governments and central banks.

However, the European Central Bank

has raised concerns about what might

happen when payment holidays, tax

deferrals and other schemes end. It

reckons that banks have set aside less

money to cover bad company loans

than they did during previous crises,

which may catch them out next year.

“Provisions have increased but look

optimistic in some cases,” Luis de

Guindos, vice-president of the ECB,

said in the bank’s bi-annual Financial

Stability Review. “Guarantees and

moratoria may have lengthened the

time it takes for weak economic

performance to translate into loan

losses.”

Virgin Money proved a case in

point: the lender set aside just over

£500 million to cover bad debts, about

£15 million more than the City had

expected, causing its full-year profits

to fall short of expectations. “We are

surprised by the size of the top-up,

given extensions to government

support and recent positive vaccine

news, and suspect a negative read-

across to the rest of the sector,”

analysts at Shore Capital said.

Indeed, Virgin Money shares

slipped 7p, or 4.8 per cent, to 140p and

some of its bigger rivals followed suit.

Barclays shed 6¾p, or 4.5 per cent, to

143½p and Lloyds, Britain’s largest

mortgage lender, fell 1¼p, or 3.5 per

cent, to 38¼p. Banks also were caught

up in a pause of the recent rotation

into “value” stocks — those that have

been hit hardest this year but which

stand to benefit as economies begin to

reopen as lockdowns and restrictions

are lifted. Cineworld, the world’s

second largest cinema chain,

retreated 4p, or 6.8 per cent, to 55p

and Greencore, the maker of meal-

deal sandwiches, lost 8¼p, or 6.6 per

cent, to 115¾p.

The wider stock market was also

lower, with the FTSE 100 closing

down 41.08 points, or 0.6 per cent, at

6,391.09 as it handed back a good

portion of Tuesday’s gains. The

FTSE 250, comprising London’s

second tier, was marked down

220.17 points, or 1.1 per cent, to

19,569.39.

Genus, the pig and cattle breeder,

climbed 254p, or 6.5 per cent, to

£41.74, springing to the top of the City

leaderboard, after the group lifted its

profit guidance on the back of the

continued boom in demand for its pig

sperm in China, where farmers are

Austin motors back to market

natural resources

K

istos made a

fast start on its

Aim debut as

investors rushed to

back the latest

venture of Andrew

Austin, who made

them a packet with

Rockrose Energy.

Mr Austin, 55,

floated Rockrose in

early 2016 at a price

of 50p per share and

assembled a fleet of

assets in the North

Sea that produced

20,000 barrels of oil

per day and boasted

reserves of 63 million

barrels. It was sold

this summer to Viaro

Energy, which paid

£18.50 for each share.

Now he has started

Kistos, so named

because the kistos

flower is a member of

the rock rose family.

The company has

raised £36 million in

total from investors,

which it will use to

buy up assets in

Britain, the

Netherlands and

Norway. Mr Austin

has chipped in

£10.5 million,

reinvesting some of

the £66 million he

banked from the

£250 million Rockrose

sale.

The emphasis with

Kistos will be on gas,

although it is open to

oil assets if a good

deal crops up. Energy

storage will be looked

at, as well as

potentially late-life or

change-of-use assets.

Kistos shares were

priced at 100p ahead

of the initial public

offering but closed

7½p, or 7.5 per cent,

higher at 107½p

yesterday, valuing it at

£43 million.

Andrew Austin raised

£36 million to invest in

energy assets

Wall Street report

Job layoffs in the United States put

pressure on indices, sending the

Dow Jones industrial average into

reverse, down 173.77 points, 0.6 per

cent, to 29,872.47, although the

Nasdaq hit a record close of

12,094.40, up 57.62, or 0.5 per cent.

Company Change
Genus Full-year profits set to higher than expected 6.5%
Unilever Reverses recent weakness ahead of Friday’s unification 5.1%
Centrica Utilities is second best-performing sector 4.0%
Fresnillo Gold price arrests recent fall 3.8%
Centamin Precious metals miner benefits from stablising gold price 3.5%
Greencore Hit by the pause of ent rotation into “value” stocks -6.6%
Cineworld Hands back some November gains -6.8%
Network International Profit-taking after recent rally -7.3%
Capita Runs out of steam after recent rally -8.4%
Future Market not convinced by Goco takeover bid -16.7%

The day’s biggest movers

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

Dividend

AB Dynamics (consumer FY) £5m (£11m) 4.4p p Jan 22
Babcock (engineering HY) £55.3m (£152.5m) nil
Calnex Solutions (services HY) £2m (£1.1m) nil
Cambria Autos (retail FY) £10.2m (£12.5m) nil
Circle Property (property HY) -£0.7m (£1.1m) 2.5p p Jan 8
D4T4 Solutions (technology HY) -£1.3m (£0.9m) 0.81p p Jan 11
De La Rue (services HY) -£2.5m (-£12.1m) nil
Future (media FY) £52m (£12.7m) 1.6p p Feb 16
Helical (property HY) -£12.7m (£13.1m) 2.70p p Dec 31
Latham (James) (services HY) £6.3m (£8.3m) 5.7p p Jan 29
Liontrust Asset Mngt (finance HY) £6.9m (£9.3m) 11p p Jan 8
Shearwater (technology HY) -£0.8m (-£1.5m) nil
United Utilities (utilities HY) £201.1m (£195.1m) 14.41p p Feb 1
Virgin Money (finance FY) -£168m (-£179m) nil
6 Results in brief are given for all companies valued at more than £30 million. f = final p = payable

Results in brief

previously reported —

and by more than

£14 million in the two

previous years. It has

made a provision of

£10.4 million for

possible fines from an

investigation into the

company’s sales

practices by the

Financial Conduct

Authority, an inquiry

that has already cost it

£4.7 million.

Phil White, 71, the

chairman, apologised

to stakeholders and

admitted that there

were “behavioural and

cultural issues” within

the group.

Mask comes

off results

at Lookers