the times | Wednesday May 25 2022 2GM 43Business
triggers big slide in digital shares
332m
Active daily users of
Snapchat$23bn
Snap’s market value.
The group was listed
in 2017changes, which hampered its ability to
target adverts and to measure their
reach across devices such as the
iPhone. Last month the group forecast
revenue growth of between 20 per cent
and 25 per cent in the second quarter,
which runs to the end of June. Adjusted
earnings would be between zero and
$50 million, it said. It did not indicate
how far short of these targets its sales or
profits would fall.
“Our community continues to grow
and we continue to see strong engage-
ment across Snapchat and continue to
see opportunities to grow our average
revenue per user over the long term,”
Snap said in a regulatory filing.
Analysts on Wall Street were uncon-vinced, however, and Snap’s stock was
hit by a string of downgrades by brokers
yesterday.
Jefferies suggested that the outlook
for the wider digital advertising
industry was worsening rapidly. “While
many investors were aware of the
softening digital ad market, the magni-
tude of the deceleration is surprising,
given updated guidance implies that
[revenue] growth could slow to low
teens [year on year] growth or worse in
May/June,” it told clients.
Shares in Twitter, which were
already in focus amid doubts over the
prospects of a mooted takeover by Elon
Musk, the Tesla billionaire, slipped
$1.98, or 5.2 per cent, to $35.88.among teenagers for its photo and
video messaging, virtual selfie masks
and short-form news articles. It has
332 million daily active users.
Snap, its parent company, makes
most of its money by placing adverts on
Snapchat. The group was listed in 2017
and had a market value of $23 billion.
Spiegel, 31, said that Snap was being
hit by a long list of factors, including
rising inflation, higher interest rates,
supply chain shortages, labour disrup-
tions, platform policy changes and fall-
out from the war in Ukraine. Many
other companies are grappling with the
same issues, he noted.
Advertising revenue at Snap has
been hit recently by Apple’s privacyL&G forms US property partnership
Legal & General will announce today a
50-50 partnership with an American
developer to create a property platform
to push life sciences, research and tech-
nology growth in the United States.
L&G Capital will invest an initial
$500 million of seed funding to form a
new company, Ancora L&G, operating
under the name Ancora. The business
will focus predominantly on emerging
regional markets in America, where
early-mover advantages are available.
Ancora is a privately owned property
company based in Durham, North
Carolina, with representatives in Balti-
more, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis,
New York and Washington.
L&G Capital has more than $5 bil-
lion committed to science and techno-
logy development projects with
Oxford and Manchester universities.
Ancora will be capitalised by L&G to
deliver $4 billion of existing pipeline
and planned acquisition and develop-ment activity over the next five years.
Laura Mason, chief executive of L&G
Capital, said: “We will be able to lever-
age L&G’s significant experience in the
science and technology sector in a new
international market with strong
growth potential.”
L&G manages more than $1.8 trillion
of assets globally and is increasing its
presence in the US for both equity and
debt vehicles. Sir Nigel Wilson, the
group chief executive, said: “While the
US is the world’s largest commercial
real estate market, the lab real estate
market, in particular, is one of the
smallest sectors among other com-
mercial US asset classes.
“This creates high barriers to entry
for investors and has made it challeng-
ing for tenants to grow due to scarcity
of supply. Legal & General Capital’s
ability to access this opportunity via
Ancora will set it apart from other
sources of institutional capital.”fill US shelves
Nigel Wilson said
L&G could overcome
the high barrier for
entry to investors in
the sectorshelves across the US, the Biden admin-
istration is moving to issue so-called “no
objection” determinations, enabling
suppliers to sell into the market.
Robert Califf, the FDA commis-
sioner, said it expected the US would
import more formula “safely and
quickly” after talks with global suppli-
ers. “We continue to do everything in
our power to ensure there’s adequate
infant formula available,” Califf said in
a statement. “Our recent steps will help
further bolster supply of infant formula,
including through the import of safe
and nutritious products from overseas
based on our increased flexibilities.”
McMahon, 57, emphasised Kendal
Nutricare would continue to prioritise
its core markets. The group sells half of
what it makes in the UK, where it has a
share of about 10 per cent of the market.
McMahon said that it planned to
remain in the American market “long
after” the present crisis subsided.Stock markets
across the world
remain volatile
following Russia’s
invasion of
Ukraine. Oil and
gas prices have
been spiralling,
while British
companies are
scrambling to cope
with the effects of
soaring costs. With
the situation
changing by the
hour, keeping
up to date is
essential. Get
the latest
news and market
reaction by
8am, and analysis
at 12.30pm, direct
by email from the
Business Editor,
Richard Fletcher,
and the Business
News Editor,
Martyn Strydom
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It was all smiles
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dash on the
catwalk in 2019