44 Friday May 27 2022 | the times
BusinessMarkets
news in brief
Fossil fuel plan fails
Morgan Stanley’s shareholders
rejected a proposal aiming to stop
it lending to new fossil fuel
projects. The Sierra Club, an
environmental non-profit
foundation, proposed that the
bank adopt a policy by the end of
this year committing to measures
to cease financing new fossil fuel
development. However, only
8.3 per cent of shareholders were
in favour of the proposal. In a
document published last month
Morgan Stanley’s directors said
that if the bank ceased funding
fossil fuel projects, other players
would still provide it.Foxtons buys up rivals
Foxtons Group, the London-
focused estate agents chain, has
spent £10.55 million on buying up
two smaller rivals, Gordon & Co
and Stones Residential, as it looks
to boost its lettings arm. The two
companies together make more
than 80 per cent of their
combined revenues from lettings
services, across 2,500 tenancies.
The deals come amid a lettings
push by Foxtons. It now boasts
more than 27,500 tenancies.
Shares in Foxtons closed up 1¼p,
or 3.2 per cent, at 37p.Media acquisitions
National World, the owner of The
Yorkshire Post and The Scotsman,
is targeting more acquisitions
after “robust” trading this year,
David Montgomery, chairman,
said. Revenues for the 21 weeks to
May 28 are set to have increased
by 4 per cent year-on-year after
5 per cent growth in the first
three months of 2022. Digital
revenue is set to have grown by
38 per cent over the period, while
print revenues have declined by
3 per cent. The shares closed up
8.1 per cent at 21½p.Alibaba’s Covid woes
Alibaba Group said it would not
give a forecast for the financial
year due to Covid-19 risks as it
reported its slowest quarterly
revenue growth since going
public in 2014. The Chinese
e-commerce giant said that
lockdowns in Shanghai and other
cities weighed on its business.
“Online physical goods GMV
[gross merchandise value] of our
China retail marketplaces,
excluding unpaid, saw year-on-
year decline in the low teens
percentage in April,” it said.Commodities
ICIS pricing (London 7.30pm)Crude Oils ($/barrel FOB)
Brent Physical 119.23 +3.61
BFOE(Apr) 117.48 +3.35
BFOE(May) 114.34 +3.05
WTI(Apr) 114.09 +3.76
WTI(May) 111.25 +3.50Products ($/MT)Spot CIF NW Europe (prompt delivery)
Premium Unld 1284.00 1285.00 +27.00
Gasoil EEC 1152.50 1154.50 +42.00
3.5 Fuel Oil 639.00 651.00 +0.00
Naphtha 918.00 920.00 +25.00ICE FuturesGas Oil
Jun 1160.25-1159.25 Sep 1065.25-1064.00
Jul 1122.50-1122.00 Oct 1053.00-1011.00
Aug 1088.75-1088.50 Volume: 540707Brent (9.00pm)
July 117.21-117.18 Oct 109.15-109.10
Aug 114.05-114.03 Nov 107.60-107.10
Sep 111.46-111.43 Volume: 1657236LIFFECocoa
Jul 1723-1721 Sep 1832-1773
Sep 1745-1742 Dec 1790-1787
Dec 1792-1773 Mar 1725 BID
Mar 1794-1773
May 1833-1771
Jul 1793-1776 Volume: 71306RobustaCoffee
Jul 2107-2103 Mar 2075-2001
Sep 2110-2104 May 2034-2087
Nov 2093-2079
Jan 2077-2035 Volume: 17697White Sugar (FOB)
Reuters Mar 529.30-528.00
May 520.50-519.60
Aug 564.90-564.30 Aug 513.90-510.80
Oct 547.90-546.80 Oct 547.90-546.80
Dec 536.00-534.30 Volume: 58513PRICES
Major indices
New York
Dow Jones 32637.19 (+516.91)
Nasdaq Composite 11740.65 (+305.91)
S&P 500 4057.84 (+79.11)
Tokyo
Nikkei 225 26604.84 (-72.96)
Hong Kong
Hang Seng 20116.20 (-55.07)
Amsterdam
AEX Index 692.80 (+8.69)
Sydney
AO 7339.30 (-52.40)
Frankfurt
DAX 14231.29 (+223.36)
Singapore
Straits 3209.18 (+29.60)
Brussels
BEL20 3915.89 (+3.64)
Paris
CAC-40 6410.58 (+111.94)
Zurich
SMI Index 11491.80 n/a
DJ Euro Stoxx 50 3740.31 (+63.21)London
FTSE 100 7564.92 (+42.17)
FTSE 250 20248.74 (+314.70)
FTSE 350 4211.67 (+29.92)
FTSE Eurotop 100 3330.98 (+25.27)
FTSE All-Shares 4176.59 (+29.51)
FTSE Non Financials 5122.11 (+25.66)
techMARK 100 6108.27 (+74.70)
Bargains n/a
US$ 1.2596 (+0.0013)
Euro 1.1748 (-0.0027)
£:SDR 0.98 (+0.00)
Exchange Index 80.15 (+0.43)
Bank of England official close (4pm)
CPI 120.04 Apr (2015 = 100)
RPI 334.60 Apr (Jan 1987 = 100)
RPIX 290.10 Jun (Jan 1987 = 100)
Morningstar Long Commodity 677.16 (+5.72)
Morningstar Long/Short Commod4703.45 (+27.75)London Financial Futures
Period Open High Low Sett Vol Open Int
Long Gilt Jun 22 118.95 119.17 117.88 117.94 470140 287789
Sep 22 118.33 118.51 117.22 117.30 359844 444870
3-Mth Sterling Jun 22 99.025 99.045 99.015 99.026 10377 232459
Sep 22 98.885 98.890 98.860 98.866 3885 301735
Dec 22 98.820 98.825 98.790 98.806 7310 347378
Mar 23 98.785 98.795 98.755 98.771 8310 229855
Jun 23
3-Mth Euribor Jun 22 100.24 100.26 100.24 100.26 67752 449228
Sep 22 99.640 99.675 99.635 99.665 71000 530390
Dec 22 99.245 99.295 99.235 99.265 97511 605204
Mar 23 98.915 98.975 98.905 98.930 63629 472475
Jun 23 98.700 98.760 98.680 98.705 71855 406566
3-Mth Euroswiss Jun 22 100.71 100.72 100.70 100.71 925 29152
Sep 22 100.68 100.68 100.67 100.68 710 31355
Dec 22 100.61 100.62 100.59 100.62 488 22748
Mar 23
FTSE100 Jun 22 7514.0 7571.5 7493.5 7564.5 77376 607219
Sep 22 7492.0 7513.0 7490.0 7510.5 6 15178
FTSEurofirst 80 Jun 22 5176.5
Sep 22 5165.0© 2021 Tradeweb Markets LLC. All rights reserved.
The Tradeweb FTSE Gilt Closing Prices information contained
herein is proprietary to Tradeweb; may not be copied or
re-distributed; is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely; and does not constitute
investment advice. Tradeweb is not responsible for any loss or damage that might result
from the use of this information.was said to “have taken the buying
and selling of houses by storm”, and
was exporting its techniques to the
US and Australia. But within two
years it was decamping from those
far-off lands and changing the chief
executive while analysts were
rushing out sell notes.
That £8.8 million loss includes
plenty of housekeeping costs, chief of
which has been to turn its self-
employed agents into staffers who
can be fully trained and monitored.
But Marston, whose background is in
human resources and had no
property experience prior to joining
Purplebricks two years ago, will have
to come up with considerably moreMarston, has set itself a deadline of
July 12 to announce what will be
awful full-year figures accompanied
by a blueprint for recovery.
Everything hangs on that blueprint.
Marston gave a taste of the poor
results on Wednesday, with a trading
update that predicted £70 million
sales for the year to the end of April
and an £8.8 million annual loss. It is
a measure of how low expectations
were that the shares did not react by
more than they did. They have been
languishing either side of 20p since
the turn of the year, a long way from
the 500p they touched nearly five
years ago.
In those heady days, the businessA
t 17½p, down 2.8 per cent
yesterday, Purplebricks shares
represent one of the biggest
gambles on the stock market. A year
from now it could look as if it was
ridiculously cheap, or an excellent
time to sell.
The company, a groundbreaking
online estate agency, has been
through a torrid time which
provoked a change of top personnel
a couple of months ago. That new
management, led by HelenaWilliam Kay Tempus
Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tipsRiding a wave of home improvement
W
hile it may be one of
the least melodious
words to spring from
TV advertising,
“housebarrassment”
is memorable — possibly more
memorable than the name of the
Wickes DIY chain it promotes.
But it nails one driver behind the
still-buoyant property improvement
market: the desire to have a
presentable home.
At yesterday’s annual meeting, the
first since the company demerged
from Travis Perkins a year ago,
shareholders heard trading was in
line with expectations so far this
year, despite group like-for-like sales
being down 0.6 per cent on a year
ago. That is quite a tough
comparison, as DIY was then still
being boosted by lockdown demand.
The company prefers to draw
attention to the 22.4 per cent sales
rise over the past three years, going
back to before the pandemic struck.
“We have reasons to be cheerful,” the
chief executive, David Wood, said.
That 0.6 per cent dip contains a
significant clue to Wickes’s prospects,
as it owes much to the increasingly
important DIFM (do it for me)
market, consisting of hitherto
neglected customers who want help.
Strip them out, and core sales to
DIYers and traders fell 7.2 per cent.
But the industry is waking up to
the huge potential from the majorityof households occupied by those who
do not know, or want to know, one
end of a spanner from the other.
The difference is that the DIFM
service is supplied directly by the
retailer. Wickes has only 231 stores,
but 2,700 teams who mainly take a
project all the way from concept to
installation. And you can bet that
those initial chats on the sofa
generate a few extra ideas.Consequently, DIFM-delivered sales
were up 30.9 per cent in the first 20
weeks of 2022, and the order book
has doubled in the past year. A
quarter of local traders are taking
orders for delivery in a year’s time,
indicating the all-round strong
demand for home repairs.
This is changing the traditional
image of DIY and hardware stores, at
a time when several trends are
helping the industry. The UK has an
ageing housing stock and property
sales prompt home improvements,
while climate change and soaring
energy costs are encouraging
spending on double glazing and
insulation. While B&Q leads the
market, its virtues are wrapped up in
the much larger Kingfisher retailBuilding trade
Share priceSource: RefinitivTotal spend on trade and
installer servicesSource: TGI40%3020100
15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465+By age group (2021)Jul2021Oct Jan2022Apr100150200250300p0 2group. Wickes gives investors direct
exposure to developing trends, such
as the growing inclination to treat
back gardens as an extension of the
home. Hence the fondness for
decking and conservatories.
Broking analysts are lining up to
sing the company’s praises. Kate
Calvert at Investec says: “We believe
the transformation of Wickes into an
integrated digital and service-led
business is underappreciated, with
the market missing the material
bounce back in profits to come.”
Travis Perkins bought Wickes in
2004 for £950 million, nearly twice
the present market value, but was
never entirely comfortable with
retail. The demerger, in which Travis
shareholders were given Wickes’s
shares, created a phalanx of US
investors who have gradually been
selling. That has smothered the share
price, taking it down to 159p, but it
looks as though the US withdrawal is
virtually complete and the shares
have benefited accordingly.
One slight concern is that Wickes’s
ebullient chief executive sees no
downsides, which means he could be
taken unawares down the road.
Nevertheless, the present price is
still not looking too far ahead.
Calvert predicts steady rather than
spectacular growth, pre-tax profits
rising from last year’s £85 million to
£96 million by the end of 2024, on
the back of a 14.6 per cent sales
increase to £1.76 billion by then. The
prospective normalised p/e ratio for
this year is an unassuming 6.9,
paving the way for a solid-looking
5.8 per cent dividend yield.ADVICE Buy
WHY The share price does not
fully reflect how well-
positioned the business is to
exploit housing market trendsthan that. She has one of the few
national estate agency brands to
build on, with leading market shares
in parts of the country, and a price
proposition that undercuts many
local rivals.
However, she will be doing well if
Purplebricks can make a profit in the
current year, and potential investors
will want to see a convincing path
into 2023 and beyond.ADVICE Avoid
WHY Investors will need
evidence of a workable planwickes
Market cap
£501mRevenue
£1.5bnpurplebricks
Market cap
£56mProperties for
sale 22,000