the times | Wednesday February 16 2022 43
MarketsBusiness
T
he husband-
and-wife team
who run a
specialist
supplier to the
car industry are
expected to see their
stake in the business
valued at £16 million
when it floats on
London’s junior stock
market (James Hurley
writes).
The Bartons,
Richard, 55, and Anne,
48, are seeking a
flotation of Strip
Tinning, a 65-year-old
family company based
in Birmingham that is
aiming to exploit the
boom in electric
vehicles.
It supplies carmakers
such as Audi, BMW,
Ford, Nissan and Tesla
with electronic parts
for applications
including heated
window screens. It
expects strong growth
in supplying parts for
battery-related
products in electric
cars.
Strip Tinning hopes
to raise £11.5 million
through a 185-pence-a-
share placing on Aim,
which would value it at
about £28 million. The
company was founded
in 1957 in London by
Richard Barton’s
father, coating wirestheir shares in favour of a “hold”
recommendation. Evraz closed up
15¼p, or 4.8 per cent, to 330½p.
Not all of investors’ concerns about
Ukraine were averted. Oil majors slid
as the price of the black stuff fell off a
seven-year high. Brent crude, the
international benchmark, rose above
$96 on Monday afternoon, but later
fell 3.6 per cent to just below $93 by
the end of the session, dragging down
the likes of Shell and BP by 21½p, or
1.1 per cent, to £19.84 and 3¼p, or
0.8 per cent, to 397½p, respectively.
The heaviest faller was Fresnillo after
gold backed away from an eight-year
high. The shares closed down 23p, or
3.5 per cent, at 642¾p.
Novacyt enjoyed its best single-day
rally in nearly two and a half months
after it emerged that Biosynex had
snapped up a stake in the Aim-listed
diagnostics company. The French
firm, which also males Covid-19 tests,
has bought a 3 per cent stake in
Novacyt, which sent the shares up
41½p, or 24.5 per cent, to 211p.STRIP TINNINGRussia may be pulling back
but the bears still growl
Jessica Newman Market report
T
he bears are growling
louder, at least according to
one American bank, which
said that a third of former
stock market bulls think
global equities are heading for a fall.
According to Bank of America’s fund
manager survey, a respected
barometer of asset managers’
thinking, the number of stockpickers
who reckon that European equities
will rise by at least 5 per cent over the
next 12 months dwindled from 81 per
cent to 57 per cent this month.
Reflecting the bearish attitude, cash
levels were up to 5.3 per cent
compared with about 5 per cent the
month before, a sobering sign of the
fear stalking the global financial
system. When investors decide to sit
on the sidelines and hold on to theirmoney, it’s a clear indication of their
lack of confidence in the market.
Despite the big rotation to cash
over shares, money managers have
taken a liking to value stocks such as
banks, insurers and energy
companies, which have outperformed
growth stocks, including technology.
Britain benefits from this because of
its high number of defensive stocks,
which tend to perform better during
economic uncertainty.
However, investors perked up after
Russia said that it would withdraw
some troops from Ukraine’s borders.
It led the FTSE 100, which lost 1.7 per
cent on Monday, to recover 77.33
points, or 1 per cent, to 7,608.92 while
the FTSE 250, whose constituents
have more of a UK bias, added 234.62
points, or 1.1 per cent, to 21,852.51.
Investors reverted to defensive
stocks, with AstraZeneca topping the
leaderboard, up 484p, or 5.8 per cent,
at £88.65 after positive trial results for
Lynparza, its prostate cancer drug.
With fears of travel disruptionalleviated by Russia’s announcement,
travel stocks also bounced back.
Melrose Industries, which supplies
wing tips and other parts for planes,
climbed 8½p, or 5.6 per cent, to
160½p. International Consolidated
Airlines Group, the British Airways
owner, picked up 7½p, or 4.6 per cent,
to 172½p and Wizz Air, which is
focused on eastern and central
Europe, lifted 223p, or 5.2 per cent, to
£45.49. Trustpilot also managed to
turn things around as the consumer
reviews company ticked up 8¾p, or
5.9 per cent, to 157p.
Ocado extended its gains after
Bank of America reiterated its “buy”
rating on the online grocer’s shares,
arguing that growth opportunities in
the non-food sector were an
“interesting prospect”. That helped to
push the shares up 62½p, or 4.8 per
cent, to £13.63.
Evraz, Roman Abramovich’s
FTSE 100 steel company, recovered
some of its losses after Goldman
Sachs advised clients to stop sellingInvestors hang up on LoopUp
technologyA
rich variety of
shares have
thrived over the
past couple of years,
when the nation had
to stay at home, but
there is no room for
nostalgia in the equity
markets, as LoopUp
discovered to its cost
yesterday. After a
disappointing full-
year trading update,
investors bid a fond
farewell to a stock
that had seen them
through the depths of
the pandemic.
Shares in LoopUp,
the conference call
software specialist
that was listed on Aim
in August 2016,
slipped to their lowest
level on record after itwarned that it
expected full-year
revenue to fall to
£19.5 million for the
year to the end of
December. Revenue
stood at £50.2 million
the year before. The
company also said
that it expected tomake £900,000 in
earnings before
interest, tax and other
charges, down from
£15.3 million a year
earlier.
LoopUp said that
the lag from bookings
to revenue in its cloud
telephony unit was
“proving to be more
pronounced than
previously
anticipated”.
While the company
said that the results
would be broadly in
line with the board’s
expectations, the
update clearly
disappointed
investors and the
shares closed down
4½p, or 35.4 per cent,
at 8½p last night.People working from
home made LoopUp a
pandemic winnerWall Street report
Indices staged a strong, broadly
based rally as signs of easing
tensions along the Russian border
with Ukraine brought buyers back
into the market. The Dow Jones
industrial average rose 422.67 points,
or 1.2 per cent, to close at 34,988.84.Company Change
Trustpilot Rebounds after Monday’s plunge 5.9%
AstraZeneca Positive trial results of Lynparza cancer drug 5.8%
Melrose Industries Travel fears alleviated 5.6%
Wizz Air Concerns over Ukraine war ease 5.2%
SSP Confidence in travel sector bounces back 4.9%
Micro Focus International Profit-taking -2.9%
Centamin Drop of confidence in goldminer -3.2%
Fresnillo Pulled down by fall in precious metals miners -3.5%
Harbour Energy Tracks weaker oil prices -3.5%
Plus500 Drop in customer numbers hits profits -4.1%
The day’s biggest movers
and coils for
engineering
applications. It
relocated to
Birmingham in 1993 to
follow its customer
base. Its investors
include River &
Mercantile, Canaccord
Genuity and Octopus
Investments.
In 2020, its most
recent year covered by
audited annual
accounts, sales were
£8.8 million, an 11 per
cent decline on 2019,
as trading was hit by
the pandemic and
Brexit. The company
made a pre-tax profit
of £500,000, down
from £1.4 million in
2019, but paid
dividends of £500,000
in both years.Electric cars
power up
family firm
Exchange rates
Bid Change
Australia $ 1.894
Canada $ 1.725
Denmark Kr 8.861 -0.03
Euro ¤ 1.191
Hong Kong $ 10.550 +0.01
Hungary 421.316 -5.23
Indonesia 19339.202 -20.19
Israel Shk 4.351 -0.06
Japan Yen 156.492 +0.34
New Zealand $ 2.040 -0.01
Norway Kr 12.051 +0.03
Poland 5.352 -0.07
Russia 102.265 -1.78
S Africa Rd 20.472 +0.05
Sweden Kr 12.559 -0.12
Switzerland Fr 1.253
Turkey Lira 18.424 +0.04
USA $ 1.352
Rates supplied by MorningstarDollar rates
Australia 1.3998-1.3999
Canada 1.2748-1.2749
Denmark 6.5561-6.5566
Euro 0.8805-0.8807
Hong Kong 7.8017-7.8022
Japan 115.69-115.70
Malaysia 4.1838-4.1888
Norway 8.9003-8.9049
Singapore 1.3448-1.3458
Sweden 9.2806-9.2836
Switzerland 0.9263-0.9264Other Sterling
Argentina peso 144.05-144.06
Australia dollar 1.8942-1.8944
Bahrain dinar 0.5062-0.5133
Brazil real 7.0077-7.0274
Euro 1.1916-1.1918
Hong Kong dollar 10.556-10.557
India rupee 101.79-101.80
Indonesia rupiah 19301-19308
Kuwait dinar KD 0.4079-0.4103
Malaysia ringgit 5.6479-5.6547
New Zealand dollar 2.0399-2.0403
Singapore dollar 1.8200-1.8203
S Africa rand 20.451-20.463
U A E dirham 4.9701-4.9703Money rates %
Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.50 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25
Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.370; 3 mth 0.690. Sell: 1 mth 0.250; 3 mth 0.4701 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth
Interbank Rates 0.4811 0.0000 0.8898 1.3855 0.0000
Eurodollar Deps 0.14-0.29 0.39-0.54 0.49-0.64 0.80-0.95 1.25-1.40Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month
Copenhagen 8.8566-8.9114 8.8702-8.8715 75ds 306ds
Euro 1.1975-1.1906 1.1917-1.1917 7pr 28pr
Montreal 1.7209-1.7271 1.7248-1.7251 2ds 9ds
New York 1.3489-1.3566 1.3531-1.3531 3ds 9ds
Oslo 11.981-12.062 12.044-12.050 19pr 39pr
Stockholm 12.531-12.701 12.559-12.562 59ds 281ds
Tokyo 155.98-156.81 156.54-156.55 7ds 37ds
Zurich 1.2487-1.2558 1.2534-1.2535 12ds 48ds
Premium = pr Discount = dsSterling spot and forward rates
Gold/Precious
London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce)
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)
Mar 215.00 May 219.15 Jul unq
Nov 200.50 Jan unq Volume: 902
London Metal Exchange
(Official)
Cash 3mth Dec 22
Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
10015.0-10020.0 9955.0-9960.0 9560.0-9570.0
Lead ($/tonne)
2308.0-2310.0 2296.0-2298.0 2185.0-2190.0
Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3612.0-3613.0 3605.0-3607.0 3200.0-3205.0
Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3221.0-3223.0 3194.0-3195.0 2865.0-2870.0
Nickel ($/tonne)
23945.0-23950.0 23550.0-23575.0 22195.0-22245.0
Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
43525.0-43575.0 43400.0-43450.0 42350.0-42400.0
European money
deposits %
Currency
1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth
Dollar
0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55
Sterling
0.48 0.89 1.39 0.81
Euro
0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50Data as shown is
for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
Morningstar or this publicationBecause of a technical issue, the gold fix
prices are from Monday.
Bullion: Open $1870.93
Close $1851.27-1851.73 High $1879.06
Low $1845.16
AM $1855.80 PM $1866.15
Krugerrand $1832.00-1931.00 (£1353.92-1427.08)
Platinum $1030.00 (£761.21)
Silver $23.33 (£17.24)
Palladium $2245.00 (£1659.14)