The Times - UK (2022-04-13)

the times | Wednesday April 13 2022 47

MarketsBusiness

A

chain of cocktail
bars across the
north of England
has secured backing
from BGF in a deal
valuing the business at
up to £60 million
(Dominic Walsh
writes).
Arc Inspirations,
which was launched in
1999, has received an
investment worth
£19 million from BGF,
formerly the Business
Growth Fund, designed
to help it double in size
over the next few
years. Arc is a Leeds-

based bar and

restaurant operator

running 18 venues in

the north of England.

Its brands include two

cocktail bar concepts,

Banyan and

Manahatta, and Box, a

sports bar business.

Arc was founded by

Martin Wolstencroft,

51, its chief executive,

who spent a decade

with Whitbread before

teaming up with Chris

Ure, 59 to establish the

business. Steve

Richards, 54, the boss

of Parkdean Resorts

and a non-executive

director, is taking over

from Ure as chairman.

It is understood that

the two founders, who

opened their first bar

in Headingley, Leeds,

A tier below, Investec was the

worst-performing stock after

Goldman Sachs advised clients to stop

buying shares in the Anglo-South

African financial services group.

Analysts at the US investment bank

said that given the group’s strong

performance over the past year — the

shares have more than doubled in the

last 12 months — they see limited

upside potential from its current

levels. The shares closed down 41p, or

7.6 per cent, at 496p.

Microlise Group, a supplier of

software that helps companies to

manage their commercial vehicle

fleets, was a star performer on the

junior market. Despite a pre-tax loss

of £800,000, revenue for the 12

months to the end of December rose

17 per cent to £60.3 million. Investors

were reassured about the group’s

confident outlook, as it said it has a

strong order book and has seen

“significant demand” for both existing

and new solutions. The shares closed

up 19p, or 15.7 per cent, at 140p.

ARC INSPIRATIONS

Price comparison website

feels its time has come

Jessica Newman Market report

J

ust as online supermarkets and

DIY retailers were dubbed

“lockdown winners”, businesses

benefiting from the cost-of-

living crisis are emerging. One

is Moneysupermarket.com, the price

comparison website.

In a trading update, the FTSE 250

group’s chief executive Peter Duffy

said that because consumers are

under more financial pressure as

prices rise, Moneysupermarket’s

“distinctive brand” is well positioned

to help consumers save money.

Revenue for the first quarter of

2022 stood at £92.3 million, 8 per cent

higher than the £85.5 million made in

the same period last year. Its travel

business did particularly well,

enjoying its best quarter in two years,

after pandemic-related restrictions

were lifted. It said a recovery in

borrowing also helped revenues grow

in its money division.

Moneysupermarket.com added that

it expects full-year earnings before

interest, taxes, depreciation, and

amortisation to increase to around

2020 levels of £107.8 million.

Analysts at Stifel said: “While the

statement leaves us with cause for

nervousness in insurance and

cashback, overall the strong

performance in money and travel

leaves the company on track to

deliver on our full-year estimates,”

The shares closed up 8¼p, or 4.7 per

cent, to 181¼p.

Another riser was Liontrust Asset

Management. The fund manager was

up 38p, or 3.1 per cent, to £12.84 as it

reported a 8.5 per cent jump in assets

under management to £33.5 billion in

the year to the end of March.

Markets fell as fresh data revealed

US inflation had risen over the past

year at its fastest in over 40 years,

raising fears of rate rises. The FTSE

100 lost 41.65 points, or 0.6 per cent,

to 7,576.66. The FTSE 250 fell 105.47

points, or 0.5 per cent, to 21,009.61.

Oil giants and miners dominated

the FTSE 100 risers’ board, tracking

commodity prices. BP rose 9¼p, or

2.4 per cent, to 396p and Shell added

30½p, or 1.4 per cent, to £21.66, while

Endeavour Mining, the West Africa

goldminer, took the top spot, closing

up 79p, or 4 per cent, at £20.64.

Tesco shares were in sharp focus

ahead of its final results today, down

4¾p, or 1.7 per cent, to 270½p, while

AstraZeneca, the Anglo-Swedish

drugs giant, suffered from a bit of

profit-taking after record highs last

week. The shares closed down 354p,

or 3.3 per cent, at £105.04.

London Stock Exchange Group

joined Rolls-Royce at the bottom of

the City leaderboard, down 240p, or

2.9 per cent, at £81.70 after Exane

BNP Paribas reduced its “outperform”

recommendation to “neutral”, citing

analysts’ growing concerns about the

company’s revenue growth.

Supply warning lifts oil price

natural resources

O

il prices

jumped after

Opec warned

that it would not be

possible to replace

supply losses from

Russia. Brent crude,

the international

benchmark, rose by

6.26 per cent to

$104.60 a barrel, the

largest one-day gain

since March 21. US

West Texas crude

rose by a similar

amount to $100.10 a

barrel.

It had been

reported that on

Monday Russia’s

sanctions-hit oil and

gas production fell to

its lowest since July

2020. The Opec
      producers cartel told

the European Union

that sanctions on

Russia could create

one of the worst oil

supply shocks and

that it would be

impossible to replace

those volumes. The

producers group also

signalled it would not

pump more crude.

“The oil market is

still vulnerable to a

major shock if

Russian energy is

sanctioned, and that

risk remains on the

table,” Edward Moya,

senior market analyst

with Oanda, wrote in

a research note.

Opec yesterday

lowered its Russian

production forecast

by 530,000 barrels per

day for this year.

It also cut its

forecast for growth in

global oil demand,

citing the impact of

the invasion of

Ukraine and a

resurgence of the

Omicron Covid

variant in China.

Sanctions on Russian

oil could have a severe

impact, Opec said

Wall Street report

Inflation hitting a 40-year high

pushed indices lower as investors bet

that the Federal Reserve is likely to

raise rates by 50 basis points at next

month’s meeting. The Dow Jones

industrial average fell 87.72 points,

or 0.3 per cent, to close at 34,220.36.

Company Change
Diploma Lifts full-year outlook 11.5%
Ferrexpo Recovers some losses 8.7%
Tullow Oil Exposed to rise in oil prices 7.3%
Plus500 Strong trading update 6.2%
Moneysupermarket.com Positive trading update 4.7%
Rolls-Royce Downgrade from JP Morgan -5.5%
TUI Loses momentum after recent run -5.7%
Greencore Group Positive sentiment dries up -6%
Safestore Holdings HSBC cuts recommendation to “hold” -6.1%
Investec Goldman Sachs downgrades stock -7.6%

The day’s biggest movers

are taking a small

amount of cash off the

table as part of the

BGF deal but will

remain majority

shareholders.

The funding, the first

external equity Arc

has raised since

launch, will help it to

open at least four new

sites a year over the

next three to five years

under its “cluster”

strategy, whereby it

opens multiple bar

sites in big cities.

It recently posted

annual sales of £40

million and announced

plans for a £2.5 million

Manahatta bar in

Newcastle on the site

of a former bank. The

venue is expected to

open late this year.

Bar group

toasts £19m

investment

Exchange rates

Bid Change

Australia $ 1.742 -0.01

Canada $ 1.644

Denmark Kr 8.918 +0.02

Euro ¤ 1.199

Hong Kong $ 10.217

Hungary 452.508 -0.98

Indonesia 18725.066 -10.43

Israel Shk 4.175 -0.01

Japan Yen 163.197 -0.51

New Zealand $ 1.895 -0.01

Norway Kr 11.396 -0.07

Poland 5.568 -0.01

Russia 111.144 +4.37

S Africa Rd 18.886 -0.14

Sweden Kr 12.342 -0.01

Switzerland Fr 1.212

Turkey Lira 19.029 -0.13

USA $ 1.304

Rates supplied by Morningstar

Dollar rates

Australia 1.3373-1.3374

Canada 1.2608-1.2609

Denmark 6.8504-6.8509

Euro 0.9212-0.9213

Hong Kong 7.8370-7.8375

Japan 125.13-125.14

Malaysia 4.2190-4.2240

Norway 8.7499-8.7549

Singapore 1.3621-1.3628

Sweden 9.4919-9.4949

Switzerland 0.9301-0.9301

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 146.95-146.96

Australia dollar 1.7430-1.7432

Bahrain dinar 0.4878-0.4950

Brazil real 6.0860-6.0899

Euro 1.2007-1.2009

Hong Kong dollar 10.215-10.216

India rupee 99.147-99.183

Indonesia rupiah 18721-18721

Kuwait dinar KD 0.3962-0.3986

Malaysia ringgit 5.5026-5.5091

New Zealand dollar 1.8950-1.8953

Singapore dollar 1.7757-1.7761

S Africa rand 18.890-18.901

U A E dirham 4.7916-4.7918

Money rates %

Base Rates Clearing Banks 0.75 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.00-0.25

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.400; 3 mth 0.716. Sell: 1 mth 0.200; 3 mth 0.300

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 0.7817 0.0000 1.0870 1.5030 0.0000

Eurodollar Deps 0.63-0.88 0.82-1.07 1.04-1.29 1.43-1.68 1.96-2.21

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.8939-8.9318 8.9290-8.9303 118ds 383ds

Euro 1.2012-1.1961 1.2011-1.2005 11pr 34pr

Montreal 1.6412-1.6475 1.6434-1.6436 0pr 3pr

New York 1.2997-1.3053 1.3034-1.3035 2ds 2ds

Oslo 11.387-11.494 11.407-11.410 1ds 14ds

Stockholm 12.326-12.403 12.373-12.376 107ds 339ds

Tokyo 162.92-163.61 163.10-163.12 15ds 52ds

Zurich 1.2115-1.2156 1.2122-1.2124 17ds 55ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

Gold/Precious

London Grain Futures metals (US dollars per ounce)
LIFFE Wheat (close £/t)

May 323.00 Jul unq Nov 295.00
Jan unq Mar unq Volume: 1048

London Metal Exchange
(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 22

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
10200.0-10201.0 10225.0-10226.0 10200.0-10210.0

Lead ($/tonne)
2417.0-2418.0 2400.0-2401.0 2350.0-2355.0

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
4344.5-4345.0 4296.0-4298.0 3632.0-3637.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3214.0-3214.5 3244.0-3245.0 3125.0-3130.0

Nickel ($/tonne)
32445.0-32450.0 32400.0-32450.0 32245.0-32295.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
43600.0-43650.0 43590.0-43595.0 42845.0-42895.0

European money

deposits %

Currency

1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth

Dollar

0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55

Sterling

0.78 1.09 1.50 0.81

Euro

0.10 0.15 0.20 0.50

Data as shown is

for information

purposes only. No offer is made by

Morningstar or this publication

Because of a technical issue, the gold fix

prices are from Tuesday.

Bullion: Open $1952.67

Close $1973.66-1975.03 High $1977.59

Low $1949.82

AM $1956.85 PM $1951.55

Krugerrand $1953.00-2059.00 (£1498.27-

1579.59)

Platinum $985.54 (£756.07)

Silver $25.58 (£19.62)

Palladium $2392.22 (£1835.23)