The Times - UK (2022-06-08)

the times | Wednesday June 8 2022 45

MarketsBusiness

A

warning that
profit growth
will return more
slowly than passenger
numbers sent National
Express sharply into
reverse on the stock
market yesterday
(Robert Lea writes).
Having recently told
investors that it
expected its profit
margins to average out
at 9 per cent between
this year and 2027, the
nationwide coach
operator and West

Midlands bus company

issued a trading update

warning that those

margins in 2022 were

expected only to be

7 per cent.

It variously blamed

that on the need to

keep fares low to get

travellers back on to its

British coaches, wage

inflation and staff

shortages on its yellow

school buses in the

United States, as well

as trading in its other

American bus

operations remaining

below pre-pandemic

levels.

However, the

company added that in

the UK several main

intercity routes had

already fully recovered

and airport volumes

or 27.2 per cent. However, the rally

failed to lift the mid-cap index out of

the red and it dropped 107.37 points,

or 0.5 per cent, to 20,399.43.

Gooch & Housego shares were in

demand after the advanced lens

maker boasted about high demand for

industrial lasers over the six months

to March, improving its order book to

£119.9 million. The shares rose 75p, or

8.8 per cent, to 930p. In contrast,

shares in LoopUp Group slumped to

a near-two-month low after the

conference call software specialist

said it had swung into a loss last year.

The Aim-listed group blamed a

slowdown in demand for an adjusted

operating loss of £6.1 million for last

year, compared with a £9 million

profit the year before. The shares slid

almost 1¼p, or 14.2 per cent, to below

6¾p. NewRiver Reit, the property

company, dropped 11½p, or 11.5 per

cent, to 88¼p after it said that its net

asset value per share had shrunk by

10 per cent to 135p as of March 31,

compared with 150p a year ago.

JOHN STILLWELL/PA

Land ahoy! Cry of acclaim

for developer’s new turn

Jessica Newman Market report

A

double upgrade from one

City broker helped to re-

energise British Land’s

shares, which climbed to a

two-month high

yesterday. Sander Bunck and his team

of analysts at Barclays listed plenty of

reasons why the FTSE 100

commercial landlord, which owns

Meadowhall in Sheffield and Drake

Circus in Plymouth, deserved an

“overweight” recommendation, from

its prudently financed balance sheet

to a high-quality management team.

“British Land has evolved over the

past two years from a company

predominantly focused on earnings to

a company that is focused on

generating total returns by focusing

on London and the Golden Triangle,”

Bunck said, adding that such a

transformation would not happen

overnight given the size of its

portfolio.

British Land is in the process of

turning things around. It has set out

its stall as a developer of “campuses”

— offices that also include ancillary

retail and leisure facilities, as well as

communal outdoor space — and sold

a 75 per cent stake in its Paddington

Central campus to Singapore’s

sovereign wealth fund for

£694 million. This, Bunck believes,

proves the company “is willing to

sacrifice earnings in order to enhance

overall returns”. The upgrade sent the

shares 6p, or 1.1 per cent, higher, to

536p.

Overall, the FTSE 100 index

retreated 9.29 points, or 0.1 per cent,

to 7,598.93 as optimism around

China’s gradual reopening was

overshadowed by worries about the

impact of increasing interest rates on

global economic growth. Retail stocks

were out of favour as data from the

BRC showed shoppers had cut back

their spending in May, the biggest fall

since January last year. Shares in the

B&Q owner Kingfisher dropped 9p,

or 3.4 per cent, to 258p, while Ocado,

the online grocer, shed 30½p, or 3.2

per cent, to 920¾p.

JD Sports Fashion slipped to the

bottom of the City leaderboard,

tumbling 4¾p, or 3.9 per cent, to

118½p after the Competition and

Markets Authority provisionally

found that the sportswear chain had

broken competition laws by fixing the

retail prices of some Rangers FC-

branded clothing.

Miners provided the Footsie with

most support, with Rio Tinto rising

135p, or 2.3 per cent, to £60.91 and

Anglo American closing up 51p, or

1.3 per cent,at £40.17½ after Jefferies’

analysts were “cautiously optimistic”

that a slow recovery in Chinese

demand was on the way.

In the FTSE 250, a £1.36 billion

proposed takeover offer from Energy

Capital Partners propelled shares in

Biffa to a new high of 413½p, up 88½p,

Miner hit by ‘wipeout’ warning

commodities

A

warning from

Petropavlovsk

that its

shareholders face

being wiped out sent

shares in the Russian

goldminer, already

down by more than

90 per cent this year,

into the red once

again yesterday (Tom

Howard writes).

The company,

which operates in the

far east of Russia, has

been struggling amid

the war in Ukraine.

Gazprombank, its

main lender and the

buyer of its gold, was

placed under UK

sanctions in March,

preventing the miner

from making interest

payments or selling its

output. Bosses have

brought in

restructuring advisers

to try to get out of the

mess and one option

on the table is a fire

sale of the group’s

mines “as soon as

practically possible”.

However, the

company has warned

that “it is highly

unlikely that any

return will be secured

for shareholders”,

given the level of the

company’s

indebtedness.

Gazprombank has

called in a

$201 million loan,

which Petropavlovsk

is struggling to pay or

refinance, while it

also owes $304 million

to debt-holders, which

did not receive last

month’s interest

repayment.

The shares closed

down 19 per cent at

less than 1.4p. At the

start of the year they

were changing hands

for 19p.

Sanctions against

its main lender have

hit Petropavlovsk

Wall Street report

Indices reversed losses amid hopes

that inflation may have peaked and

after record exports in April put

trade on track to contribute to

growth this quarter. The Dow Jones

industrial average rose 264.36

points, or 0.8 per cent, to 33,180.14.

Company Change
Biffa Energy Capital Partners tables bid 27.2%
Mitie Recovers previous losses 5.3%
Melrose Industries Extends gains after Ergotron sale 3.1%
Capricorn Energy Bank of America increases target price 2.9%
Rio Tinto Jefferies makes stock a “buy” 2.3%
IP Group Extends losses -4%
Genus Falls with wider FTSE 250 -4.2%
Future Positive sentiment dries up -4.3%
Ferrexpo Profit-taking -4.7%
National Express Warns of tighter margins -9.5%

The day’s biggest movers

were at about two

thirds of their pre-

pandemic level and

were “continuing to

build back strongly,

including strong

volumes over the

recent Jubilee bank

holiday weekend”.

National Express

added: “We are rapidly

adding capacity to flex

back up to this

improving demand and

position the network

for an expected strong

summer.”

With analysts

moving to downgrade

operating profits by

between 5 per cent

and 10 per cent, shares

in the £1.5 billion

transport company fell

by 25½p, or 9.5 per

cent, to 245p.

National

Express

warns of

bumpy ride

Exchange rates

Bid Change

Australia $ 1.743

Canada $ 1.579

Denmark Kr 8.742 +0.03

Euro ¤ 1.175

Hong Kong $ 9.872 +0.02

Hungary 456.185 +2.19

Indonesia 18190.282 +43.57

Israel Shk 4.206 +0.04

Japan Yen 166.673 +1.76

New Zealand $ 1.943 +0.02

Norway Kr 11.932 +0.15

Poland 5.381 +0.01

Russia 77.911 +0.37

S Africa Rd 19.325 +0.02

Sweden Kr 12.308 +0.06

Switzerland Fr 1.223 +0.01

Turkey Lira 21.065 +0.23

USA $ 1.258

Rates supplied by Morningstar

Dollar rates

Australia 1.3858-1.3868

Canada 1.2545-1.2546

Denmark 6.9497-6.9507

Euro 0.9342-0.9343

Hong Kong 7.8463-7.8468

Japan 132.60-132.61

Malaysia 4.3870-4.3960

Norway 9.4752-9.4802

Singapore 1.3743-1.3744

Sweden 9.7901-9.7954

Switzerland 0.9732-0.9733

Other Sterling

Argentina peso 152.72-152.73

Australia dollar 1.7457-1.7459

Bahrain dinar 0.4713-0.4783

Brazil real 6.1406-6.1444

Euro 1.1765-1.1767

Hong Kong dollar 9.8813-9.8823

India rupee 97.778-97.786

Indonesia rupiah 18214-18214

Kuwait dinar KD 0.3844-0.3868

Malaysia ringgit 5.4820-5.4932

New Zealand dollar 1.9454-1.9458

Singapore dollar 1.7307-1.7310

S Africa rand 19.385-19.396

U A E dirham 4.5858-4.5867

Money rates %

Base Rates Clearing Banks 1.00 ECB Refi -0.50 US Fed Fd 0.75-1.00

Halifax Mortgage Rate 3.59

Treasury Bills (Dis) Buy: 1 mth 0.890; 3 mth 0.940. Sell: 1 mth 0.780; 3 mth 0.700

1 mth 2 mth 3 mth 6 mth 12 mth

Interbank Rates 1.1842 0.0000 1.4711 1.9450 0.0000

Eurodollar Deps 1.31 - 1.56 1.45 - 1.7 1.66 - 1.91 2.07 - 2.32 2.8 - 3.05

Mkt Rates for Range Close 1 month 3 month

Copenhagen 8.6666-8.7587 8.7522-8.7535 141ds 413ds

Euro 1.1776-1.1652 1.1766-1.1765 13pr 39pr

Montreal 1.5683-1.5809 1.5799-1.5801 4pr 18pr

New York 1.2433-1.2597 1.2592-1.2594 2pr 9pr

Oslo 11.755-11.955 11.933-11.937 14ds 54ds

Stockholm 12.218-12.343 12.332-12.336 112ds 298ds

Tokyo 165.32-167.02 166.99-167.01 20ds 67ds

Zurich 1.2101-1.2259 1.2255-1.2256 20ds 62ds

Premium = pr Discount = ds

Sterling spot and forward rates

Gold/Precious

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

Jul 300.00 Nov 305.00 Jan unq
Mar unq May 310.00 Volume: 793

London Metal Exchange
(Official)

Cash 3mth Dec 22

Copper Gde A ($/tonne)
9610.0-9612.0 9610.0-9612.0 9580.0-9590.0

Lead ($/tonne)
2168.0-2169.0 2170.0-2172.0 2143.0-2148.0

Zinc Spec Hi Gde ($/tonne)
3745.0-3745.5 3745.0-3747.0 3405.0-3410.0

Alum Hi Gde ($/tonne)
2714.0-2715.0 2744.5-2745.0 2708.0-2713.0

Nickel ($/tonne)
29025.0-29050.0 29075.0-29100.0 29345.0-29395.0

Tin ($/tonne) 15mth
36150.0-36200.0 35600.0-35605.0 34545.0-34595.0

European money

deposits %

Currency

1mth 3mth 6mth 12mth

Dollar

0.13 0.20 0.29 0.55

Sterling

1.18 1.47 1.95 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 $1839.16

Close $1852.20-1852.28 High $1852.93

Low $1837.11

AM $1851.50 PM $1847.20

Krugerrand $1833.00-2932.00 (£1455.45-

2328.09)

Platinum $1015.22 (£806.11)

Silver $22.20 (£17.63)

Palladium $1984.93 (£1576.09)