Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey on Wednesday reported a rise in interim profit as it trimmed expenses.

Revenue in the half-year that ended July 3 came in slightly lower, however, at £2.08 billion, down 5.4% from £2.20 billion a year earlier.

Pretax profit rose 16% year-on-year to £334.5 million from £412.5 million. Net operating expenses were 15% lower at £189.9 million.

Taylor Wimpey completed 6,790 homes during the half, excluding joint-ventures, down 7.0% year-on-year but ahead of guidance.

‘The housing market continues to be resilient despite inflationary pressures in the wider economy and recent rises in the Bank of England base rate. There remains good availability of attractively priced mortgages, and we continue to see a healthy level of demand for Taylor Wimpey homes reflecting the quality of our homes and locations nationwide,’ it said.

Figures from mortgage lender Nationwide on Tuesday had shown that annual house price growth in the UK accelerated slightly in July, while the monthly measure rose by the 12th month in succession.

Nationwide’s latest tracker showed house prices surged 11% year-on-year in July, quickening slightly from a 10.7% hike in June. The monthly rise came in at a more modest 0.1% in July. House prices had risen 0.2% in June from May.

Taylor Wimpey expects yearly operating profit at the top end of the current market consensus range, helped by average selling prices, which forecasts to rise 4% to 5% year-on-year.

It declared a 4.62 pence per share dividend, up 12% from 4.14p a year earlier.

‘Our intention remains to return cash generated by the business in excess of that needed by the group to fund land investment, all working capital, taxation and other cash requirements of the business, and once the ordinary dividend has been met. We will review the level of excess capital and potential return in respect of 2022 at the time of the 2022 full year results in March 2023, for payment in 2023,’ Taylor Wimpey added.

Taylor Wimpey shares were up 3.3% early Wednesday, while the wider FTSE 100 index was lower.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:

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MARKETS

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FTSE 100: called down 0.3% at 7,389.12

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Hang Seng: up 0.3% at 27,741.90

Nikkei 225: closed up 0.5% at 27,741.90

S&P/ASX 200: closed down 0.3% at 6,975.90

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DJIA: closed down 402.23 points, or 1.2%, at 32,396.17

S&P 500: closed down 27.44 points, or 0.7%, at 4,091.19

Nasdaq Composite: closed down 20.22 points, or 0.2%, at 12,348.76

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EUR: down at $1.0162 ($1.0195)

GBP: down at $1.2162 ($1.2210)

USD: up at JP¥133.14 (JP¥131.80)

GOLD: down at $1,768.16 per ounce ($1,778.85)

OIL (Brent): firm at $100.15 a barrel ($99.99)

(changes since previous London equities close)

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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL

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Wednesday’s key economic events still to come

OPEC and non-OPEC ministerial meeting

0955 CEST Germany services purchasing managers’ index

1000 CEST eurozone services PMI

1100 CEST eurozone retail sales

1100 CEST eurozone producer price index

0930 BST UK services PMI

0700 EDT US MBA weekly mortgage applications survey

0945 EDT US services PMI

1000 EDT US ISM services PMI

1030 EDT US EIA weekly petroleum status report

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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged Washington’s support for Taiwan during a visit to the island that has drawn Beijing’s ire. ‘Today, our delegation...came to Taiwan to make unequivocally clear: we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, and we’re proud of our enduring friendship,’ Pelosi said at a joint press conference with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen. ‘Today, the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,’ Pelosi said, as she praised Taiwan as ‘one of the freest [democracies] in the world, proudly to be led by a woman president.’ ‘Now more than ever, America solidarity with Taiwan is crucial. And that is the message we are bringing here today,’ Pelosi said. She arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday despite stern warnings from Beijing, making her the highest-level US official to visit the island in 25 years.

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Germany reported a surprisingly large trade surplus in June, as exports, including those to Russia, increased markedly on a monthly basis. According to Destatis, the EU’s largest economy recorded a trade surplus of €6.4 billion in June, up sharply from €800 million in May. May’s figure was downwardly revised from €1 billion. June’s number came in sharply above an FXStreet-cited forecast of €200 million. According to Destatis, exports climbed 4.5% in June from May to €134.3 billion. Exports were expected to have risen by just 1%, according to FXStreet. Imports grew by a more modest 0.2% on-month to €127.9 billion in June, falling short of expectations for a 1.3% increase. Exports to Russia were 15% higher in June from May, Destatis noted. Exports to other EU nations were 3.9% higher on a monthly basis.

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BROKER RATING CHANGES

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Goldman Sachs raises BP price target to 640 (610) pence - ’conviction buy list’

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SocGen cuts Kingfisher to ’sell’ (hold) - price target 216 (271) pence

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Citigroup cuts Centrica to ’neutral’ (buy) - price target 97 (105) pence

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JPMorgan raises BAE Systems to ’overweight’ (neutral) - price target 965 (870) pence

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COMPANIES - FTSE 100

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The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it has provisionally cleared NortonLifeLock’s acquisition of Avast, after an in-depth probe of the £6 billion deal. ‘The CMA’s investigation has found that the supply of cyber safety software to consumers is rapidly evolving. Providers of both paid-for and free services are continually developing and improving their products over time to meet different and changing customer needs,’ the watchdog said. The enlarged firm still faces stiff competition, including ‘main rival’ McAfee, the CMA explained. In addition, Microsoft’s own in-house cybersecurity applications in the Window operating system are ‘increasingly important alternatives for consumers’.

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Pharmaceutical firm GSK launched an offer to repurchase all of its exchangeable senior notes due 2023, of which $280 million worth are outstanding.

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COMPANIES - FTSE 250

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Insurer Hiscox said it swung to a loss in the half-year that ended June 30. It reported a pretax loss of $107.4 million, swinging from a profit of $133.4 million a year prior. Hiscox suffered an investment loss of $214.1 million, after a gain of $61.9 million a year earlier. It put the poor investment result down to ‘to interest rates rising sharply, credit spreads widening, and equity markets selling off.’ Gross written premiums increased 9.2% year-on-year to $2.65 billion from $2.43 billion. Its combined ratio improved to 91.3% from 93.1%, the lower figures Hiscox is making more profit from its underwriting operations. Hiscox said it estimates its loss from the Ukraine and Russia conflict is $48 million, net of reinsurance. It added: ‘The second quarter has been relatively benign for natural catastrophe events, such that the net natural catastrophe losses in the first half are within our expectation and budget. Excluding the impact of the conflict in Ukraine, all Hiscox business divisions continued to enjoy favourable claims experience.’

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Iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo has its operations in central Ukraine so its first-half financials felt the brunt of the ongoing conflict. Sales volumes declined 21% and pellet production was 14% lower in the first half of 2022. Ferrexpo said pellet sales have been largely limited to European customers due to Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. More positively, it said, pellet prices are strong due to reduced supply to global markets from Russia. Ferrexpo’s revenue declined 31% year-on-year to $936.9 million from $1.35 billion. Pretax profit plunged 80% to $155.7 million from $796.9 million a year earlier.

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COMPANIES - SMALL CAP and DUBLIN

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Ryanair said it flew 16.8 passengers in July, up from 15.9 million in June and 9.3 million a year before. Load factor last month was 96%, up slightly from 95% in June and greatly improved from 80% a year ago. On rolling 12-month basis, Ryanair carried 142.0 million passengers with an 87% load factor, up from 40.0 million and 74% a year before.

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Bank of Ireland reported a first half profit decline. Pretax profit fell 18% to €335 million in the first half of 2022 from €406 million a year prior. Total operating income slumped 68% to €904 million from €2.80 billion. Net interest income alone, however, was largely flat at €1.08 billion. The total operating income figure was hit by a €1.48 billion loss in life assurance investment income, swinging from a €614 million gain a year prior.

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Zinc Media agreed to buy The Edge Picture Co, a UK-based brand and corporate film production company. Zinc will pay £2.1 million initially, plus up to £3.9 million more in performance based consideration. Part of the initial price will be satisfied by issuing 540,000 Zinc shares at 100 pence each, and Zinc raised an additional £5.0 million from a placing of 5.0 million shares, also at 100p. It will raise up to £250,000 more from a retail offer at the same price. The Edge booked £500,000 in pretax profit on £8.2 million in revenue in 2021.

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COMPANIES - GLOBAL

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AXA unveiled a €1 billion share buyback after an increase in half-year profit. Revenue for the first six months of 2022 rose 2.4% to €55.14 billion from €53.87 billion year-on-year. This was driven by the Paris-based insurance company’s Health arm, where revenue rose 13%, with strong growth across all geographies, particularly in France. Property & Casualty revenue edged up 1% and Asset Management recorded 4% growth. The revenue growth lifted net income 2.8% to €4.11 billion from €4.00 billion. AXA approved a €1 billion share buyback, to start as soon as possible and complete by February 2023. In the first half of 2022, AXA completed two share buyback programmes for a total amount of €2.2 billion

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US retail investment platform Robinhood announced drastic staff cuts, citing the cryptocurrency market crash among the reasons. Robinhood Chief Executive Vlad Tenev said in a blog post that the online broker, which touts itself as an investing platform for the common man, would be ‘reducing our headcount by approximately 23%’. Tenev said the cuts were company-wide but would particularly affect Robinhood’s operations, marketing and program management roles. The company did not initially provide further details about the number of expected terminations. US media reported that some 780 employees have already been laid off. In April, Tenev had already announced a 9% cut to the company’s workforce, but he said Tuesday that ‘did not go far enough’.

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Wednesday’s shareholder meetings

Block Energy PLC - AGM

Cambium Global Timberland Ltd - GM re wind-up

Conduity Capital PLC - AGM

D4t4 Solutions PLC - AGM

Edenville Energy PLC - AGM

John Wood Group PLC - GM re Built Environment sale

Molten Ventures PLC - AGM

RiverFort Global Opportunities PLC - AGM

Scirocco Energy PLC - AGM

Sequoia Economic Infrastructure Income Fund Ltd - AGM

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