Stocks in London traded higher at Tuesday’s open, with Ocado and Darktrace topping the FTSE 100 and 250 indices respectively.
The FTSE 100 index opened up 4.29 points, 0.1%, at 7,410.71. The FTSE 250 was up 65.29 points, 0.4%, at 18,469.72, and the AIM All-Share was up 1.31 points, 0.2% at 750.62.
The Cboe UK 100 was marginally lower at 739.01, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.3% at 16,202.51, and the Cboe Small Companies was up 0.2% at 13,448.20.
The dollar was weaker in early exchanges in Europe.
Sterling was quoted at $1.3093 early Tuesday, higher than $1.3080 at the London equities close on Monday. The euro traded at $1.1255, higher than $1.1231. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JP¥138.41, down versus JP¥139.11.
UK grocery price inflation has seen the biggest drop since its peak in March but remains ‘incredibly high’, figures showed.
Supermarket promotions helped the figure fall to 14.9% in the four weeks to July 9, down from 16.5% over the previous month, according to analysts at Kantar. It is the fourth month in a row that inflation has fallen from its peak of 17.5% in March.
Fraser McKevitt, head of retail & consumer insight at Kantar, said: ‘One of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in this area is retailers ramping up loyalty card deals like Tesco’s Clubcard Prices and Sainsbury’s Nectar Prices.
‘This could signal a change in focus by the grocers who had been concentrating their efforts on everyday low pricing, particularly by offering more value own-label lines.’
Over the 12-week period, Sainsbury’s sales grew by 10.7%, edging out Asda and Tesco at 10.5% and 10.2% respectively.
Shares in Tesco and Sainsbury’s both rose 0.4%.
However, the star grocery performer on Tuesday was Ocado, up 12%.
The firm reported its results for the half year ended May 28. Revenue rose 8.6% year-on-year to £1.37 billion from £1.26 billion, while its pretax loss widened to £289.5 million from £211.3 million. The company left its annual guidance unchanged from February
The group’s retail arm, run as a joint venture with Marks & Spencer, posted an underlying loss of £2.5 million overall in the six months to May 28, though Ocado said it delivered underlying earnings in each month of the second quarter.
It said there was a ‘clear pathway’ to continue driving underling earnings at the division.
Shares in M&S rose 1.2%
In the FTSE 250, Darktrace jumped 25%, sharing news that Ernst & Young completed its independent review.
The cybersecurity firm brought in the accountants to conduct a third-party probe into its financial processes in February, after falling under scrutiny from short-seller Quintessential Capital Management. Quintessential had criticised Darktrace’s management and said it was ‘sceptical’ about its growth figures.
‘Neither management, nor the board consider EY’s report to have any impact on Darktrace’s previously filed public company financial statements nor to change their belief that those financial statements fairly represent Darktrace’s financial position and results,’ Darktrace said on Tuesday. Grant Thorton’s audit for its prior results remain unchanged.
German investment bank Berenberg judged this to be a ‘very good outcome for the firm’.
Darktrace also updated on recent trading, reporting year-on-year revenue growth of at least 31% in the financial year to June 30. It raised guidance for adjusted Ebitda margin to 22% from 19% previously. Looking ahead to financial 2024, it expects a ‘first half stabilisation’ which will then be followed by a ‘second half re-acceleration’.
On AIM, Revolution Beauty rose 7.8%, after reaching an agreement with its major shareholder, online fast fashion retailer boohoo.
After tense exchanges in recent weeks, the beauty company has agreed to shake up its leadership. Revolution Chief Executive Bob Holt and Chair Derek Zissman have agreed to resign, with Holt to stay as interim CEO until the end of August. Elizabeth Lake will remain as chief financial officer, despite boohoo previously calling for her to be removed.
Alistair McGeorge will join as executive chair, while Neil Catto, Rachel Horsefield and Peter Hallett will join the board as directors.
‘Revolution Beauty will commence a search process to identify a new CEO with extensive experience of the beauty sector, retail and consumer brands,’ it said.
Gold was quoted at $1,961.72 an ounce early Tuesday, higher than $1,952.33 on Monday. Brent oil was trading at $78.56 a barrel, lower than $79.11.
In European equities on Tuesday, the CAC 40 in Paris was flat, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt was down 0.1%.
Over in Zurich, Novartis was up 3.0%. The Swiss pharmaceutical firm launched a $15 billion dollar buyback, alongside the release of strong second-quarter results.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo closed up 0.3%, reopening after a public holiday. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed down 0.2%.
In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.4%. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 2.0%, reopening after an unplanned closure due to a typhoon on Monday.
Wall Street ended higher on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.9%.
In the US corporate calendar on Tuesday, there will be results from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, with the likes of Goldman Sachs, Netflix, Tesla and Johnson & Johnson to follow later in the week.
The economic calendar has retail sales data for the US at 1330 BST, followed by a US industrial production print at 1415 BST.
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