On track for one of its worst weeks this year, London’s FTSE 100 falls 10 points to 7,309 on Friday with the banking sector on the back foot and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds (LLOY) and Barclays (BARC) all marked lower.
British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) experiences turbulence, marked down 18p (2.6%) to 663.2p as investors weigh the ramifications of a troubling hack attack. Late on Thursday, IAG conceded that hackers had stolen customer data from British Airways’ website and mobile app, although the stolen data did not include travel or passport details.
Investors raise a glass to pubs and restaurants operator Greene King (GNK), bid up 12.8% to 535.8p on news a prolonged spell of sunny weather and the World Cup kept the booze flowing at its Pub Company in the first quarter to 2 September.
Pub Company’s like-for-like sales rose 2.8%, beating a 1.2% rise in the broader market. Greene King’s branded local pubs traded particularly well, delivering like-for-like sales of 5.5% as 3.7m pints of beer were sold in total during England’s seven World Cup matches, with like-for-like sales up 61% on the day of the semi-final. ‘Our cost mitigation programme to help offset gross cost inflation of circa £45-50m is on track and we are making good progress with our refinancing programme, which will reduce the cost of debt and increase flexibility,’ adds Green King.
Specialist emerging markets fund manager Ashmore (ASHM) gathers up 9.8p to trade at 355p. Investors welcome the 26% growth in assets under management to US$73.9bn achieved in the year to June as well as CEO Mark Coombs’ upbeat outlook. ‘While the very strong net flows delivered in 2018 may not be repeated in the near term, attractive valuations, Ashmore’s strong investment performance track record and investors’ underweight allocations to emerging markets mean that the outlook remains positive,’ comments Coombs.
Elsewhere, gambling software supplier Playtech (PTEC) sparks up 11.3p to 498.3p after selling its entire 10% stake in online broker Plus500 (PLUS) for around £176m, with the disposal proceeds earmarked for ‘general corporate purposes and debt reduction’.
Healthcare company BTG (BTG) reverses 9p to 554p, the market seemingly unimpressed by its acquisition of Ireland-based medical device outfit Novate, which focuses on the prevention of pulmonary embolism.
Pallet maker RM2 (RM2:AIM) rallies 4.76% to 55p on news it has successfully completed a 100-unit trial with ‘one of the world’s leaders in the logistics industry’. Other trials are proceeding well too, including one with a North American beverage customer, although RM2 does warn its target of turning EBITDA positive in 2019 is ‘challenging’.
And online musical instruments retailer Gear4music (G4M:AIM) cheapens 4.4% to 590p despite reporting better than expected 36% total sales growth to £42.5m for the half to August. Today’s disappointment centres on the news increased competition is crimping gross margins and European sales growth has been constrained by a slower than planned build-up of stock at Gear4music’s European warehouses.
