Consumer goods giant Unilever (ULVR) is to accelerate and widen its vast restructuring strategy. On Thursday it unveiled plans to exit its spreads business, increase margin targets, raise its dividend and review its dual-headed legal structure, as it aims to prove it can deliver near-term growth on its own.
This comes in response to the swiftly rejected takeover bid in February from US colossus Kraft Heinz. The news is met with a shrug at this early stage, with the share price trading just a single percentage point off at £39.00.
Oil explorer in Iraq’s Kurdistan region Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has cut annual pre-tax losses to $17m, figures for the 2016 full year show. This comes after last year’s debt-for-equity swap deal which saved the company from going under. The shares rise 1.5% to 121p, valuing the business at about £270m.
UK supermarket Tesco (TSCO) is cutting night shifts for shelf stackers in some of its supermarkets in a fresh shakeup that puts 3,000 jobs at risk. This is according to national newspaper press speculation but the story budges the shares 0.5% lower to 183.35p.
There’s a new CFO at newspapers group Daily Mail & General Trust (DMGT) as former Reuters risk executive Tim Collier joins. He replaces Stephen Daintith who resigned from the group in September. The shares dip 1% to 705p.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) has sold its stake in a New Zealand gas field while taking over the field's operating company as part of a plan to possibly divest its holdings in the country later on, according to reports.
The shares nudge about 1% lower to £21.805, although the stock move is likely more down to lower oil prices. Reports say US crude inventories are at record levels underscoring the view that oil stocks remain bloated despite efforts led by OPEC to cut output and prop up prices.
UK markets are dragged into the red in early trading on Thursday with the tone of corporate news on the dull side. The FTSE 100 index slides around 66 points, or about 0.9%, to 7,265, although a swelter of company stocks go ex-dividend, adding weight the declines. These include insurance group Aviva (AV.), engineer GKN (GKN), Hikma (HIK), the pharmaceuticals firm, bank Lloyds (LLOY), retailer Next (NXT) and betting company Paddy Power Betfair (PPB) among many others.
Babywear retailer Mothercare (MTC) rallies 2.8% to 117.5p as it posts a decent start to trading in 2017. The announcement shows like-for-like sales for the 11 weeks to 25 March up 4.5%.
Shares in mining group Ferrexpo (FXPO) are off 1.7% to 170.7p as investors weigh up the pros and cons of a first quarter output update.
Among smaller companies, accounting software for microcaps supplier FreeAgent (FREE:AIM) rallies 4.3% to 121p as it states that while revenue of £8m for the year to 31 March 2017 is in line with forecasts, both adjusted EBITDA losses and net cash will beat expectations. FreeAgent is a recent top pick of Shares, and you can read why here.
Soaring 57% to 4.24p are shares in Greka Drilling (GDL:AIM). The jump in the unconventional driller in Asia comes after its success on a three-year contract in India.
But news of reduced output from its Tschudi project in Namibia drags mining junior Weatherly International (WTI:AIM) 11.5% lower to 0.58p.
