Yahoo Finance FTSE 100 Live: Resurgent M&S restores dividend, ITV under pressure, shares close down
The first Marks & Spencer dividend in four years amid the latest signs of turnaround progress today sparked a big jump for the retailer’s shares.
The M&S recovery is in contrast to the fortunes of ITV investors, with the commercial broadcaster under pressure after its latest trading update.
Stock markets otherwise struggled for direction as investors await more clues on whether interest rates have peaked in the UK and United States.
FTSE closes down 0.1%
Wednesday 8 November 2023 16:44 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 closed at 7,401.72 today, down 0.1%, as its mid-afternoon gains quickly faded.
After starting the day behind, London's top flight reached as high as 7439.
M&S finished up 9.9%, at 247.4p.
Chipmaker Vishay buys Newport Wafer Fab in $177 million deal
Wednesday 8 November 2023 15:04 , Daniel O'Boyle
The UK's largest chipmaking facility has been bought by American semiconductor firm Vishay in a $177 million deal.
Newport Wafer Fab in South Wales, which makes semiconductors used in a host of electronic products including for smartphones and cars, was earlier this year put up for sale after the government ordered Chinese firm Nexperia to give up its control of the plant on national security grounds.
Joel Smejkal, President and CEO of Vishay, said: "By agreeing to acquire Newport Wafer Fab, our goal is to safeguard the positions of the highly skilled and dedicated employees."
Read more here
FTSE 100 higher
Wednesday 8 November 2023 14:56 , Daniel O'Boyle
The FTSE 100 is now up for the day despite falling at the start of trading, with M&S now up by more than 10%.
London's top flight is up 0.3% to 7,434.26
AB Foods and Rolls Royce are among the other big risers.
It comes as US stocks also got off to a strong start.
City Comment: M&S boss Machin may be on course for £1bn profits — and a knighthood
Wednesday 8 November 2023 12:17 , Daniel O'Boyle
Famously only two chief executives in the long and chequered history of Marks & Spencer have delivered annual profits of more than £1 billion: Sir Richard Greenbury in 1997, and the soon-to-be-Sir Stuart Rose, now Lord Rose, a decade later.
It is early days but can the current boss Stuart Machin start to dream of joining their ranks — and perhaps bag himself a knighthood in the process?
He has certainly got off to a stonking start with first half profits that left City analysts puzzling how they could have got their forecasts so wrong.
M&S has been disappointing the City for so long with a succession of failed reboots and strategy overhauls under the likes of less revered leaders such as Marc Bolland and “Lucky” Luc Vandevelde that perhaps they simply did not factor in the upside potential of the current shake-up.
Touker Suleyman's Hawes & Curtis cheers sales jump with smart clothes in demand
Wednesday 8 November 2023 11:00 , Daniel O'Boyle
A surge in demand for smartwear as more workers return to the office has boosted sales and profits at Dragons’ Den star Touker Suleyman’s Jermyn Street shirtmakers Hawes & Curtis.
The 110-year-old formalwear firm, which has been owned by the celebrity entrepreneur and his brother since 2001, has counted the Duke of Windsor, Lord Mountbatten, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire among its clients.
Turnover reached £43.8 million last year, up from £24.3 million in the previous 12 months, according to accounts just filed at Companies House. Pre-tax profit was up to £7.9 million from £1.4 million.
Suleyman told the Evening Standard the company, which has 14 UK outlets, had benefited from a focus on flagship rather than smaller stores.
Entain rallies on boardroom buying, FTSE 100 flat
Wednesday 8 November 2023 10:33 , Graeme Evans
Entain has risen 4% in the FTSE 100 index after it emerged four directors of the Ladbrokes owner had spent around £2.4 million on shares.
The boardroom buying was led by chair Barry Gibson, while chief executive Jette Nygaard-Andersen spent £325,000 to more than double her holding,
The purchases follow a poor run for shares, including last week after Entain reported a series of punter-friendly results in European football.
The stock was among today’s FTSE 100 frontrunners, lifting 37.2p to 978.2p in an otherwise cautious session as investors awaited a speech tonight by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell.
The FTSE 100 index today stood 5.62 points lower at 7404.42, with energy firms Centrica and SSE among those under pressure.
The selling came after Europe's E.ON beat third quarter earnings expectations by 10% but left full-year guidance unchanged.
On the risers board, Rolls-Royce shares added 3.8p to 229.8p after Morgan Stanley gave the engines giant an “overweight” recommendation and upgraded price target of 276p.
The FTSE 250 index drifted 6.97 points to 17,754.74, with biomass power business Drax off 6.4p to 428.6p.
ITV gets Rugby bounce
Wednesday 8 November 2023 09:44 , Simon English
ITV today cheered the success of the Rugby World Cup in wooing audiences but warned that the advertising market “remains challenging” and is likely to be down 8% for the full year.
In the nine months to September, revenue was up 1% to £2.97 billion, with growth in digital ads and the studio arm offsetting ad declines.
ITV is still dealing with the fallout from the Philip Schofield scandal. He quit This Morning after admitting to an affair with a younger colleague that he had not disclosed to ITV.
Chief executive Dame Carolyn McCall has been under pressure over how much she knew or should have known about the behaviour of ITV’s top stars.
She has ordered an external review of how the company handled the Schofield matter. The company says those findings will be published, perhaps by the end of the year.
The Rugby World Cup helped ITV grab a high number of male ABC1s, typically seen as elusive by TV advertisers.
But the ad market remains tough, requiring cost cuts.
ITV said: “We continue to review our cost base in order to deliver further savings, in addition to our current £50 million target to 2026.”
It is growing ITVX, its streaming service, which it predicts will have revenues of £750 million by 2026.
It added: “In the shorter term, the global content market has been impacted by lower demand fromfree-to-air broadcasters, reflecting the challenging advertising environment, as well as the US writers' and actors' strike.”
McCall has been CEO since January 2018 but has given no hint that she intends to move on.
City watchers note that she was at The Guardian for 23 years and then easyJet for 8.
ITV shares slid 4p to 61p, which leaves it valued at £2.5 billion.
Wetherspoon's chair fights back against "urban myths"
Wednesday 8 November 2023 09:20 , Simon English
JD Wetherspoon’s today tried to dismiss some “urban myths” about the business as it cheered a jump in bar sales.
For the 14 weeks to November 5, sales were 9.5% higher, with drinks up 10.7%, food by 8.2% and fruit machines by 10%.
The company’s reputation for good value may have helped it during a consumer squeeze, but founder Tim Martin was keen to set a few things straight.
Some commentators assume the pub has low employment standardsor low customer satisfaction, something surveys disprove. He intends to repeatthis message until it “reaches all corners of the known universe”.
He added: “Another related urban myth, sometimes repeated by City analysts, is that Wetherspoon does not attract customers in higherincome groups. In fact, a recent survey by market researchers CGA indicatesthat the average income of Wetherspoon customers is 7% above that of theaverage ‘high street pub consumer’.”
The company has opened one pub at London’s Heathrow airport during the period. Four pubs have been sold and six leasehold pubs have been surrendered to the landlord. The company currently has a trading estate of 816 pubs.
The shares rose 8p to 684p.
Smiths News shares hold flat as it warns World Cup bounce won't repeat
Wednesday 8 November 2023 09:11 , Simon Hunt
Shares in Smiths News fell in early trade this morning, before recovering to hold flat after the newspaper and magazine wholesaler warned a World Cup and Coronation boost to sales would not repeat itself next year.
The firm said: "Top line sales were boosted by the FIFA World Cup, the Royal Succession and sustained price rises above historic norms."
"[But] we are mindful that sales gains from the World Cup and Royal Succession will not repeat in FY2024.
"We expect volumes to continue to decline and we are planning accordingly, taking the opportunity to reconfigure our network and operations as part of our cost reduction programme."
Revenues for the year to the end of August were unchanged at £1.1 billion, while profits rose 14% to £31.8 million.
M&S shares jump 9%, ITV down 6% after update
Wednesday 8 November 2023 08:46 , Graeme Evans
Marks & Spencer shares are up 9% or 21.1p at 246.3p after the retailer restored dividends and said trading momentum continued in October.
The high street bellwether’s results-day bounce came during a lacklustre session for the FTSE 100 index, which stood 7.84 points higher at 7417.88.
The next best performing blue-chip stock was Ladbrokes owner Entain, which rebounded 3% or 25.4p to 966.4p as it emerged that directors had spent £2.4 million on shares.
Stocks from the financial services sector were out of favour, with Aviva, Legal & General and Hargreaves Lansdown all down by more than 1%.
The FTSE 250 index fell 25.49 to 17,736.22, with JD Wetherspoon up 8.9p to 684.9p and ITV down 6% or 4.1p to 61.5p after their respective trading updates.
M&S leads FTSE 100 - market snapshot
Wednesday 8 November 2023 08:27 , Daniel O'Boyle
M&S is the top riser on today's FTSE 100, though the index is down overall for the day.
Take a look at our full market snapshot:
M&S reveals hike in profits and declares dividend
Wednesday 8 November 2023 07:54 , Joanna Bourke
The long-promised turnaround at Marks & Spencer has gathered pace with the High Street stalwart recording a leap in profits and sales.
The food and clothing retailer did caution the outlook remains uncertain, but boss Stuart Machin welcomed the first half strong performance.
Read more HERE
Daily Mirror and Express publisher Reach to cut another 450 jobs
Wednesday 8 November 2023 07:30 , Daniel O'Boyle
Daily Mirror and Express publisher Reach plc is cutting around 450 jobs, as it aims to mitigate “inflationary pressures” that it expects to see in 2024.
The news media giant, which also owns the Daily Star, already undertook major cost-cutting at the beginning of this year, cutting around 200 jobs as it aimed to cut spend by 5-6%. However, it now says it will make further cuts “to strengthen its position as a leading digital publisher, and mitigate against the backdrop of continuing inflationary pressures that we expect to impact 2024”.
Reach has been among the leaders in the UK in bringing in robots to write articles instead of humans. Mullen revealed after the publisher’s first-quarter earnings that the company was already publishing AI-written articles on local media outlet In Your Area.
Wall Street run continues but FTSE 100 seen lower, oil price down
Wednesday 8 November 2023 07:14 , Graeme Evans
Brent Crude is trading at $81.57 this morning, the oil benchmark’s lowest level in three months after a fall of more than 6% since last Friday.
The latest decline follows a bigger-than-expected jump in US crude inventories, offsetting this week’s extension of production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Weaker oil stocks BP and Shell meant the FTSE 100 index finished marginally in negative territory last night, even though it was another encouraging session on Wall Street.
The tech-led Nasdaq Composite closed 0.9% higher and has risen for an eighth day in a row, representing its longest run of gains since November 2021 as investors appear to think that US interest rates have peaked.
The encouraging batch of US earnings figures has also boosted confidence, with the S&P 500 index last night up by a more modest 0.3% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.2%.
Wall Street futures are pointing to a steady session later as traders await more speeches by Federal Reserve policymakers, including from chair Jerome Powell tonight.
Asia markets are trading moderately lower while CMC Markets expects the FTSE 100 index to open 20 points lower at 7390.
Recap: Yesterday's top stories
Tuesday 7 November 2023 22:20 , Simon Hunt
Good morning. Here's a summary of our top stories from yesterday:
WeWork files for Chapter11 with liabilities of “up to $50 billion but UK remains outside the bankruptcy
Halifax: House prices rose by 1.1% in October ending a run of six consecutive declines. Annual rate of fall is 3.3% nationally and 4.6% in London
Kantar: Food inflation falls below 10% for the first time in 16 months
ABF pays huge dividend as Primark sales surge 17% and profits by 30%
Naked Wines CEO quits after profit warning over huge fall in US sales
What WeWork filing for bankruptcy in the US means for London offices
Who is Adam Neumann? The story of the billionaire founder of WeWork
