Yahoo Finance Trending tickers: Revolution Beauty | Mulberry | Wise | Walgreens
Revolution Beauty (REVB.L)
Revolution Beauty shares recommenced trading on the London Stock Exchange this Wednesday, with the embattled retailer surging more than 55%.
The affordable make-up brand is open to investors again after it reappointed chief executive Bob Holt to the board as well as chief financial officer Elizabeth Lake and chairman Derek Zissman.
Boohoo (BOO.L), which holds about a 26.6% stake in Revolution, had voted against the reappointments at an extraordinary annual meeting on Tuesday and said today it has “serious concerns” about the board.
Revolution Beauty responded by again calling Boohoo’s actions “nothing short of value-destructive, opportunistic and self-serving”.
“The return from suspension today is welcome news for investors and the shares have surged higher, although, at 29p, it is a long road back to the issue price of 160p from its 2021 IPO,” Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said.
“You can see why Boohoo built its stake in Revolution Beauty in the first place. The brand does have strengths and spending on cosmetics is often fairly resilient in difficult economic conditions, while Boohoo offers Revolution Beauty a very useful sales channel.
“For the sake of other shareholders, both parties could do with putting the war of words behind them and working together constructively, whatever concessions this might require on both sides,” he added.
Mulberry (MUL.L)
Mulberry’s pretax profit slumped in the year, despite an uptick in revenue, as increasing costs weighed on performance.
In the year to April, the luxury handbag retailer reported an underlying profit of £2.5m ($3.18m), down from £14.6m last year as UK sales slipped to £87.7m from £88.5m.
Pre-tax profits fell 38% to £13.2m, in part due to costs linked to its Bond Street store which shuttered back in February.
The international business was the outperformer with sales up 12% to £46.5m while Asia-Pacific sales rose 3% to £28.9m despite a number of COVID lockdowns.
Giving an update on current trading, Mulberry said group revenue for the first 12 weeks of the new financial year was 6% ahead of last year, with retail revenue up 15%.
Wise (WISE.L)
Shares in money transfer Wise have surged as the firm posted a 234% boost in profits over the past year on the back of rising interest rates.
Wise, which specialises in international money transfers, posted a profit of £146.5m for the year to the end of March, up from £43.9m in 2022.
CEO Kristo Käärmann said the promising results were down to “customer growth combined with some specific tailwinds from interest”.
He added: “Our strong growth and continued profitability are a direct result of our focus on our mission and our customers.”
According to Wise, it served around 10 million customers over the past year, an increase of 34% from the year prior.
Walgreens (WBA)
Walgreens Boots Alliance slashed its full-year profit forecast and announced plans to close 450 stores in the US and UK, sending the pharmacy chain’s stock plunging.
James Kehoe, executive vice-president and global finance chief, confirmed the closures during an earnings call with analysts on Tuesday.
“As you have seen, we are accelerating our portfolio optimisation to further simplify the business,” he said.
Citing declining COVID-related revenues and a "more cautious macroeconomic forward view," Walgreens cut its full-year adjusted earnings per share guidance to a range of $4.00-$4.05 from a range of $4.45-$4.65.
"We saw lower-than-expected COVID-related demand," Walgreens CEO Rosalind Brewer said on the company's third quarter earnings call on Tuesday. "We had called out COVID as a wildcard heading into the quarter and have unfortunately seen less patient willingness to vaccinate."
For the third quarter, Walgreens posted revenue of $35.42bn, slightly above analyst estimates of $34.21bn.
Watch: Walgreens cuts guidance, Lordstown Motors' bankruptcy, Unity Software shares soared: Top stories
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