Yahoo Finance What to watch: Barclays eyes buybacks, Centrica shares dip, and Purplebricks crashes
Here are the top business, market, and economic stories you should be watching today in the UK, Europe, and abroad:
Barclays eyes buybacks
Barclays (BARC.L) has raised its dividend and announced plans to return more capital to shareholders through share buybacks and dividends in future.
Barclays said on Thursday it was raising its full-year dividend from 3p to 6.5p. CEO Jes Staley said: “We will use the strong capital generation of the bank to return a greater proportion of those earnings to shareholders by way of dividends and to supplement those dividends with additional returns, including share buybacks.”
Shares in Barclays were up 1.1% on the announcement in early trade in London.
The announcement came as Barclays put out its full-year and fourth quarter results, showing a 1% dip in pre-tax profit. Barclays also announced it was setting aside £150m for possible Brexit disruption.
Centrica warns on price cap
Shares in British Gas owner Centrica (CNA.L) fell by 10% on Thursday after it warned its financial performance in 2019 will be hit by the energy regulator’s default tariff price cap.
Centrica reported a 12% rise in annual group operating profits to £1.39bn for 2018. It said the 12% rise was due to higher commodity prices and strong rough gas production. Revenue increased by 6% in 2018 to £29.7bn compared to a year earlier.
Centrica CEO Iain Conn said: “Centrica’s financial performance in 2018 was mixed against a challenging external backdrop.
“We are taking actions to strengthen the company in 2019 and improve underlying performance in 2020, including driving cost efficiency hard and delivering further divestments, and as a result net debt levels remain underpinned.”
Purplebricks shares crash 37%
Shares in online estate agent Purplebricks (PURP.L) tanked by 37% on Thursday after it warned on revenues and said the bosses of its UK and US businesses were leaving.
The company said that revenues from its Australian and US businesses would be lower than anticipated this year. It cut its guidance for full-year revenues from £165-175m to £130-140m.
Purplebricks also said that Lee Wainwright, UK CEO, and Eric Eckardt, US CEO, would shortly be leaving the business. The company said Wainwright was leaving for personal reasons but did not give a reason for Eckardt’s departure.
European markets
European stock markets were mixed. Britain’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was down by 0.6%, Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was up by 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) was flat, and the Euronext 100 (^N100) was down less than 0.1%.
Asian markets were strong overnight. Japan’s Nikkei 225 (^N225) closed up by 0.1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index (^HSI) was up by 0.4%, and China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite (000001.SS) was up by 1.1%.
What to expect in the US
US stock futures were pointing to a higher open. S&P 500 futures (ES=F) were up by 0.1%, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures (YM=F) were up by 0.2%, and Nasdaq futures (NQ=F) were up by 0.1%. The VIX volatility-tracking index (^VIX) was down by 5.7%.
Companies reporting in the US later today include:
