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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening lower on Tuesday as Russia continued its assault on Ukraine.
In early company news, Paddy Power-owner Flutter Entertainment swung to a pretax loss in 2021, but growth in the US continued. Speciality chemicals firm Croda International reported strong annual results. Testing specialist Intertek hailed the need for quality assurance against a backdrop of global supply chain disruption.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 19.25 points lower at 7,439.00. The index closed down 31.21 points, or 0.4%, at 7,458.25 Monday.
Flutter Entertainment said 2021 was another strong year of growth as the gambling operator made progress against strategic objectives, driven by recreational customers.
For 2021, revenue increased 37% to GBP6.04 billion from GBP4.41 billion in 2020 but swung to a pretax loss of GBP288 million from a GBP1.1 million profit, after taking a GBP543 million charge for non-cash amortisation from acquired intangibles. On a adjusted pro forma basis, Flutter posted a pretax profit of GBP620 million, down 24% from GBP813 million.
The Dublin-based firm said recreational customers drove revenue growth, rising 23% to 7.6 million average monthly players.
In the US, its FanDuel sports-betting arm maintained the "number one position" due to product leadership, Flutter asserted, with 40% online sportsbook market share in the fourth quarter.
Looking ahead, Flutter said trading in the first 7 weeks of 2022 has been in line with expectations with revenue up 2% year-on-year, reflecting strong comparatives which had benefited from very favourable sports results. Further, assuming there are a normal run of sports results, Flutter expects revenue growth to accelerate as 2022 progresses, reflecting the phasing of sports margin comparables and safer gambling measures taken in 2021.
Croda International said it delivered a record performance in 2021 with all of the speciality chemical company's businesses trading ahead of pre-pandemic levels.
For 2021, pretax profit was GBP411.5 million, up 53% from GBP269.5 million in 2020 on revenue of GBP1.89 billion, up 36% from GBP1.39 billion.
Croda declared a 100.0p annual dividend, up 9.9% from 91.0p paid out in 2020.
Looking ahead, Croda expects to post growth in 2022 in line with medium-term expectations. It thinks margins in the Consumer Care and Life Sciences divisions will remain strong this year.
"Our excellent strategic progress during the COVID-19 pandemic has included progressing our transition to a pure-play Consumer Care and Life Sciences company, with our agreement to sell the majority of our industrial businesses. As a result, Croda will now be focused on faster growth, higher return markets, positioning us to deliver more consistent sales growth and an even stronger profit margin," said Chief Executive Officer Steve Foots.
Intertek Group said it achieved strong progress in 2021, highlighting that global supply chain disruption meant the need for safety and sustainability assurance "more critical than ever".
For 2021, pretax profit was GBP413.4 million, up 20% from GBP343.9 million in 2020 on revenue of GBP2.79 billion, up 1.9% from GBP2.74 billion.
Intertek declared a 2021 dividend of 105.8p, unchanged from 2020.
Looking ahead, Intertek said it was well-positioned to generate robust like-for-like revenue growth at constant rates, margin progression, and strong free cash flow in 2022.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has made the case for total quality assurance clearer and stronger for our clients and we expect the USD250 billion global quality assurance market to grow faster post-Covid. Moving forward, all stakeholders in society expect governments and corporations to build back a better world with a sharper focus on end-to-end quality assurance," said Chief Executive Officer Andre Lacroix.
Calls for a lower open in London on Tuesday come as Russia-Ukraine fears mount. A huge Russian military convoy was massing on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital Tuesday as fears grew the invading forces were set to launch devastating assaults aimed at taking control of Kyiv and other major cities.
Satellite images showed a long build-up of armoured vehicles and artillery starting 18 miles north of the city, as Moscow defied mounting global pressure and a wave of international sanctions that have hit Russia's economy.
Initial ceasefire talks between Moscow and Kyiv on Monday failed to secure a breakthrough, with Russia shelling residential areas in Ukraine's second city Kharkiv and other areas of the country after the negotiations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin laid out to French President Emmanuel Macron his demands to end the war. These include "the recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the demilitarisation and denazification of the Ukrainian state and ensuring its neutral status".
Instead, Western nations have moved to increasingly isolate Russia, responding with an intensifying diplomatic, economic, cultural and sporting backlash.
"Russia has announced its own set of sanctions, and President Putin has warned the EU and the US that he will respond immensely harshly to the sanctions which are imposed on his country," said AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam.
"For traders, they have seen the results of sanctions before, but this particular set of sanctions under which Russia has been cut out of the global banking system is unique. Traders do fear that these strict sanctions could potentially backfire as they could hurt the global economy," Aslam added.
In Asia on Tuesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was ended up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.7%.
Japan's manufacturing sector saw softer expansion in February, figures from IHS Markit showed on Tuesday, as lower production levels and stagnating new orders weighed.
The headline au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped to 52.7 points in February from 55.4 in January, meaning Japan's manufacturing sector has improved for the 13th month in a row - albeit at a slower pace in February.
In addition, there was a slight improvement in business conditions across China's manufacturing sector in February, according to the latest IHS Markit survey.
The headline seasonally adjusted purchasing managers' index rose to 50.4 in February from 49.1 at the start of the year. The rate of improvement was softer than the long-run series average of 51.0.
Production has now risen in three of the past four months, though this month's increase was only slight, being only just above the neutral reading of 50.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3428 early Tuesday, up from USD1.3415 at the London equities close Monday.
The euro was priced at USD1.1220, down from USD1.1243. Against the safe-haven yen, the dollar was trading at JPY115.04 in London, lower against JPY115.27.
Brent oil was quoted at USD100.01 a barrel on Tuesday morning, up from USD97.65 late Monday. Gold stood at USD1,907.18 an ounce, firm from USD1,900.27.
In Tuesday's economic calendar, there are manufacturing PMI numbers from the eurozone at 0900 GMT, the UK at 0930 GMT and the US at 1445 GMT.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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