(Alliance News) - Barclays will face additional calls from shareholders at its annual general meeting in May to phase out its financing of fossil fuel firms that are not aligned with the Paris climate agreement, London-based environmental activist group ShareAction said on Tuesday.
Jupiter Asset Management has joined a group of 11 institutional investors in the bank, managing over GBP130 billion, alongside 100 individual shareholders, calling on Barclays to curb its financial provision of some fossil fuels, according to ShareAction.
Jupiter has a 1.2% stake in Barclays, ShareAction said.
Since the 2015 Paris Agreement was signed, Barclays has provided in excess of USD85 billion of funds to fossil fuel companies, making it one of their largest backers in sector globally, ShareAction claimed.
On Monday, activist investor Edward Bramson once again took aim at the Barclays board over an unconnected issue, terming the bank's decision to renominate Chief Executive Jes Staley amid his ties to Jeffrey Epstein as "extremely ill-advised".
The Barclays board has previously unanimously recommended Staley for re-election at the bank's annual general meeting, having been judged to have been "sufficiently transparent" about the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Barclays shares closed 3.7% lower at 143.30 pence each in London on Monday, but were up 2.2% to 146.42p early Tuesday.
Societe Generale cut Barclays shares to Hold from Buy, lowering its price target by 27% to 160p from 220p.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 1.4% at 6,748.72
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Hang Seng: up 0.2% at 26,350.15
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.2% at 21,082.73
DJIA: closed up 1,293.96 points, 5.1%, at 26,703.32
S&P 500: closed up 4.6% at 3,090.23
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GBP: up at USD1.2792 (USD1.2773)
EUR: down at USD1.1125 (USD1.1157)
Gold: up at USD1,596.61 per ounce (USD1,594.61)
Oil (Brent): up at USD52.40 a barrel (USD51.70)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
0930 GMT UK construction purchasing managers' index
1100 GMT Ireland monthly unemployment
1100 CET EU flash estimate euro area inflation
1100 CET EU unemployment
1100 CET EU producer price index
1600 EST US domestic auto industry sales
1630 EST US API weekly statistical bulletin
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Outbreaks of the coronavirus strain known as Covid-19 are gathering pace in the Middle East, Europe and South Korea. World Health Organisation leader Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said outbreaks in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan are the agency's greatest concern and the virus is uniquely capable of community transmission but could be contained with the right measures. In South Korea, Covid-19 cases increased on Tuesday, with 477 new infections reported, largely in and around the south-eastern city of Daegu, where many cases were clustered around a local church. In total, 4,812 in South Korea have tested positive for the virus. The country's death toll rose to 28 and President Moon Jae-in said his government would push to inject more than KRW30 trillion, about GBP19.5 billion, to fund clinics, aid for small businesses and other measures related to the virus. It requires parliamentary approval. In China, the count of new virus cases is dropping, with just 125 new cases after a six-week low of 202 a day earlier. It is still by far the hardest-hit country, with 80,151 cases and 2,943 deaths. The virus has been detected in at least 70 countries with 90,000 cases and 3,100 deaths.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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JEFFERIES CUTS HARGREAVES LANSDOWN PRICE TARGET TO 1255 (1550) PENCE - 'UNDERPERFORM'
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SOCGEN CUTS BARCLAYS TO 'HOLD' (BUY) - PRICE TARGET 160 (220) PENCE
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HSBC RAISES JOHN LAING GROUP TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 407 PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Intertek said 2019 was the company's fifth straight year of revenue growth as the safety and inspection services provider hiked its annual dividend. For 2019, revenue came in at GBP2.99 billion. up 6.6% from GBP2.80 billion in 2018 and pretax profit rose 5.9% to GBP483 million from GBP456.5 million. Interek said its performance was driven by broad-based organic growth of 3.3% at constant rates and contribution of acquisitions it made during the year. Intertek raised its full-year dividend to 105.8 pence from 99.1p. In addition, Intertek - which has factories in mainland China - said it was too early to quantify the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on 2020 earnings. "Intertek is not immune to the impact of the novel coronavirus and our 2020 performance will be affected by the temporary disruption to the supply chains of our clients and any impact it might have on global trade activities. It is too early to quantify the impact of the novel coronavirus, and we will provide an update at a later stage once we have more visibility on the full resumption of the supply chain," the company said.
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Equipment rental firm Ashtead said it delivered a third quarter of "industry-leading rental revenue growth", buoyed by a strong performance in North American end markets. For the quarter ended January 31, revenue came in at GBP1.25 billion, up 11% from GBP1.14 billion in the third quarter a year before, but pretax profit dipped 1% to GBP225 million from GBP241 million. On an underlying basis, third-quarter pretax profit rose 6% to GBP257 million from GBP254 million. In the nine months to January 31, the company reported record free cash flow of GBP363 million. Ashtead - which makes a bulk of its revenue in the US via its Sunbelt unit - said in the nine months to January 31, revenue in North America rose to USD3.93 billion from USD3.39 billion. "In North America our business continues to perform well in supportive end markets, while in the UK we have taken decisive strategic action to refocus the business in the challenging market conditions. Although construction markets are moderating, we expect results to be in line with expectations and the board continues to look to the medium term with confidence," Chief Executive Brendan Horgan said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Bakery chain Greggs said it delivered an "exceptional performance" in 2019, due to what it called transformational changes made by its strategic investment programme. For 2109, Greggs reported sales of GBP1.17 billion, up from GBP1.03 billion in 2018. Pretax profit was up 31% to GBP108.3 million from GBP82.6 million. Greggs declared a full-year 33.0p per share dividend, up from 25.0p in 2018, giving a total ordinary dividend for the year of 44.9p. The company said it "will consider capacity for a special dividend at the time of interim results". "We made a very strong start to 2020 in January, but in February saw a significant slowdown in sales growth as a result of the storms that have affected the UK. There is some uncertainty in the outlook, particularly given the potential impact of coronavirus. This aside we expect to make year-on-year progress and will do so from a strong financial position, supporting our investment for further growth whilst also delivering good returns for all stakeholders," said CEO Roger Whiteside.
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Direct Line Insurance said Mike Biggs will step down as chair in 2020 once a successor has been appointed. Biggs has been in post since 2021 and will stay past the auto insurer's May annual general meeting.
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COMPANIES - OTHER MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Ryanair reported 9% growth in passenger traffic in February to 10.5 million flyers from 9.6 million, with a load factor during the month of 96%. On Monday afternoon, the Irish discount carrier had said it is reducing its short haul flight programme - mainly to and from Italy - in response to the covid-19 virus. Ryanair said it intends to cancel up to 25% of its Italian flights for a three-week period from March 17 to April 8. Over the past week, Ryanair said it has seen a "significant" drop in bookings over that late March and early April period amid coronavirus concerns. There has also been a step up in passenger no-shows on flights, particularly from and within Italy, Ryanair noted. Looking ahead, the airline said Monday it does not expect these cancellations to hurt its performance in its current financial year, ending March 31, but noted that it is too early to speculate about the impact of coronavirus outbreak on financial 2021.
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B&M European Value Retail said it has poached the finance director of UK retailer Wilko to be its next chief financial officer. Alex Russo will start no later than June 2021, B&M said. Russo replaces Paul McDonald, who will step down in 2021 after more than 10 years as CFO.
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Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings
Sirius Minerals (re merger with Anglo American)
Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (re CEO and Chair removal)
NB Global Floating Rate Income Fund
Aberforth Smaller Companies Trust
Schroder European Real Estate Investment Trust
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
