Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London on Friday ended a volatile month of April in a positive fashion, amid a continued rush of company earnings, while markets in the US sank as high-profile tech names disappointed.

The FTSE 100 index closed up 35.36 points, or 0.5%, at 7,544.55 - ending the week overall up 0.3%. Over the month the UK flagship index lost 0.5%.

The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended up 89.09 points, or 0.4%, at 20,708.71 and lost 0.8% over the past 5 days.

The AIM All-Share index finished up 7.40 points, or 0.7%, at 1,022.26 - closing out the week 2.3% lower.

The Cboe UK 100 index closed up 0.5% at 750.31. The Cboe 250 closed down 0.6% at 18,265.99, and the Cboe Small Companies closed down 0.2% at 15,139.35.

In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 stock index in Paris ended up 0.4%, while the DAX 40 in Frankfurt up 0.8%.

IG Group's Chris Beauchamp said: "A gulf has opened between Europe and the US, as the former rally while the latter drops back. US stocks enjoyed such a strong day yesterday that some caution was inevitable, while the mixed picture following US tech earnings and the contraction in US GDP isn't helping sentiment on Wall Street.

"But higher commodity prices have helped stabilise industrial European stocks, and crucially the magic promise of Chinese stimulus has appeared, pushing up commodity prices and giving stocks across the continent a lift."

As China's lockdowns continue and new infections continue to spread in Beijing, the central government outlined wide-ranging economic stimulus plans to temper expected losses. The government will subsidise businesses, pausing unemployment insurance payments if companies avoid mass layoffs, as well as electricity and internet charges.

In the FTSE 100, Smurfit Kappa closed up 4.3% after the paper and packaging firm reported first quarter earnings growth despite headwinds at the start of 2022.

The Irish firm reported year-on-year revenue growth of 33% to EUR3.02 billion in the first quarter of 2022, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rising at the same rate to EUR514 million. Its Ebitda margin was flat at 17% despite inflationary pressures in the period.

Rivals Mondi and DS Smith rose 3.4% and 1.6% respectively in a positive read-across.

Pearson closed up 1.9% after the educational materials publisher provided a positive update on first quarter trading, while also announcing a new acquisition.

Pearson has agreed to buy Mondly, an online language learning platform. It provided no financial details, but said it expects the purchase to accelerate revenue growth for its English Language Learning division from 2023 onward. It expects mid-teens margins for the division by 2025.

Turning to its own recent trading, Pearson reported underlying sales growth of 7% in the first quarter. It reaffirmed its guidance for adjust operating profit in 2022.

Pearson added that its GBP350 million share buyback programme has begun, with GBP75 million already completed.

AstraZeneca added 0.5% after the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker reported a sharp rise in first-quarter revenue.

Quarterly pretax profit shrank 66% to USD553 million from USD1.61 billion a year ago. Revenue rose by 56% to USD11.39 billion from USD7.32 billion. Revenue from its oncology arm grew by 21% to USD3.64 billion from USD3.02 billion.

AstraZeneca completed its USD39 billion takeover of Boston-based rare diseases firm Alexion Pharmaceuticals in July last year, helping to boost its top line.

In the quarter, AstraZeneca generated USD1.09 billion in sales from its Covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria, ups sharply from a year prior. Contracts with the vaccine are expected to complete delivery by the second half of the year, the firm added.

Astra backed annual guidance. It tips revenue to rise "by a high teens percentage" and core EPS to climb by a "mid-to-high twenties percentage".

At the other end of the large-caps, Hikma Pharmaceuticals ended the worst performer, down 7.2%, after the drugmaker noted its Generics business has experienced some headwinds.

Hikma explained its Generics business has been hurt by increased competition and a challenging pricing environment, resulting in a "slow" start to the year.

Nonetheless, Hikma said it continues to expect full-year Generics revenue growth between 8% to 10%, though it noted this would likely be weighted towards the second half of the year.

Conversely, Hikma reported its Branded business is performing well.

Vodafone closed down 4.3% after Bank of America downgraded the telecommunications firm to 'neutral' from 'buy'.

NatWest Group lost 2.2% despite reporting largely positive first-quarter numbers.

In the three months to March 31, the Edinburgh-headquartered bank recorded an operating pretax profit of GBP1.25 billion, surging 41% from GBP885 million in the same period a year prior. Attributable profit rose 36% to GBP841 million from GBP620 million.

NatWest - formerly Royal Bank of Scotland - saw total income rise 17% to GBP3.03 billion from GBP2.59 billion. Net interest income rose to GBP2.05 billion from GBP1.86 billion, while non-interest income increased to GBP982 million from GBP727 million.

Looking ahead, NatWest said its 2022 income excluding notable items will be "comfortably" above GBP11.0 billion in the 'go-forward group' - advancing at least 4.7% from total income of GBP10.51 billion in 2021.

In the FTSE 250, Johnson Matthey ended the standout performer, up 19%. A regulatory filing on Friday showed industrial investor Standard Investments LLC has built a 5.2% stake in the specialist chemicals firm. Standard Investments is based in New York.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2568 at the London equities close, up from USD1.2458 at the close Thursday.

The euro stood at USD1.0547 at the European equities close, up from USD1.0524 late Thursday. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY129.68, down sharply from JPY131.00.

On the continent, the eurozone's economy grew at a slower pace than expected in the first quarter of 2022, while separate data showed inflation picked up slightly in April.

According to Eurostat, eurozone gross domestic product grew 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2022. The figure fell short of an FXStreet cited estimate of 0.3% growth. In the fourth quarter of 2021, GDP had expanded by 0.3%.

Annually, first quarter economic growth from the single currency area was 5.0%, accelerating from the fourth quarter's 4.7% rise. Annual growth came in line with FXStreet cited consensus.

Separate figures from Eurostat showed inflation accelerated to another record high in April, as expected. The eurozone annual inflation rate for April was 7.5%, an uptick from 7.4% in March. The April figure was in line with FXStreet cited consensus. On a monthly basis, consumer prices grew 0.6%.

New York was sharply lower at the London equities close amid disappointing corporate earnings reports.

The DJIA was down 1.1%, the S&P 500 index down 1.6% and the Nasdaq Composite down 1.7%.

Amazon.com plunged 13% after reporting its first quarterly loss since 2015 as sales growth slowed while the company faces challenges with rising costs.

Intel was down 5.6% after the semiconductor maker warned the global chip shortage will remain a challenge for the industry until at least 2024, particularly in areas such as foundry capacity and tool availability.

Brent oil was quoted at USD110.30 a barrel at the equities close, up sharply from USD106.55 at the close Thursday.

Gold stood at USD1,906.75 an ounce at the London equities close, higher against USD1,887.75 late Thursday.

The economic events calendar on Monday has manufacturing PMI readings from the Germany at 0855 BST, the eurozone at 0900 BST and US at 1445 BST. Financial markets in the UK are closed on Monday for the Early May bank holiday.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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