(Alliance News) - Grocer Tesco said Tuesday that Chief Financial Officer Alan Stewart has decided to retire and will leave the company on April 30, 2021.
Stewart joined Tesco in September 2014 and has led the corporate restructuring, rebuilt the balance sheet, guided Tesco back to investment grade and played a huge role in the financial transformation of the business in the last six years, the supermarket said.
Tesco's board intends to conduct a search both internally and externally to identify a successor.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.3% at 6,181.90
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Hang Seng: up 0.8% at 23,921.84
Nikkei 225: closed up 1.2% at 22,325.61
DJIA: closed up 91.9 points, 0.4%, at 25,475.02
S&P 500: closed up 0.4% at 3,055.73
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GBP: up at USD1.2549 (USD1.2470)
EUR: up at USD1.1136 (USD1.1125)
Gold: up at USD1,736.40 per ounce (USD1,734.85)
Oil (Brent): up at USD38.70 a barrel (USD37.60)
(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
Switzerland WTO General Council virtual meeting continues
0930 BST UK Money and credit
0830 CEST Switzerland Retail sales
0900 CEST Spain Unemployment
0930 CEST Switzerland Procure.ch PMI
1600 EDT US Domestic auto industry sales
1630 EDT US API weekly statistical bulletin
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Manufacturing business conditions in Ireland deteriorated further in May, figures from AIB showed on Tuesday, as large swathes of economies remained locked down to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The headline AIB Ireland manufacturing purchasing managers' index - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - rose to 39.2 in May from April's eleven-year low of 36.0. Any figure greater than 50.0 indicates overall improvement of the sector, and any figure below - contraction. The output and new orders components both registered higher figures in May, but still indicated stronger declines than in any survey period prior to April, dating back to May 1998. With demand for inputs remaining very low and continued weakness in global oil prices, average input prices fell for the third month running in May. The employment component regained more territory but still signalled the second fastest rate of job shedding in nearly eleven years.
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Quarantine-free travel between the UK and some countries could be introduced at the end of this month if infection rates at home and abroad are sufficiently low. The government is understood to be considering so-called "air bridges" to enable people to travel without having to spend two weeks self-isolating on their return. Current plans mean all international arrivals - apart from people carrying out a limited number of specified roles - would need to quarantine for 14 days from Monday. The plan has been fiercely criticised by travel and hospitality businesses, and ministers are understood to be considering introducing air bridges when the policy is reviewed three weeks after it comes into force. Agreements would need to be reached with other countries before any policy could be introduced. The Daily Telegraph reported Prime Minister Boris Johnson was "personally in favour" of the idea. Further details of the quarantine proposal are expected to be laid before Parliament on Tuesday.
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Lawmakers will return to Westminster on Tuesday after the government dropped virtual proceedings, despite concerns shielding politicians will be unable to attend. A hybrid system enabling parliamentarians to either attend the Commons in person or contribute to proceedings from afar via Zoom has been in place since the end of April. But Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg announced last month that the government was pushing ahead with plans for a physical-only Commons after the Whitsun recess, which ends on June 2. He has tabled a motion preventing the resumption of virtual voting that allowed MPs to have their say from afar during the pandemic. If the House approves the plan on Tuesday, MPs may have to form kilometre-long queues in order to obey social distancing rules when voting – despite the Lords planning a move online. Rees-Mogg argued that democracy would "once again flourish", having been "curtailed under the hybrid halfway house" which allowed MPs to take part in debates and vote remotely while up to 50 were in the chamber. And he insisted that the government is working to establish how shielding MPs could continue to take part. But the proposal has faced fierce criticism - with the Electoral Reform Society warning it poses a "real threat for democratic representation and political equality" if extremely vulnerable MPs are unable to vote. Labour and opposition parties have tabled an amendment to the motion seeking to retain remote voting.
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US President Donald Trump vowed Monday to order a military crackdown on once-in-a-generation violent protests gripping the US, saying he was sending thousands of troops onto the streets of the capital and threatening to deploy soldiers to states unable to regain control. The dramatic escalation came a week after the death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed when a white police officer knelt on his neck, leading to the worst civil unrest in decades in New York, Los Angeles and dozens of other American cities. After being criticised for his silence on the worsening crisis, Trump struck a martial tone in a nationwide address from the White House garden, as police fired tear gas on peaceful protesters outside the fence. "I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults and the wanton destruction of property," Trump said. He slammed the previous night's unrest in Washington as a "total disgrace" and called on governors to "dominate the streets".
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS TUI TO 'SELL' (HOLD) - PRICE TARGET 350 (950) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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McCarthy & Stone said it has seen fewer cases of Covid-19 within its retirement communities than the general population of over-65s in the UK, as it phases the restart of work. The housebuilder said it has taken a "gradual and measured approach" to the re-mobilisation of both sales and build, which are scheduled to commence in phases from Monday. Initial focus is on restarting sales activities on already completed developments, as McCarthy & Stone currently has 1,350 units of available finished stock. The firm added that it has secured access to the Covid Corporate Financing Facility and has put in place a GBP300 million commercial paper programme under the scheme. This will be used to provide additional liquidity, should it be needed.
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Electrocomponents said it delivered a strong performance in its recently-ended financial year, with both sales and profit up, though demand has been hit in recent weeks by Covid-19. Revenue rose 3.7% to GBP1.95 billion in the year to March 31, with like-for-like sales up 2.2%. The firm estimated that lockdowns in March knocked one percentage point off full-year like-for-like revenue growth. Pretax profit increased 2.3% to GBP199.6 million. On recent trading, Electrocomponents said like-for-like revenue was down 14% in the first eight weeks of the new financial year, though the rate of decline moderated slightly during May as lockdowns began to ease in some of its key markets. The drop through impact of lost revenue to adjusted operating profit is typically in the mid-thirties before mitigating actions, the electronics distributor said. "Electrocomponents delivered a strong performance in the year ended 31 March 2020 against an uncertain market backdrop and the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic which started to impact trading volumes towards the end of the year," said Chief Executive Lindsley Ruth. "We are taking tactical action to protect profit and conserve cash, while also accelerating key strategic initiatives to drive scale and efficiency to ensure we come out of this crisis strongly and well positioned for long-term value creation," Ruth added. Electrocomponents has deferred its final dividend decision until it has "greater visibility". At the half-year, it will review making an additional interim dividend for 2020.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Card Factory reported a fall in full-year profit, but said online trading during the Covid-19 lockdown has been strong. Revenue for the year ended January 31 rose 3.6% to GBP451.5 million, but like-for-like sales dipped 0.5% and pretax profit fell 4.4% to GBP65.2 million. The like-for-like sales fall reflected weak consumer confidence and high street footfall decline in the second half, the firm said. Turning to Covid-19, the greeting cards retailer said online trading has been strong with cardfactory.co.uk like-for-likes since lockdown up four-fold and more than doubling in the year-to-date. It is planning to open 10% of stores around June 15. "Before the impact of Covid-19, we had made a satisfactory start to the year. In the first major season of the year, Valentine's Day, we achieved our fourth consecutive year of record sales growth in both volume and value. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted trading and, given the uncertain economic backdrop, we do not think it is appropriate to provide financial guidance for FY21," said Card Factory.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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Roche said the US Food & Drug Administration has approved Tecentriq, in combination with Avastin, for people with the most common form of liver cancer. Tecentriq - or atezolizumab - in combination with Avastin - or bevacizumab - has been approved for the treatment of people with unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma, who have not received prior systemic therapy. The approval was based on results from the phase three IMbrave150 study, which demonstrated that Tecentriq in combination with Avastin reduced the risk of death by 42% and reduced the risk of disease worsening or death by 41%, compared with sorafenib. IMbrave150 is the first phase three cancer immunotherapy study to show an improvement in OS and PFS in people with unresectable or metastatic HCC compared with sorafenib.
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Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings
Glencore
e-Therapeutics
Xaar
Arrow Global
North American Income Trust
Plant Health Care
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By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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