LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: British Land performs well; Phoenix sells Ark

Tue, 13th Jul 2021 07:46

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open broadly flat on Tuesday as all eyes are on the US CPI release for June, which will give an indication of whether inflation pressures have started to abate.

The consumer price index reading is due at 1330 BST.

In early UK company news, British Land reported an improved performance after lockdown restrictions were eased in the UK, while Phoenix Group announced the sale of Ark Life Assurance.

IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index to open up 2.68 points at 7,128.10 on Tuesday. The index of London large-caps closed up 3.54 points, or 0.1%, at 7,125.42 on Monday.

"Markets in Europe look set to open broadly unchanged with today's focus on June CPI numbers, while UK retail sales enjoyed their best quarter ever according to the British Retail Consortium," noted CMC Markets UK Chief Market Analyst Michael Hewson.

There was an increase in UK retail sales in June when compared to Covid-free times, numbers showed on Tuesday, as the gradual unlocking of the UK economy encouraged a release of pent-up demand.

According to the BRC, UK retail sales rose by just over 13% in the period from May 30 to July 3 from two years earlier. On a like-for-like basis, UK retail sales increased 17% from June 2019.

For the second quarter of 2021, UK retail sales were up 10% from two years before and up 6.7% on a like-for-like basis. When compared with the second quarter of 2020, UK retail sales grew by 28%.

Over the three months to June, food sales increased 7.9% from the same period in 2019, while non-food retail sales increased by 12%.

Sterling was quoted at USD1.3889, firm from USD1.3881 at the London equities close on Monday.

The euro traded at USD1.1864 early Tuesday, marginally higher than USD1.1861 late Monday. Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY110.43, firm versus JPY110.33.

Property investor British Land posted what it called a strong operational performance for the quarter that ended June 24, with 183,000 square feet campus lettings.

Across the company's Retail portfolio, footfall and sales reached 86% and 94% of pre-pandemic levels in the seven weeks since the reopening of indoor hospitality on May 17.

British Land also noted that 85% of June rent - totalling GBP87 million - was collected to date. This compares to 72% of the total amount collected at the same point following the December quarter-end and 76% following the March quarter-end.

"With lockdown restrictions lifting, we have seen a notable improvement in activity across our markets and our business is performing well," said Chief Executive Simon Carter.

Howden Joinery Group reported a strong first half performance, ahead of its expectations, with revenue of almost GBP785 million versus GBP465.0 million a year ago.

Going forward, the supplier of kitchens said this pattern of trade has continued since the end of the first half of 2021, and it remains "cautiously optimistic" in its outlook for the second half.

Howden Joinery said it is currently expecting pretax profit of around GBP300 million for 2021 as a whole, up from GBP185.3 million posted for 2020.

Healthcare software firm Emis Group said trading for the half year to June 30 has been slightly ahead of expectations, with a return to business "as usual" despite the continuing challenges of the pandemic.

"Healthcare continues to be at the centre of the global agenda and, as the UK recovers from the pandemic, we are well positioned to meet the evolving requirements of the sector, both today and in the future. We remain confident in the outlook," said Chief Executive Andy Thorburn.

Gamma Communications also said it has continued to perform well through the first six months of 2021. Growth in the first half has been in line with the market expectations for the full year.

This is despite the first-half performance hurt by lockdowns in all of the company's territories which restricted sales activities for both Gamma and its partners.

During the period, Gamma said it launched a number of key products in the UK, including Phone Line +, a replacement service for customers who currently use basic telephone services, and Horizon Contact, a cloud contact centre solution.

In M&A news, Phoenix Group has agreed to sell Ark Life Assurance Co DAC to Irish Life Group Ltd for EUR230 million in cash. The completion of this transaction is expected by early 2022.

The FTSE 100-listed insurer said the disposal simplifies its European operations and accelerates the cash release from this business. The company expects to redeploy the capital into higher return growth opportunities "to drive incremental future cash generation".

HgCapital Trust said enterprise software provider insightsoftware has secured an investment from Hg, a software and services investor.

The Hg Saturn 2 Fund will make a USD1 billion equity investment in insightsoftware to become a significant minority shareholder alongside TA Associates, in a transaction valuing the business at around USD4 billion.

As part of the transaction, insightsoftware will continue to be supported by minority shareholders Genstar and ST6.

Elsewhere, mobility solutions platform Redde Northgate completed the acquisition of Charged Electric Vehicles, a supplier of electric vehicle charging equipment across the UK. This acquisition provides Redde with a platform to expand its EV offerings.

No financial details of the purchase were disclosed, though Redde Northgate said it was strategically significant for reaching its environmental goals.

Brent oil was trading at USD75.29 a barrel early Tuesday, rising from USD75.00 late Monday. Gold was quoted at USD1,807.10 an ounce, up from USD1,803.57.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was up 0.5%. The Shanghai Composite was up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.5%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Sydney closed up 0.2%.

"After a similarly positive start on Monday, Asia markets picked up where they left off today with the latest China trade numbers for June showing a slowdown in imports, however, exports unexpectedly rose from levels in May," said Hewson of CMC Markets.

China's exports spiked by more than expected in June as countries around the world pushed towards a pandemic recovery, official data showed, while imports surged on the back of rising commodity costs.

Demand for China's goods has risen with the global rollout of vaccines and as economically painful lockdowns to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Chinese shipments overseas surged 32% on-year last month, the Customs Administration said, much better than the 23% forecast and also well up from May.

Imports also exceeded expectations, rallying 37% as the cost of key commodities such as iron ore, oil and copper surge. However, growth was below the more than 50% jump seen in May, which was the fastest in more than a decade.

By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com