(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to start the week on a subdued note as oil prices fell after the massive container ship that has been blocking the Suez Canal for almost a week started to move on Monday.
The MV Ever Given, longer than four football fields, has been wedged diagonally across the canal since Tuesday, strangling world supply chains and costing the global economy billions. The stern of the boat has now moved away from the canal's western bank, according to the Vesselfinder and myshiptracking sites, a fact confirmed by an AFP source at the canal.
Inchcape, a maritime services company, tweeted that the ship had been "successfully re-floated" and was "being secured".
Brent oil was trading at USD63.29 a barrel early Monday, lower than USD64.35 late Friday.
In early UK company news, Domino's Pizza Group agreed to sell its operations in Iceland, wealth manager AJ Bell guided to stronger full-year revenue than expected by markets, and Daily Mail & General Trust noted that investee Cazoo is headed for a New York listing.
IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 1.41 points higher at 6,742.00 on Monday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 65.76 points, or 1.0%, at 6,740.59 on Friday.
"The week will be a busy one for financial markets, with lots of moving parts as a new month starts," said Jeffery Halley, senior market analyst for Asia Pacific at Oanda.
"The UK releases GDP mid-week, and Europe releases PMI data, but the Covid-19 spat will continue to overshadow both," Halley highlighted. "Key economies in Europe are also facing more Covid-19 restrictions as the Easter holidays approach at the end of the week. With the EU enacting a vaccine export ban, the members are squabbling amongst themselves, and with the UK, on who gets what. That issue and its implications for the Europe/UK recovery will cast a shadow over the euro, sterling and regional equities this week."
More than 30 million people in the UK have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it is on track to achieve the government's target of offering all over-50s and the clinically vulnerable their first vaccine by April 15.
It comes as the UK is expecting to receive its first shipment of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine next month. Vaccine supplies have been affected by issues in India, where a temporary hold on AstraZeneca exports has been imposed, and there has been trepidation because of a row with the EU over exports.
The EU has threatened to ban pharma firms from exporting coronavirus vaccines to Britain and other well-supplied countries until they make good on their promised deliveries to the bloc – a threat directed mainly at British-based AstraZeneca.
President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview Sunday said France will have caught up with Britain on the number of people vaccinated against Covid-19 "in a few weeks".
Meanwhile, Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged Germany's 16 federal states to honour measures agreed to curb Covid-19, with cases spiralling as many regions stray from the national line. Germany was widely praised for its handling of the first wave of the pandemic, but has struggled to contain new infections since they began spiralling out of control in a second wave late last year.
Sterling was quoted at USD1.3761 early Monday, soft on USD1.3795 at the London equities close on Friday. The euro traded at USD1.1779, lower than USD1.1796 late Friday.
In early UK company news, Domino's Pizza Group said it has agreed to sell its operations in Iceland for GBP13.7 million.
Domino's Iceland is the master franchisee of Domino's Pizza in Iceland, operating 23 stores.
The purchaser, PPH, is an investment vehicle owned by a consortium comprising Eyja fjarfestingafelag III - a wholly-owned subsidiary of Eyja fjarfestingafelag, a vehicle controlled by Birgir Bieltvedt - Kristinn, Sjavarsyn and Lysi.
Bieltvedt is an indirect owner of DP Norway and, as previously announced, Domino's has separately agreed the sale of its Swedish business to Bieltvedt's vehicle Eyja fjarfestingafelag III.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to reduce Domino's debt.
The sale is part of Domino's planned exit from all directly operated international markets to allow the FTSE 250 company to focus on its core UK and Ireland markets. Talks remain ongoing over a disposal of its Swiss operations.
AJ Bell said it expects revenue for its current financial year to top market consensus.
The retail investment platform said it has continued to see strong customer acquisition in the first half of the financial year ending September 30 and dealing activity by D2C customers has remained at "elevated levels".
While dealing activity is expected to ease from current levels in the second half, AJ Bell currently expects revenue for the financial year to be at least GBP6.0 million above current market consensus. It said that consensus lies at GBP136.0 million.
Newspaper publisher and business information provider Daily Mail & General Trust noted that investee Cazoo intends to become listed in New York.
DMGT currently holds around a 20% stake in Cazoo, a UK online car retailer with a growing presence in Europe, through its venture capital arm, dmg ventures. It noted that Cazoo has agreed a combination with Ajax I, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company listed in New York.
The transaction values the combined company at a pro forma enterprise value of around USD7.0 billion and a pro forma equity value of approximately USD8.1 billion.
"If the proposed transaction closes, and assuming no redemptions by Ajax shareholders, the combined value in cash proceeds and shares in the listed Cazoo, valued at the USD10.00 per share issue price, that DMGT will receive on closing is expected to be approximately USD1.35 billion," the company said.
Cerillion said it has secured its largest ever contract win to date, with a ten-year agreement worth a total of USD18.4 million signed with a full-service network operator in Latin America.
Cerillion is a billing and customer relations management software firm based in London.
The contract in Latin America is for the supply and implementation of Cerillion's Enterprise Business Support System/Operations Support System suite, and includes full support services over the 10-year term. The tender process was "rigorous and extensive", the billing and customer relations management software firm said.
This contract, together with a smaller GBP2.7 million extension recently secured with an existing customer in Europe, is anticipated to result in Cerillion exceeding current management expectations for pretax profit in the current financial year ending September 30.
Ten pin bowling operator Ten Entertainment reported a swing to annual loss as trading was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Revenue for the 52 weeks to December 27 slumped to GBP36.3 million from GBP84.1 million, while the company turned to a pretax loss on an IFRS 16 basis of GBP21.7 million from a GBP11.8 million profit on an IAS 17 basis. Its loss in financial 2020 on an IAS 17 basis was GBP12.2 million. IFRS 16 is an accounting rule related to the financial treatment of leases.
Of the period, Ten Entertainment said 16 weeks saw disrupted trading due to Covid-19 and there were 25 weeks of closure, with just 11 weeks in the year of normal trading conditions.
The company said it is "primed and ready to reopen", expecting pent-up demand when it can reopen all centres on May 17.
"At this stage, due to the continued uncertainty, it is not possible to provide financial guidance. However, we do know that we have a strong business that can return rapidly to its previous levels and then grow further from there. We have a proven strategy and a strong track record that will stand us in good stead as we reopen and rebuild," Ten Entertainment said.
The firm added that Chair Nick Basing has decided to step down in September. He will remain in place to oversee the appointment and handover to the new chair and "the relaunch of our business to continue to journey to future growth".
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 1.4%, the S&P 500 up 1.7% and Nasdaq Composite closing gaining 1.2%.
In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down 0.2%.
Against the yen, the dollar was quoted at JPY109.54 versus JPY109.60.Â
Gold was quoted at USD1,725.62 an ounce early Monday, down from USD1,733.46 on Friday.
The economic calendar on Monday has UK mortgage approvals at 0930 BST and Irish retail sales at 1100 BST.
By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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Dominos (DOM)
Cerillion (CER)
AJ Bell (AJB)