Lloyds beats quarterly profit forecasts, Coca-Cola HBC revenue grows

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 35 points higher on Wednesday, having closed down 1.24% on Tuesday at 7,773.03.

Stocks to watch

Lloyds Bank became the latest UK lender to beat quarterly profits forecasts as earnings surged on the back of higher interest rates, although deposits fell sharply. The bank on Wednesday posted first-quarter pre-tax profit of £2.26bn, up 46% and better than the £1.95bn average of analyst forecasts. Net income, generated after deposit payouts, rose 15% to £4.7b Customer deposits fell by £2.2bn to £473.1bn, including a reduction in retail current account balances of £3.5bn, partly driven by seasonal customer outflows, including tax payments, higher spend and a more competitive market, Lloyds said.

Beverage bottler Coca-Cola HBC reported first quarter organic revenue growth of 22.2% on Wednesday, excluding Russia and Ukraine, led by price mix and offset by declines in stills due to an anticipated weakness in water. The company also reported strong organic revenue growth across all segments, with group organic revenue up 16.2% and continued investment in its 24/7 portfolio.

Newspaper round-up

Energy suppliers will be forced to offer vulnerable households dedicated phone lines in a drive by the regulator Ofgem to improve poor treatment of the most disadvantaged customers. The regulator is planning a crackdown on suppliers’ conduct after a slump in customer service during the energy crisis with long call waiting times and difficulty contacting companies. – Guardian

Ministers have announced a clampdown on the use of cold calls to sell financial products and on technology which allows mass texting of numerous phones as part of a strategy to combat fraud, now the UK’s most common crime. The new fraud strategy, a response to the massive growth of web- and phone-based scams, will also result in what was billed as 400 new specialist investigators across police and the National Crime Agency recruited as part of a revamp for how the crime is investigated. – Guardian

Carl Icahn, one of Wall Street’s best-known activist investors, has become the target of a short-seller which has accused the billionaire of inflating the value of his empire. Hindenburg Research accused the hedge fund manager of operating a “ponzi-like economic structure” through his $15bn fund, Icahn Enterprises, and claimed its value had been inflated by at least 75pc. – Telegraph

Dyson is to spend £100 million on a new technology centre in Bristol as part of a five-year programme of investments totalling £2.75 billion. Sir James Dyson’s vacuum cleaner and home appliances business said it would employ hundreds of software and artificial intelligence engineers at the centre to develop new products and apps. Dyson’s UK operations are already staffed with more than 3,500 engineers working in research and development across sites in London and Malmesbury in Wiltshire. – The Times

Sir Martin Sorrell pocketed less than half of the bonus he could have earned last year for running S4 Capital, the digital advertising business he founded. Sorrell, 78, was paid a basic salary of £250,000 in 2022 and could have received the same amount again in bonuses. However, S4’s annual report shows that he only received £100,000. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed significantly lower on Tuesday, with regional bank shares in focus after the failure of First Republic over the weekend.

The latest jobs data also fueled speculation that the US economy was slowing down.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.08% at 33,684.53, while the S&P 500 decreased 1.16% to 4,119.58.

The Nasdaq Composite finished 1.08% weaker to finish the day at 12,080.51.

In currency markets, the dollar weakened slightly against sterling and the euro, last falling by 0.04% on the former to 80.18p, and decreasing 0.09% against the latter to 90.83 euro cents.