BT reiterates annual guidance, Airtel signals share buyback plans
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 33 points lower on Thursday, having closed down 0.47% on Wednesday at 7,630.57.
Stocks to watch
BT Group reiterated annual guidance as it reported flat adjusted earnings for the third quarter and a rise in revenues driven by higher prices. The telecoms provider on Thursday said adjusted core earnings for the three months to December 31 rose 1% to £2.03bn. Revenue was up 3% to £5.3bn. On a nine-month basis adjusted revenue came in at £15.8bn, up 3% due to price increases and fibre-enabled product sales at its Openreach broadband unit and increased service revenue in its consumer division.
Africa-focused telecoms group Airtel Africa said it intends to launch a share buyback worth up to $100m after a strong underlying performance in the third quarter, though currency movements weighed heavily on growth. Revenues at constant currency were up 21% year-on-year in the three months to 31 December, but reported revenues fell by 8.3%, mainly due to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira.
Shell reported a 93% fall in income attributed to shareholders in its fourth quarter on Thursday, to £474m, as well as a 54% fall for the full year to £19.36bn. The FTSE 100 oil giant put the decline down to higher LNG trading and optimisation margins, favourable deferred tax movements, and higher production, offset by lower refining margins, lower margins from crude and oil products trading and optimisation, and higher operating expenses. Adjusted earnings for the year were 19% weaker at £68.54bn.
Newspaper round-up
The Czech billionaire whose company takes over running the UK national lottery from Thursday is still in business with the Kremlin-owned gas company Gazprom, nearly two years after promising regulators he would sever ties with Russia. The Gambling Commission awarded Allwyn the lucrative 10-year licence to run the lottery, estimated to be worth up to £100bn in sales, in March 2022. – Guardian
Mike Lynch, the technology tycoon once lauded as the UK’s answer to Bill Gates and now facing criminal fraud charges in the US, is suing the Serious Fraud Office. Lynch, who was extradited to the US last year to face trial over allegations he duped Hewlett-Packard into overpaying when it struck an $11bn (£8.6bn) deal to buy his software firm Autonomy in 2011, has filed a data protection claim against the SFO in the high court in London. - Guardian
A senior member of the Barclay family faces a petition from a leading private bank to declare him personally bankrupt, in the latest legal drama for the owners of The Telegraph. According to High Court documents, Alistair Barclay, 34, is alleged to be in default on £946,754 of borrowing from Investec, which only offers bank accounts to individuals with net wealth of more than £3m. – Telegraph
The new boss of Morrisons has started to invite shoppers to board meetings and has been holding customer “round tables” in stores as part of a plan to “re-energise and reshape” the troubled supermarkets chain. Rami Baitiéh, who joined as chief executive in November, admitted that Morrisons had “not been on peak form” since the pandemic and said he would reveal his new strategy for the business in March. – The Times
The competition regulator has started an investigation into a drugs company formerly run by the brother of Nasser Hussain, the ex-England cricket captain, over its supply of iron deficiency treatments to NHS patients. The Competition & Markets Authority said it was investigating suspected anti-competitive conduct by Vifor Pharma. – The Times
US close
US stock markets suffered heavy losses on Wednesday on the back of poorly received results from tech heavyweights and comments from the Federal Reserve which said that interest-rate cuts are not yet imminent.
After trading more or less flat for most of the session, the Dow – which notched another record closing high on Tuesday – dropped 0.8% by the close with only four index constituents in positive territory.
The S&P 500 sank 1.6% and the Nasdaq plunged 2.2%, with the latter weighed down by heavy falls from Microsoft and Alphabet.
The Fed said it was now closer to achieving its goals for both full employment and inflation stability, but policymakers were still not confident enough that inflation was shifting back down to the 2% target on a sustainable basis.
Until they are, the Federal Open Market Committee would not cut rates, according to the policy statement released at 1400 ET.