Dunelm sales fall in third quarter, Anglo American to spin off South African coal

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Sharecast News | 08 Apr, 2021

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 16 points higher on Thursday, having closed up 0.91% at 6,885.32 on Wednesday.

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Homewares group Dunelm reported a 16.8% fall in third quarter sales, reflecting the impact of the latest national Covid lockdown, adding that it expected to finish the year “modestly ahead” of expectations. The company on Thursday said total sales fell to £236.6m in the three months to March 27 as the pandemic shuttered all its stores, although declines were offset by a rise in online shopping, which now represented 92.4% of the total figure, up 70 points on 2020. Dunelm said the current range of pre-tax profit estimates was £120m - £125m.

Anglo American announced the demerger of its thermal coal operations in South Africa on Thursday, subject to the approval of shareholders. The FTSE 100 mining giant said the separation would take place through the transfer of its thermal coal operations in the country to a new holding company, Thungela Resources, the demerger of the Thungela shares to shareholders, and the listing of those shares in Johannesburg and London. It said it would provide Thungela with an initial cash injection of ZAR 2.5bn (£124.95m), and further contingent capital support until the end of 2022 if thermal coal prices in South African rand fall below a certain threshold.

Johnson Matthey said operating performance in the year to the end of March would be around the top end of market expectations as it announced a strategic review of its health business. Consensus for annual operating profit is £469m with a range of £405m to £502m. The FTSE 100 company said it benefited from stronger demand and tight cost control in the second half.

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Prof Sarah Gilbert, the scientist who led the team that created the Oxford/AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, is set for a payday of more than £20m as the biotech firm she co-founded prepares to float on the stock market in the US. Gilbert, who became a household name as a result of her work creating Oxford’s Covid-19 vaccine, owns 5.2% of Vaccitech, an Oxford University spin-out company that owns the biotechnology behind the AstraZeneca vaccine and others for Mers, hepatitis B, the virus that causes shingles, and a range of cancers. - Guardian

Retailers have joined pubs and clubs in rejecting Covid status certificates, as the prime minister’s plan faced growing opposition from business and parliament. As fashion boutiques, toy shops and other “nonessential” retailers prepare to reopen on high streets next week, the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which represents thousands of retailers including major chains such as John Lewis and Marks & Spencer, and the New West End Company, which speaks for 600 businesses in central London’s main shopping district, have warned that checking documents at the door would not work. - Guardian

London airports will not need to expand until at least the 2030s after the industry was hammered by Covid, according to bosses at Gatwick - casting fresh doubt over the future of a third runway at rival Heathrow. In a filing for bond investors, Gatwick said that extra capacity will not be needed for many years following a near-total collapse in passenger travel triggered by Covid restrictions. - Telegraph

Wealth taxes, income tax surcharges and solidarity business levies should be considered to support those hit hardest by the pandemic and to tackle rapidly rising public debt, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said. It urged advanced nations such as Britain to consider temporary tax increases to provide targeted support for vulnerable households, including minorities, women and the low-paid. - The Times

A sustainable fund manager has sold its stake in Kingspan in response to failings at the company’s British insulation business that emerged at the Grenfell inquiry. WHEB said it believed that the culture within Kingspan’s UK business had “enabled” or “even encouraged” an attitude that “prioritised commercial advantage over product safety”. - The Times

US close

Wall Street finished mixed on Wednesday, as market participants sifted through the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, which signalled a change in how the Fed would approach policy changes.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.05% at 33,446.26 and the S&P 500 gained 0.15% to 4,079.95, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.07% weaker at 13,688.84.

The Dow Jones closed 16.02 points higher on Wednesday, clawing back some of the losses recorded in the previous session.

Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee’s most recent meeting were released late in the day, with officials signalling that the central bank’s easy policy would remain until stronger inflation and employment numbers were evident.

The FOMC noted that the Fed’s $120bn in monthly bond purchasing was providing the American economy with “substantial support”, and indicated that while the economy was heading in the right direction, there was still much progress to be made.

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