Virgin Money more than doubles first-half profit, ITV 'cautiously optimistic' over ad revenue

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 42 points higher on Wednesday, having closed down 0.67% on Tuesday.

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Virgin Money said first-half profit more than doubled as Covid-19 impairment charges tumbled. The company on Wednesday said underlying pre-tax profits came in at £245m from £120m a year ago, with a return to statutory profit before tax of £72m and impairment charge of £38m from £232m.

ITV said it was cautiously optimistic about the year ahead as advertising revenue recovered from the Covid-19 crisis. Total external revenue rose 2% to £709m in the three months to the end of March. ITV Studios revenue rose 9% to £372m as media and entertainment income fell 3% to £484m. Advertising revenue fell 6% in the first quarter but rose 68% in April with May expected to be up 85% and a rise of 85-90% predicted for June.

Specialist lender and retail savings provider OSB Group reported “strong” financial and operational performance through the first quarter on Wednesday, with organic originations totalling £1.1bn in the first three months of 2021, down from £1.5bn year-on-year, with “tighter” post-Covid-19 criteria, and at “attractive” margins. The FTSE 250 company made no change to its 2021 guidance.

Newspaper round-up

AstraZeneca is facing mounting opposition over its plans to award its chief executive, Pascal Soriot, a big increase in bonuses, with three investor advisory groups calling on shareholders to vote against the policy. Pirc, Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) have all flagged concerns over moves to raise the maximum share bonus Soriot can receive under a long-term plan from 550% of his £1.3m base salary to 650%. AZ also plans to hoist Soriot’s maximum annual bonus to 250% of salary from 200%, depending on performance targets being hit. - Guardian

Boris Johnson’s government lacks public trust to tackle global tax avoidance despite mounting pressure for reform, at a time when US technology companies such as Amazon and Google have been reporting bumper profits during the Covid-19 pandemic. A poll of more than 2,000 adults in the UK found less than a third trust the prime minister and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to take on big business interests as part of a crackdown on tax avoidance. - Guardian

Rishi Sunak has suggested wealthy families will be spared from a US-style tax raid as he hailed the strength of Britain's surging economic recovery. The Chancellor on Tuesday said that he is "cautiously optimistic" about an upswing in economic growth as a string of data pointed to a sharp bounceback. - Telegraph

Britain's car industry will suffer a devastating blow if the country fails to build battery factories ahead of a 2030 ban on new petrol and diesel vehicles, experts have said. Factories could be forced to shut and new car prices will rise unless the UK urgently develops so-called gigafactories to power the electric models of the future, MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee heard as they opened an inquiry into the shift away from fossil fuels. - Telegraph

The British and Indian governments have committed to negotiate a free trade agreement as they seek to double the value of trade between the nations by 2030. The announcement came yesterday as the government unveiled a package of investment and trade deals with India that it said would create 6,500 jobs in the UK. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks put on a mixed performance on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones closing higher but the Nasdaq Composite suffering heavy losses on the back of a sell-off in tech stocks.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.06% at 34,133.03, while the S&P 500 closed out the session 0.67% weaker at 4,164.66 and the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.88% lower at 13,633.50.

The Dow closed 19.80 points higher on Tuesday, narrowly extending gains recorded in the previous session.

SpreadEx's Connor Campbell said: "It's a big week for the US markets, but one that takes a while to get to the good stuff, with little of true value to tide investors over until Friday's potentially Fed-shifting nonfarm jobs report."

In the corporate space, Pfizer posted first-quarter revenues of $14.58bn, ahead of expectations of $13.51bn, and upped its full-year sales forecast. Elsewhere, news broke that the US looked set to approve the drugmaker's Covid-19 vaccine for 12-to-15-year-olds as early as next week.