Ocado Group losses widen, Abrdn swings to full-year loss
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 11 points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.72% on Monday at 7,935.11.
Stocks to watch
UK online grocer and technology company Ocado Group posted wider losses as the cost of living crisis and return to normal shopping habits after the Covid pandemic hammered its joint venture with Marks & Spencer. The group on Tuesday posted a pre-tax loss of £501m for the year to November 27, 2022 compared with a loss of £179m a year earlier and worse than analyst forecasts of a £399m loss. Core losses were £74m compared with a profit of £61m a year earlier. Retail losses were £4m, down from a £150m profit in 2021
UK asset manager abrdn swung to a full-year loss citing volatile markets and surging investments in what the company called “one of the hardest investing years in living memory”. The company on Tuesday reported a full-year pre-tax loss of £651m for the 12 months to December 31, compared with a profit of £1.1bn a year earlier. Assets under management fell 8% to £500bn from £542bn. The annual dividend was maintained at 14.6p a share.
Newspaper round-up
Jeremy Hunt could offer striking public sector workers a bigger pay rise before his budget next month by cancelling plans for a fuel duty freeze costing £6bn, according to a leading tax and spending watchdog. With waves of fresh strike action planned across the public sector next month, the director of Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), Paul Johnson, said the chancellor faced a “straight choice” between subsidising car driving and helping public sector workers cope with the cost of living crisis. – Guardian
Elon Musk is facing yet another lawsuit as shareholders of Tesla accuse the chief executive and his company of overstating the effectiveness and safety of their electric vehicles’ autopilot and full self-driving technologies. Shareholders have alleged in the proposed class action lawsuit that Tesla defrauded them over four years with false and misleading statements that concealed how its technologies – suspected as a possible cause of multiple fatal crashes – “created a serious risk of accident and injury”. The case was filed Monday in a San Francisco federal court. – Guardian
Dame Sharon White has sacked the head of John Lewis's department stores as the business fights surging prices and the threat of a resurgent Marks & Spencer. Pippa Wicks is stepping down from the company with immediate effect after less than three years in the post. – Telegraph
Some of Britain’s most prominent business figures have called on the prime minister to block the prospective extradition of Mike Lynch, the software tycoon, to the United States. Entrepreneurs including Brent Hoberman, a co-founder of Lastminute.com, along with City veterans such as Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, the former chairman of Pearson and HBOS, have written to Rishi Sunak complaining about America’s “unreasonable” use of an extradition treaty. – The Times
Bosses at public companies are expecting to embark on more acquisitions this year as an improvement in economic conditions sets the stage for a wave of dealmaking in the City. In a poll of FTSE 250 chief executives by Numis, 94 percent expected to make acquisitions in 2023, compared with 86 per cent last year. The investment bank also found that 88 per cent of FTSE directors regard British companies as vulnerable to takeovers. – The Times
US close
Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday, as major averages bounced back from their worst week of the year so far.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.22% at 32,889.09, as the S&P 500 added 0.31% to 3,982.24 and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.63% at 11,466.98.
The Dow closed 72.17 points higher on Monday, after heavy losses on Friday saw major averages register their worst weekly performance of 2023.
Going into the new week, the year-to-date stock market rally now looks to be fading, with traders starting to come to terms with minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, in which policymakers reiterated their tough stance on inflation, as well as comments from multiple central bankers that seemingly indicated that interest rates could rise higher even still.
On the economic front, orders for goods made to last more than three years shrank more than expected in January as a surge in jet orders seen at the end of 2022 reversed.