Shell reports record Q1 profits, BAE Systems reiterates FY guidance
London pre-open
The FTSE 100 was being called to open 87.7 points higher ahead of the bell on Thursday after closing out the previous session 0.90% lower at 7,493.45.
Stocks to watch
Aerospace company BAE Systems said on Thursday that first-quarter trading was in line with expectations, with strong order intake and good operational performance being maintained throughout the period.
BAE Systems stated full-year 2022 guidance across all metrics was unchanged despite ongoing pressures on its supply chains, delivery lead times and people resourcing. Sales were projected to rise 2-4% year-on-year, while underlying earnings were seen growing 4-6% on 2021.
Shell reported record first-quarter profits on Thursday, driven by surging oil and gas prices throughout the period.
Adjusted earnings rose 43% quarter-on-quarter to $9.13bn, beating average analyst forecasts of $8.67bn and trebling the $3.13bn reported at the same time a year earlier.
Newspaper round-up
The UK's biggest electricity distribution business has agreed to pay £14.9m after its support for vulnerable customers during power cuts was deemed "totally unacceptable". The energy regulator said National Grid's Western Power Distribution did not provide proper support to 1.7m customers during the outages. An Ofgem investigation, launched in 2020, found that WPD had failed customers in a number of areas including not carrying out criminal record checks for all staff visiting customers' homes. - Guardian
A Virgin Atlantic flight to New York was forced to return to Heathrow after bosses discovered that one of its pilots had not completed their training. Virgin Atlantic, majority-owned by billionaire businessman Sir Richard Branson, apologised for the disruption to passengers and blamed a "rostering issue". It said internal training protocols, rather than UK aviation or safety regulations, had been breached. - Telegraph
Workplace lawsuits including the word "banter" have shot up by 45% in a year as former colleagues clash over what they deem to be acceptable office humour. The number of employment tribunal claims relating to "banter" as a justification for alleged discrimination rose from 67 in 2020 to a record 97 in 2021, according to research by law firm GQ Littler. - Telegraph
The chairman of Just Eat Takeaway resigned before the food delivery group's annual meeting yesterday after acknowledging shareholders' concerns at the way the company has been run. Adriaan Nuhn's abrupt exit came as the supervisory board withdrew the vote for the re-election to the management board of Jörg Gerbig, 41, the company's chief operating officer, amid a complaint about his personal conduct. - The Times
Construction companies are struggling to keep up with growing workloads amid the surge in materials costs and a shortage of skilled labour. Almost every contractor, builder and developer surveyed in the latest Global Construction Monitor from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said that availability of materials was a "major constraint to current activity". - The Times
US close
Wall Street stocks closed sharply higher on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve confirmed the first 50-basis point rate hike in more than two decades.
At the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 2.81% at 34,061.06, while the S&P 500 added 2.99% to 4,300.17 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 3.19% firmer at 12,964.86.