Marshalls delivers record FY sales & profits, Cineworld narrows losses

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open broadly flat ahead of the bell on Thursday, with futures up just 0.7 points after closing out the previous session 1.62% stronger at 7,291.68.

Stocks to watch

Paving company Marshalls said on Thursday that it had delivered record sales and adjusted profitability in 2021, reflecting sustained heightened demand post-Covid-19 lockdowns.

Marshalls saw a 26% year-on-year increase in revenues to £589.3m, while adjusted underlying earnings were up 86% at £107.1m and adjusted pre-tax profits surged 180% to £76.2m. Adjusted earnings per share were a whopping 233% higher at 28.6p.

As a result of its solid full-year performance, Marshalls proposed a final dividend of 9.6p - giving rise to a total dividend for the year of 14.3p per share.

Film theatre operator Cineworld narrowed losses as Covid-19 lockdowns eased globally and said it expected a strong return to trading in March after a hit from the Omicron strain of the coronavirus at the start of 2022.

Pre-tax losses for calendar 2021 came in at $708.0m, a marked improvement when compared to its whopping loss of $3.0bn a year earlier, while revenue more than doubled to $1.8bn.

The FTSE 250-listed company added that January and February trading had been impacted by Omicron and a lack of major movie releases but said it anticipated "strong trading" to start in March due to "a strong and full film slate".

Ocado's retail revenue fell in the first quarter of 2022 as the online grocer warned of uncertainties stemming from the rising cost of living.

Revenue fell 5.7% in the 13 weeks to the end of February as customer orders rose 11.6%. Ocado said the figures reflected a return to more normal shopping patterns as pandemic restrictions were eased and people returned to work.

While the FTSE 100-listed group said food price inflation and the effect on demand caused by the rising cost of living were hard to predict, Ocado stated revenue growth for the full year was now likely to be roughly 10% and that profit margins would be squeezed.

Newspaper round-up

Nearly 90% of former Debenhams stores remain empty almost a year after the department store closed its doors for the last time, in a sign of the challenge to reinvent high streets across the country. The empty shops are among nearly 8,000 outlets left empty last year, according to a report by the high street analysts Local Data Company, as Covid lockdowns accelerated the shift towards shopping online and pummelled city centres. - Guardian

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has warned the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, that millions more people will be plunged into fuel poverty unless the government uses next week's spring statement to ease the UK's cost of living crisis. A letter to the chancellor, organised by Brown and signed by more than 70 Labour local government leaders, urged the chancellor to adopt a five-pronged approach to help those struggling to make ends meet. - Guardian

Michael Gove is preparing to use a legal loophole to help councils exit contracts with Russian energy giant Gazprom. The Communities Secretary is drawing up plans to use obscure legislation that says public bodies must favour contracts that represent good social value. Officials are hoping the laws under the Social Value Act will allow councils to walk away from Gazprom deals without having to pay huge exit fees. - Telegraph

Tens of thousands of railway staff are to be forced to work on weekends under Whitehall plans that threaten to spark a war with trade unions. Workers must "shift to today’s reality" as outdated weekday-only shift patterns come to an end, rail minister Wendy Morton told an industry conference in London. - Telegraph

The number of empty shops and restaurants in Britain has fallen for the first time since 2018, prompting hopes that a post-pandemic recovery may be underway. In the second half of last year the national vacancy rate declined by 0.1% from the first half to reach 14.4% of all shops, according to the Local Data Company. The drop is the first decline in national vacancy rates in three years. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed firmer on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve sated market expectations by raising interest rates.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.55% at 34,063.10, while the S&P 500 added 2.24% to 4,357.86 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.77% to 13,436.55.