Weekly review

The FTSE 100 ended the week down 19.55 points, or 0.26%, closing at 7,615.54 on Friday.

Equity view

Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust said it bought four newly-constructed solar farms located close to Dublin, Ireland for €160m. The solar complex totals 199 megawatts and was acquired from Statkraft Ireland Limited. ORIT's total capacity of operational renewable energy assets is now 735MW.

Budget airline Ryanair reported a 3% jump in January passenger numbers on Friday, but a dip in the load factor. Traffic rose to 12.2m from 11.8m in the same month a year earlier, while the load factor - which gauges how full the flights are - ticked down to 89% from 91%.

Hikma Pharmaceuticals announced an agreement in principle to address the majority of opioid-related claims filed against it by various US states, local communities and tribal nations on Friday. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals maker said the claims were associated with the production and distribution of prescription opioid medications.

Apax Global Alpha has invested €21.5m in trends forecaster WGSN, the closed-ended investment company confirmed on Friday. Apax, which provides investor access to the Apax Private Equity Funds, said it had invested the money on a look-through basis.

Africa-focused telecoms group Airtel Africa said it intends to launch a share buyback worth up to $100m after a strong underlying performance in the third quarter, though currency movements weighed heavily on growth. Revenues at constant currency were up 21% year-on-year in the three months to 31 December, but reported revenues fell by 8.3%, mainly due to the devaluation of the Nigerian naira.

BT Group reiterated annual guidance as it reported flat adjusted earnings for the third quarter and a rise in revenues driven by higher prices. The telecoms provider on Thursday said adjusted core earnings for the three months to December 31 rose 1% to £2.03bn. Revenue was up 3% to £5.3bn.

Irn Bru maker AG Barr said on Thursday that full-year profit was set to be "slightly ahead" of previous market expectations after a strong performance in the second half. In an update for the year to 28 January, the company said it expects revenue to be up around 26% on the year at £400m, or 7.6% higher on a like-for-like basis, excluding the contribution from the Boost Drinks business bought in December 2022.

UK savings and retirement business Phoenix Group said it was able to achieve its 2025 growth target two years early after a strong performance in 2023 with new business net fund flows up 80%. In a pre-close trading update for the 12 months to 31 December, the company said new business net fund flows totalled £7bn, up from £3.9bn in 2022, helped by an improved performance in the Standard Life branded Pension & Savings and Retirement Solutions businesses.

Professional IT services provider FDM Group said it expected annual revenues to be flat, confirming the warning it issued in November about the hit from geopolitical uncertainties and clients deferring project decisions. Revenue for calendar 2023 is expected to rise by 1% to £334m as client placements plunged by 21% and FDM was forced to axe a tenth of its internal workforce.

De Beers, the diamond division of mining giant Anglo American, has reported encouraging further signs of stabilisation in the diamond market after a big jump in revenues from its first sales tender of the new financial year. The company said it sold $370m of rough diamonds in the cycle one tender, down from $454m in the same cycle one tender last year but well ahead of the $137m sold in the last sales cycle of 2023.

Newspaper and magazine distributor Smiths News said on Wednesday that trading for the year to the end of August 2024 remains in line with market expectations. In an update ahead of its annual general meeting, the company said that as previously announced, it has secured contract renewals across 74% of its current publisher revenue streams to at least 2029, underpinning revenues in the medium term, alongside continuing to secure additional national and regional contract awards.

Shares in ITM Power surged on Wednesday after the energy storage and clean fuel company impressed with its interim results and improved its full-year guidance. ITM said that its performance over the six months to 31 October brings it "one step closer to becoming a profitable company in the future".

Travel food outlet operator SSP Group on Tuesday held full-year guidance after a strong rise in first-quarter sales as rail and air passenger numbers continued to recover after the Covid pandemic. The Upper Crust and Ritazza coffee chain owner said like-for-like sales for the three months to December 31 rose 14.3% to £788m. On a total basis they were up by 21%.

First-half profits at Diageo fell by more than a tenth as weakness in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) regions persisted, but the drinks giant pointed to improving trading conditions in the latter part of the financial year. The company, which owns brands such as Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Baileys, reported operating profit fell by 11.1% year-on-year to $3.3bn in the six months to 31 December, with the operating profit margin shrinking by 329 basis points to 30.3%. Organic operating profits were down 5.4%, but would have grown by 0.9% if LAC was excluded.

HSBC Bank has been fined £57.4m by the Bank of England after admitting serious failings in protecting customer deposits. The BoE’s Prudential Regulation Authority said the Asia-focused bank failed to accurately identify deposits that were eligible for Britain’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme - which protects customer cash up to £85,000.

Infrastructure products group Hill & Smith has group president Hooman Caman Javvi as its new chief operating officer. Caman Javvi, who joined the company in March 2022, having previously spent 11 years in senior management roles at ABB and Hitachi Energy, will retain his current responsibilities but take on operations, talent development and medium-term strategy.

Iron ore pellet producer Ferrexpo said a Ukraine's court of appeal has confirmed a claim against it for around $125m as part of the long-running court case against its largest shareholder. The company on Monday said it would file an appeal to the Ukraine's Supreme Court in Ukraine.

Biopharma giant GSK has been given the green light by European regulators to sell Omjjara, its treatment for patients with a rare type of blood cancer. GSK announced on Monday that Omjjara, its brand name for momelotinib, has been granted marketing authorisation by the European Commission, giving the company permission to market the drug and make it available to patients and healthcare professionals across the EU and EEA-EFTA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Closed-ended infrastructure investment company GCP Infrastructure reported on Monday that its portfolio value was more or less unchanged over its fiscal first quarter. Net asset value per share was 109.84p by 31 December, up just 0.05p since the end of the last financial year on 30 September.

Eyewear manufacturer Inspecs on Monday warned full-year results would be below expectations after softer trading conditions in December. The company said it expected to report a 16.1% rise in unaudited adjusted underlying core earnings to £18m.

Economic news

Retail footfall continued to fall in January, industry data showed on Friday, as wet and windy weather put off potential bargain hunters. According to the latest BRC-Sensormatic IQ footfall monitor, total UK footfall fell 2.8% in January, though that was a marginal improvement on December’s 5% decline.

The Bank of England left interest rates unchanged at 5.25% on Thursday, as widely expected. The nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voted by a majority of six to three to leave the cost of borrowing on hold.

The UK's hard-pressed manufacturing sector faltered in January, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, as disruption in the Red Sea started to bite. The latest S&P Global UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 47.0, a modest improvement on December’s 46.2. It remained, however, in negative territory and was below the flash estimate of 47.3.

UK businesses started the new year with an upbeat outlook, a survey claimed on Wednesday, buoyed by easing inflation and the prospect of falling interest rates. According to the latest Lloyds Bank Business Barometer, overall confidence rose nine points in January to 44%. It was the biggest monthly increase since August, and the highest level since February 2022.

UK house prices rose more than expected in January as mortgage rates trended lower, according to figures released on Wednesday by Nationwide. House prices were up 0.7% on the month, having been flat in December and versus expectations for a 0.1% jump. The average price of a home now stands at £257,656.

A trio of leading UK consumer lending indicators for December came in much lower than expected on Tuesday, with consumer credit, lending and mortgage approvals falling shy of analysts' forecasts, driven by above-average savings levels. Net consumer credit borrowing declined to £1.2bn last month, down from £2.1bn in November, as borrowing through credit cards dropped to just £0.3 from £1.0bn. Other forms of credit also decreased, such as car finance and personal loans, slipping to £0.9bn from £1.1bn. Analysts had pencilled in a smaller decline to £1.35bn in December while the average of the previous six months had been £1.6bn.

Shop price inflation saw a notable slowdown at the start of the year, according to fresh data released on Tuesday, as price growth reached its lowest level since May 2022. The British Retail Consortium (BRC) and NielsenIQ shop price index for 1 January to 7 January showed a significant drop in annual shop price inflation to 2.9%, from 4.3% in December.

The UK’s private sector continued to struggle over the last three months, a survey showed on Monday. According to the Confederation of British Industry’s latest Growth Indicator, private sector activity in the three months to January fell, with a weighted balance of -11. That compares to December’s balance of -8.

International events

Americans were noticeably more confident last month regarding the economy and the inflation outlook, the results of a closely-followed survey revealed. The University of Michigan's consumer confidence index rose from a reading of 69.7 in December to 79.0 for January, according to final figures for the month.

The US jobs market was on fire at the turn of the year with both hiring and wage gains nearly doubling forecasts. According to the Department of Labor, non-farm payrolls surged by 353,000 in January, against economists' forecasts for an increase of 180,000.

Factory sector activity in the States recovered at the start of the year, the results of a survey revealed. Revised data showed that S&P Global's manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index improved from December's reading of 47.9 to 50.7 in January.

Factory sector activity in the US continued to contract in January, but at a slower pace, the results of a closely-followed survey showed. The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing sector Purchasing Managers' Index improved from a reading of 47.1 in December to 49.1 for January (consensus: 47.0)

The UK's hard-pressed manufacturing sector faltered in January, a closely-watched survey showed on Thursday, as disruption in the Red Sea started to bite. The latest S&P Global UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was 47.0, a modest improvement on December’s 46.2. It remained, however, in negative territory and was below the flash estimate of 47.3.

Joblessness in the single currency bloc was little changed at the end of 2023. According to Eurostat, the ranks of the unemployed contained approximately 10.91m euro area residents in December, versus 10.93m during the previous month.

The downturn in the eurozone manufacturing sector showed signs of easing in January, according to a closely-watched survey published on Thursday. The HCOB eurozone manufacturing PMI was 46.6 last month, still in negative territory but a notable improvement on December’s 44.4. It was also the highest level in ten months.

Activity in China’s manufacturing sector held steady in January, according to a survey released on Thursday. The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index was unchanged at 50.8, in line with consensus expectations.

Central bankers in the US said they were now closer to achieving their goals for both full employment and inflation stability. Members of the Federal Open Market Committee added that they were still not confident enough that inflation was shifting back down to 2% on a sustainable basis.

German inflation continued to ease in January, official data showed on Wednesday, as energy prices fell sharply. According to provisional figures from Destatis, the Federal Statistical Office, the consumer price index was 2.9% in January, the lowest since June 2021, when it was 2.4%. Analysts had been forecasting CPI of 3.0%.

The manufacturing downturn in the wider Chicago area unexpectedly worsened in January, according to a closely watched survey of purchasing managers released on Wednesday. The purchasing managers' index (PMI) released by the Institute for Supply Management-Chicago, which tracks business conditions across Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, dropped to 46.0 this month, from a revised 47.2 in December.

The cost of hiring workers in the US increased at its slowest pace in years during the final quarter of 2023. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, the Employment Cost Index increased at a quarter-on-quarter pace of 0.9% (consensus: 1.0%) over the three months ending in December.

Reporting by Sharecast.com staff and contributors.