The Merchant Bank issued a trading statement this morning in the wake of the FCA review into car financing. Noting significant uncertainty in the timing and quantum of any impact here, the bank has elected to suspend its dividend payments for the current financial year, with reinstatement plans being subject to further news from the FCA. Shares in Close Brothers are down by 14% so far today, taking year to date losses to in excess of 50%.
Full year numbers from British Gas owner Centrica were something of a mixed bag this morning, but the contribution from retail operations was the stand out. That came as a result of some one-off changes initiated by Ofgem so critically this won’t be repeated, but a 33% uptick in the dividend and a £1bn share buy back scheme have certainly sweetened the deal for investors. Shares were leading the FTSE-100 in early trade, up more than 4%.
London’s first IPO of the year may have been an absolute minnow in the shape of TekCapital’s spin out MicroSalt but today’s announcement of an export collaboration with American Trading International was sufficient to give the stock another lift. The move will offer distribution into 80 countries worldwide and allow MicroSalt to leverage ATI’s presence at trade shows globally. The stock was up 15% in the first couple of hours of trade, well in excess of double the IPO price.
Headlines we expect tomorrow:
Nat West
Group full year results
This
time last year Full year attributable profit £3,340m, RoTE 12.3%,
Impairment losses for FY23 expected to be 20-30 basis points
