Full year results from Halma were published this morning and it’s fair to say that the market liked what it saw. Revenues broke above the £2billion level for the first time ever and the adjusted EBIT margin advanced 40bps to 20.8%. Management added that they had made a positive start to the new financial year, with order intake ahead of where it stood 12 months ago, further revenue improvement is seen on a constant currency basis and those adjusted EBIT margins are expected to come in slightly higher, too. Shares in the FTSE-100 safety equipment company were up almost 9% by 9am.
The housebuilder Crest Nicolson published interim results this morning which were somewhat underwhelming with a profit warning, dividend cut and news that more than £30m was being set aside to remedy legacy build problems. In a separate filing, the company also confirmed that the CEO would leave his post tomorrow. Whilst that plan had originally been laid out at the start of the year, timings were unconfirmed and it’s difficult not to see the move as being something of a bid to convince shareholders that an agenda of change is underway. Shares were down as much as 12% in early trade before recovering modestly to sit around 8.5% lower at 9am.
Fintech company Wise, arguably best known for its TransferWise currency payments products, saw its shares plunge today, trading down to levels not seen since last November. Despite full year earnings highlighting a 24% increase in revenues and a 226% rise in underlying pre-tax profits, investors have been focused on the guidance, with FY25 income set to grow at a slower pace of between 15% and 20%. The reported pre-tax profit margin of 21% was also seen as flattering and is expected to contract to 13-16% in the medium term. Shares were as much as 20% lower but recovered to sit down around 16.5% just over an hour into the day.
Headlines we expect on Friday
Tesco Q1 Trading Update
This time last year Group Sales £14.8bn, up 8.2%, Market Share 27.1%
