Three important things you need to know from across the markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross.
J
Sainsbury
The
supermarket group reported Christmas sales figures today and whilst management may have
been talking a good game when it came to outperformance in grocery sales, it
was arguably a lack of festive cheer elsewhere that took a toll. The excuses
weren’t in short supply with tough comparatives as a result of increased demand
a year ago for energy saving products and customers shopping in store rather
than contending with Royal Mail strikes being just a couple of examples, but
the market was clearly underwhelmed. At 10am Sainsbury is propping up the
FTSE-100, almost 5% lower.
Pennon
Some
interesting share price reaction from Pennon this morning, whose shares opened
lower off the back of placing news following an acquisition of Sutton
& East Surrey (SES) Water. The cash call of up to £180m is to cover the
purchase cost but also ensure gearing remains within the target range, on the
basis SES comes with net debts of £291m. The prospect of synergies here appears
to be winning out.
Marks
Electrical
The AIM
listed white goods supplier issued a trading statement this morning, noting
year to date revenue growth of 22%, some way short of the previously stated
target. Margin growth has also struggled and as a result, full year EBITDA is
set to be materially lower than the figure printed a year ago. The company has
a strong customer proposition (I used them to buy a new tumble drier before
Christmas) but the question has to be if today’s reset is left looking overdone
– or is this another post-pandemic stock that came to market at the wrong time?
Shares are down 27% and sit around 10p above all time lows of October 2022.
