The athletics and leisure retailer JD Sports published full year results this morning, painting a somewhat mixed picture. Whilst revenues had nudged higher, store closures were hampering growth and gross margins dropped by 20 basis points, too. Management are upbeat about how trading has started in the new financial year and profit objectives are looking upbeat, too, but even the 12.5% uptick in dividend payment has been insufficient to bolster investor sentiment. The stock was trading almost 11% lower in by 9am on Friday.
The bank this morning informed the market that it had spent £1.24 billion buying back shares from HM Treasury, equivalent to 4.5% of the company’s listed capital. Around 60% of the shares will be cancelled in a move that should offer another boost to the share price. After this transaction which is expected to settle early next week, the government will hold 22.5% of the voting rights in Nat West Group. Shares were up as much as 0.6% in early trade but some of those gains have already been given back.
The online gambling company Flutter sees its shares move their primary listing to New York today but despite hopes that this would bolster valuations, the stock is trading 11% lower in early trade. The downside here seems to be coming off the back of news that the company’s CFO is set to depart with immediate effect after realising that the new listing would require him to spend more time in the US that he wanted to – something that arguably could have been managed earlier in the process.
Headlines we expect on Monday
Hollywood Bowl Interim Results
This time last year Revenue £110.2m, Gross profit margin 82.8%, Interim dividend 3.27p
