| |
| Please Note - Streaming News is only available to subscribers to the Active Level and above |
|
|
|
FTSE falls on vaccine dispute and Reddit-inspired volatility
StockMarketWire.com
|
The FTSE 100 was down 1% by midday to 6,502.61 nearly erasing all of its year-to-date gains as a combination of Redditor-inspired market volatility and mounting concern over vaccine nationalism hit sentiment.
The impact of investors, who have co-ordinated their efforts through the Reddit social media platform, attacking hedge fund shorts is causing uncertainty with the Dow down 2% by the close last night. The spat over vaccines involving AstraZeneca, the UK and EU also isn't helping market confidence.
Budget airline EasyJet reported a slump in first quarter revenue and said it expected second-quarter capacity of just 10% of the prior-year period as lockdowns continued to dent air travel activity.
For the three months ended 31 December, revenue fell 88.4% to £165 million year-on-year as number of flights slumped 83.3% following an 87.1% reduction in the passengers. Despite this the share gained ground through the day, reversing earlier losses to trade up 0.5% at 717.6p.
Similarly, Hungarian airline Wizz Air has reported a €116 million (£102 million) quarterly loss, as restrictions continue to inhibit the aviation market.
The company said that it carried only 2.3 million passengers, down 77% compared to the same time last year, causing revenue to fall 76.5% to €149.9 million (£132.7 million). It's shares were up 3.7% to £43.58.
Euromoney also reported a fall in revenue in the first quarter of the year as the pandemic-led impact on physical events hurt revenue in its institutional investor business. Its share price fell 2.9% to 941p.
Britvic tumbled 1.3% to 750.9p as the soft-drinks maker reported a decline in first quarter revenue and said performance would continue to be affected by the pandemic-led sales weakness in its out-of-home division.
In the first quarter, total revenue fell 9.8% to £328.1 million and was down 5.8%, when the the disposal of the French private label juice business was excluded.
Alcoholic drinks maker Diageo, meanwhile, has raised its interim dividend even as first-half profit and sales declined amid lower pandemic fuelled sales from pubs and bars.
For the six months ended 31 December, Reported net sales fell 4.5% during the second half of the year, while operating profit declined 8.3% to £2.2 billion. Its share price was up 3% to £29.38.
Private equity group 3i reported an increase in the third-quarter net asset as higher returns in its private equity portfolio helped offset the impact of a stronger sterling.
For the quarter ended 31 December, net asset value per share increased to 936p from 905p quarter-on-quarter and total returns grew 18.7%. It fell 0.5% to £11.20.
Wealth management group St. James's Place has reported a modest 1% gross inflow increase for Q4 against the same period in 2019, totaling £4.02 billion. It dipped 0.2% to £11.90.
Tritax Big Box REIT saw record take-up of logistic real estate space in 2020, reporting year-on-year growth of more than 50%. Its share price, however, fell slightly in early morning trading, down 1% to 180.9p.
Story provided by StockMarketWire.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
