Stobart Group (STOB); agrees on the terms of a recommended cash offer for Flybe by Connect Airways
The acquisition is subject to a number of conditions and further terms
Connect airways, a joint venture of Cyrus, Stobart Group and Virgin Atlantic, will aquire the entire share capital of Flybe, a English budget airline. Flybe shareholders will receive 1p in cash per share. A £20m bridge loan facility has been committed to support Flybe’s ongoing working capital and operational requirements.
Read more...Carclo (CAR); LED division continues to face short term challenges
FY19 results expected to be considerably below prior expectations
Reflecting challenges in the LED Technologies Division, Carclo noted that its results for the year ending 31 March 2019 are likely to come in considerably below previous expectations. Chris Malley will take on the role of Chief Executive of LED Technologies division with immediate effect.
Read more...SCISYS Group (SSY); secures €2.8m contract with ESA
Funded by the European Space Agency the contract tenure is 2019-2023 with an option for an additional extension of five years.
SCISYS announced its subsidiary, SCISYS Deutschland GmbH, was awarded a contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for a Monitoring & Control (M&C) system to tailor services for the ESA Tracking Network (ESTRACK).
Read more...Tesco (TSCO); trading amounts to a relatively strong performance in a challenged market
The Christmas period was somewhat stronger than the quarter itself with like-for-like group growth of 1.5% against 0.5%
Tesco’s Q3 and Christmas trading amounts to a relatively strong performance in a challenged market. The 19-week extended period still showed weak like-for-like growth of 0.8%; though well down on Q2’s growth of 2.7%. The UK and Ireland was up 2.1% and up 9.6% when supported by Booker, while UK retail operations posted weaker growth of 1.2%, but outperformed the market in food, clothing and general merchandise in the Christmas period. Confirming Kantar’s stats, which show 0.6% share growth in the quarter against 0.4% decline at Sainsbury.
Read more...Card Factory (CARD); shows limited signs of any marked improvement
Management has reiterated its guidance for FY19 EBITDA in the range of £88-91m
It has been a challenging year for Card Factory, with limited signs of any marked improvement in the sales trend over the final two months of 2018. For the 11 months to 31st December 2018 total sales increased by 3.4%, in line with the year-to-date figures reported at the end of the third quarter.
Read more...DFS Furniture PLC (DFS); report reassuring performance
Total sales growth of 29% includes the benefit of the Sofology acquisition
DFS reported reassuring performance, suggesting that consumers are still in the market for durable goods. Underlying sales growth of 10% for the five months to the end of December is optically strong. Although it should be remembered that this does not tell us much about recent months and UK consumer confidence has worsened in November and December.
Read more...Marks and Spencer Group Plc (MKS); struggle with bleak BRC retail sales
Total food sales fell by -1.2% with like-for-like sales declines improving only slightly to -2.1%
There is a lot that M&S needs to fix. The company is in the difficult early stages of a major restructuring programme against a backdrop of bleak BRC Retail sales figures for the last couple of months of the year. It is therefore little surprise that company sales have continued to deteriorate in the third quarter.
Read more...Premier Asset Management Group (PAM); reports positive 1Q trading update
Total net inflows for the rolling twelve months to 31 December 2018 were at £562m
The Group reported assets under management (AUM) of £6.4bn as of 31 December 2018 (31 December 2017: £6.4bn). Total net inflows stood positive for their twenty third successive quarter at £65m (31 December 2017: £237m). The Group declared quarterly dividend per share at 1.70p compared to 1.65p last year.
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FOMC Minutes: Up to speed with events but US-centric
Meeting minutes suggested Fed closer to market views than originally thought
The minutes of December’s FOMC interest rate meeting suggest the US Federal Reserve is in fact more attuned to the recent tightening of financial conditions and risk of a slowdown than first thought. Tweaks to the language in the FOMC’s December statement were intended to emphasise the data-dependency of the Fed’s monetary policy stance and also that only limited policy tightening was now envisaged. While we view this as reassuring for the remainder of 2019, the heightened volatility of global markets following Fed Chair Powell’s press conference demonstrates the ease of a miscommunication when interest rate policy becomes politically charged.
Read more...Majestic Wines (WINE); outlook is sober despite good news over Christmas
Majestic’s UK retail market was even more challenging than management expected
Despite a successful Christmas, Majestic’s view of its outlook is sober. Christmas makes up 30% of Majestic’s sales, so total sales growth of 6.3% in the ten-week period, combined with a 0.4% hike in gross margin, should qualify as significantly good news.
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