Despite the passing of Joe Biden’s stimulus plan, it was a quiet morning for the FTSE 100 and other European indexes.
Connor Campbell, analyst at Spreadex, commented on the index’s lacklustre start to the week. “While its miners – the index’s biggest burden this week – rebounded after the bell, the FTSE itself only managed a 0.1% increase, leaving it short of 6,750,” Campbell said.
FTSE 100 Top Movers
Flutter Entertainment (3.07%), Rio Tinto (2.88%) and Anglo American (2.6%) were the top risers on early Thursday morning trading on the FTSE 100.
Down at the bottom end, Persimmon (-4.2%), HSBC (-3.83%) and Evraz (-2.34%), are the index’s biggest fallers so far.
Rolls-Royce
Engineering company Rolls-Royce swung to a £4bn loss in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic severely impacted the airline industry. The company’s loss came following an underlying profit before tax of £583m in 2019.
In 2020 its cash outflow was £4.2bn. The FSTE 100 company predicted an improvement this year to around £2bn, with its cash outflow set to turn positive during H2 of 2021.
Morissons
Morrisons (LON:MRW) confirmed on Thursday morning that its profit fell as the supermarket took on £290m extra costs due to the pandemic. The supermarket confirmed its profit before tax fell by 62.1% to £165m for the year ending on 31 January. The supermarket’s total revenue rose by 0.4% to £17.6bn.
Throughout the year the FTSE 100 company spent an additional £99m paying staff, £68m on bonuses for employees, £46m to protect its customers, as well as donating £12m to food banks.