Rathbone Brothers plc (LON: RAT) have announced lower profit expectations in the next 2-3 years, causing share prices to fall. Underlying operations income amounted to £86.3 million for the first quarter of 2019, with £76.7 million arising from investment management dealings. In the report published this morning, Rathbone Brothers had increased funds under management and administration by 4.5 per cent to £49.4 billion. Plans for the next 2-3 years were also unveiled. With plans outlined to invest heavily to enhance organic growth, which will hopefully drive down operating margins in the short term. In 2018, operating margins reported at 29.4%, and plans are set to lower this by 2022. Paul Stockton, Chief Executive of Rathbone Brothers Plc, said ““Our funds under management and administration increased marginally in the quarter to £49.4 billion. In difficult markets we continue to focus on providing a quality service to our clients, navigating through ongoing market uncertainty but also selectively investing to pursue organic growth opportunities and develop our business.” As a result, shares in Rathbone Brothers plc dipped 8.61%, trading at 2,175p 17/11/2019 13:05 BST. Analysts at Shore Capital said “During an extended multi-year period where Rathbones has grown at a slower (organic) rate than many of its listed DFM peers, we have struggled to see a positive investment case, especially as its rating has generally remained at a premium to such peers.” Rathbone saw total net fund inflows of £100 million, in the third quarter versus £7 billion, but this was down to the acquisition of Speirs & Jeffrey. Rathbone said “”This reflected ongoing weak investor sentiment and investment manager departures. Both factors, together with anticipated outflows from short term discretionary mandates, are expected to continue to weigh on net growth in funds under management & administration into 2020,” Although the stock price has dipped from this company announcement, this could be a short term fall as other firms in the industry have experienced volatility, both positive and negative. These include Augean plc (LON: AUG), Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ALXN). With the plans to cut operating costs by 2022, this will present a new challenge for Rathbone Brother Plc.  

EVR holdings (LON: EVRH) has seen a surge in its share price after a partnership agreement was reached with O2 (NASDAQ: OIIM) . Today, the launch of MelodyVR, as the exclusive partner at O2’s UK 5G launch. When customers agree a plan with O2, this will give them access to a 12 month subscription to the MelodyVR platform. The agreement plan gives O2 customers unrestricted access to the MelodyVR platform, via a smartphone app or VR devices when any customer upgrades to a 5G plan. O2 have been competitors such as Vodafone (NSE: IDEA) to combine virtual reality and 5G. Additionally, if O2 customers take a premium tariff, the enabled plan will be inclusive of an Oculus Go device, complementing MelodyVR. As a result, shares in EVR Holdings Plc have climbed 21.43% during Thursday. They are currently trading at 6.38p per stock, 17/11/2019 12:35BST. This comes as no surprise from seniority at O2. The mobile giant has committed money and time to ensure long term partnership success. These changes include, prime placement and promotion across the six biggest O2 stores nationally, allowing MelodyVR to engage with a variety of audiences. Anthony Matchett, CEO and Executive Chairman of EVR Holdings PLC said “”We’re thrilled to announce our exclusive partnership with Telefonica UK, that will see O2’s new 5G consumers across the United Kingdom gain unrestricted access to the MelodyVR service for a minimum period of 12 months. 5G networks have the power to enable an entirely new-suite of technological advances and experiences, that will soon revolutionise how consumers fundamentally engage with technology. I am very pleased that O2 have chosen MelodyVR as a key partner for the rollout of 5G, and have recognised the MelodyVR service as a perfect-fit for their high-speed 5 th generation network” Nina Bibby, CMO at O2 added “”Partnering with companies like MelodyVR creates a perfect way for O2 customers to enjoy virtual reality like never before – experiencing legendary gigs from around the world, reliving ones they’ve been to and seeing performances they can’t get to. At O2, we’ve always been a customer led business, with a rich heritage in live music, so the opportunity to create unique experiences like this with MelodyVR, that bring customers closer to the things they love, is fantastic” Both parties seem excited about the new partnership, and this will give MelodyVR wide exposure to millions of O2 customers. This is one of many mergers in the tech industry as seen with Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN), With the partnership including MelodyVR for 5G customers, shareholders will be keen to watch shares soar as sales increase if O2 promote the product in the right fashion.  

Grafton Group Plc (LON: GFTU) have issued a statement warning shareholders that profits may be significantly lower than expected. Grafton Group plc is an international distributor of building materials to trade customers and has leading regional or national positions in the merchanting markets in the UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. In this mornings press release, Grafton announced they would miss annual profit expectations as the UK construction sector comes to grips with Brexit uncertainties. The report from Grafton follows a similar line from others in the industry. Last week, SIG plc (LON: SHI) a smaller operator said profit targets would be missed, as a battle of weak demand and weak economic outlook troubles the industry. Shares of Grafton have been trading have dropped 9.75%, trading at 784.2p per share. Additionally, market competitors such as Travis Perkins Plc (LON: TPK), Howden Joinery Group Plc (LON: HWDN) and Kingfisher Plc (LON: KGF) all saw their shares slide. The Irish company added that trading had been slow despite a good performance in the home market. Gavin Slark, CEO of Grafton Group Plc commented “Recent trading conditions are more reflective of market sentiment than business fundamentals. Grafton remains well placed to continue to benefit from our strong market positions in Ireland and the Netherlands and from a recovery in the UK merchanting market. The Group continues to focus on optimising trading opportunities in its markets, on cost control and cash generation and has a strong balance sheet to support value enhancing acquisition opportunities.” Additionally, Grafton said that demand for materials has been hit by legislation in the Netherlands, with limits Nitrogen emissions. This has delayed the granting of permits for new construction periods. Grafton operate across the the merchanting, retailing and manufacturing sectors have speculated full year profits of £193.5 million, significantly lower than expected. The FTSE250 company concluded, that there was signs of recovery with an encouraging start, but trading towards the end of the quarter had been impacted by sombre activity. In other shares news, updates have been provided for Moneysupermarket.com Group Plc (LON: MONY), Serabi Gold Plc (LON: SRB) and Blue Star Capital PLC (LON: BLU).

Moneysupermarket Group Plc (LON: MONY) have sunk during Thursday trading after slowed growth in the third quarter. In the second quarter, the price comparison firm showed steady progress with 4% higher revenues of £100.9 million in the three months leading into September, but this was modest compared to 15% and 19% growth in Q1 and Q2 respectively. The decrease was seen in its Money division, representing a fifth of the firms total revenues. Money Division revenues fell by 5% to £20.6 million. “Insurance grew in a subdued premium environment despite some volatility in our natural search rankings,” Moneysupermarket said. In the trading update, Moneysupermarket have warned shareholders that profits may stagnate in the last quarter, taking a pessimistic attitude. The energy saving division gave solid returns, due to the variety of retailers and large customer savings. Moneysupermarket’s chief executive Mark Lewis said: “The group continued to grow in the quarter, with strong trading in energy showing that there are still big savings to be made by customers even though the price cap is lower.” Liberum commented on the report, “hat the group’s weaker performance in money and insurance should be attributed to “subdued market conditions as opposed to moneysupermarket’s competitive position within price comparison. While the board is confident in meeting full year expectations, they have flagged that the money segment is expected to weaken for the remainder of the year,” Moneysupermarket are in the development stages of a subsidiary called Reinvent, aiming to personalize deals for customers as well as expanding into the mortgage market. On this, Lewis added ““Even better, our Reinvent strategy continues to do more for our customers – the new MoneySuperMarket Energy Monitor service means our customers need never overpay for energy ever again.” The share price of Moneysupermarket is currently trading at 350.4p seeing a drop off 9.46% 17/11/2019 11:50BST.

In the retail market there have been updates to Angling Direct Plc (LON: ANG), Laura Ashley Holdings plc (LON: ALY), Dunelm Group plc (LON: DNLM), WH Smith (LON: SMWH).

 

The Pound has fluctuated massively in the early hours of Thursday trading. Following the events of Brexit, and uncertainty over PM Johnson’s approach to the EU, the exchange rate has been sent into frenzy. As the Brexit deadline looms, market traders have been observes major fluctuations in the value of the Pound amidst reports of a deal being completed. This morning Jean Claude-Juncker, told media officials that a deal was on the table and close to being completed. Along with this, Angela Merkl described negotiations in the ‘final sprint’ phase, sparking trader optimism. Analyst Kim Mundy, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia speculated further rises in the value of the Pound stating “The EU’s leader’s Summit begins today. Market participants are waiting for confirmation (or otherwise) that the EU and the UK have reached a new Withdrawal Agreement. News of an EU‑UK deal today could see GBP/USD hit a fresh five‑month high above 1.3000.” The Pound spiked as high as 1.2990 against the US Dollar, peaking its highest level since May, however this may not be completely set in stone after the DUP commented saying negotiations were stalling. However, a variety have now said that the deal will not be completed and has been held off. Disagreements in the trade deal along with the rejection by the Northern Ireland Democratic Party (DUP) which supports the Conservative majority in Westminster have led to disagreements. The DUP leader Arlene Foster said the EU sources cited by RTE were talking “nonsense” and that discussions were ongoing. In a written statement Foster said “We have been involved in ongoing discussions with the Government. As things stand, we could not support what is being suggested on customs and consent issues and there is a lack of clarity on VAT.” Foster added “We will continue to work with the Government to try and get a sensible deal that works for Northern Ireland and protects the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom.” Market traders are currently caught up about when to buy the pound, as speculation ebbs and flows about a potential deal being completed. As a result, this morning the pound surged valued at $1.29 for first time since May on reports that Brexit negotiations were progressing. The British Pound has been up and down since talks commenced one week ago. Stephen Gallo, European head of foreign exchange at BMO said “”A deal between the UK and EU was 60% in the price [of sterling] and now we stand to see if the remaining 40% come into play,” News just in has reported that PM Johnson has agreed a ‘great deal’ for the UK, this involves a deal which appeases the EU and takes back control in the UK. The two sides will continue to work on legal intricacies of the deal, but awaits the approval of both UK and EU Parliament. With this renewed optimism on Brexit negotiations, the Pound has been quick to fall and surge in one of the most volatile periods in recent political history. The Pound has been trading at near highs in recent months, and analysts are suggesting that the Pound should stay supported over the coming hours. The fluctuations this morning confirm how volatile the Pound is on Brexit negotiations, and further fluctuations can be expected during the day. Quek Ser Leang, a currency market analyst with United Oriental Bank in Singapore said “While the current rally is overbought, it is too early to expect a sustained pull-back. There is still room for further GBP strength but the pace of any advance is likely to be slower” Further updates will provided as news from Number 10 and Brussels comes in, and there is expected to be further volatility in the Pounds value across coming weeks. A prior update has been provided by the UK Investor Magazine. In other current affairs, new stories have been about the London Stock Exchange (LON:LSE), Thomas Cook (LON:TCP), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB), Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Huawei (SHE: 002502)  

Unilever said on Thursday that third quarter growth continued to soften in India whilst slowing down in China. Shares in the consumer goods company (LON:ULVR) were up during trading on Thursday morning. Unilever revealed an underlying sales growth of 2.9%, with 1.4% from volume and 1.5% from price. Meanwhile, turnover grew by 5.8% driven by sales growth. Underlying sales growth missed an average forecast of 3% from a company supplied analyst consensus, according to Reuters. Beauty and Personal Care underlying sales were up 2.8%, Home Care increased 5.4% and Foods and Refreshment rose 1.7%. “We have maintained momentum in the quarter, with a good balance between volume and price,” Alan Jope, CEO of Unilever, commented on the results. “We will step-up competitive top line performance through innovation and portfolio evolution to serve the faster growing geographies and channels.” “We are committed to delivering superior long-term financial performance and balanced, compound growth of the top and bottom line through our sustainable business model,” the CEO continued. Alan Jope said that the company is “taking action to remain relevant to the consumer of the future, such as setting stretching goals on plastic use which we recently announced”. “For the full year, we continue to expect underlying sales growth to be in the lower half of our multi-year 3-5% range, an improvement in underlying operating margin that keeps us on track for the 2020 target and another year of strong free cash flow.” The consumer goods giant revealed in its half year results in July earlier this year that poor weather had hit its ice cream sales in Europe and North America. It posted a stronger-than-expected growth in its underlying sales for its first quarter. As for its full year 2018 results, the consumer goods business said it had seen continued profitable growth despite the “volatile” market conditions. Shares in Unilever plc (LON:ULVR) were up trading at +0.92% as of 10:47 BST Thursday.

Domino’s Pizza Group announced in a third quarter trading update on Thursday that it will end its international operations. Shares in the pizza delivery chain (LON:DOM) were up during trading on Thursday morning. It said that though the financial results have stabilised, international system sales remain “disappointing”. “Although the financial results have stabilised, the performance of our international business remains disappointing,” David Wild, Chief Executive Officer, commented in a third quarter trading update. “Over the past six weeks we have completed a review with external consultants, assessing each of our four international markets and the future prospects for our businesses,” the Chief Executive Officer continued. David Wild said that the company has “concluded that, whilst they represent attractive markets, we are not the best owners of these businesses. Domino’s Pizza will therefore “exit the markets in an orderly manner”. The pizza delivery chain, which posted a 3.4% rise in group system sales, added that 12 stores opened in the UK and ROI in the third quarter. UK online sales were up by 7.2%, whilst ROI online sales increased by 9.9%. Domino’s Pizza said that online now makes up 90.9% of delivery sales. The company is continuing to sear for a new CEO, it added. Meanwhile, a search process for the new chair has started. The Chief Executive Officer said that the businesses “delivered a solid performance in our core UK and Ireland markets, with system sales up 3.9%, against a market backdrop that remains challenging”. “Normal working practices continue to be impacted by our franchisee dispute. As we said at our interim results, this situation is complex and we expect a resolution to take time, certainly into 2020.” Earlier this year in August, it was revealed that Domino’s Pizza had spent £7 million to stockpile ingredients in the event that a no deal departure from the European Union disrupts its supplies. Shares in Domino’s Pizza Group plc (LON:DOM) were trading at +3.7% as of 10:16 BST Thursday.