City Pub Group shares rise after promising 2018 results
City Pub Group shares rose on Tuesday after the company reported its full-year results for 2018.
The company said revenue was up 22% to £45.7 million for the 52-week period until 30 December.
Meanwhile, like-for-like sales increased 1.6%. Adjusted EBITDA was also up 28% to £7.9 million across the period.
The City Pub Group group said it opened 11 pubs in 2018, and it expects to have amassed an estate of 65-70 pubs by mid-2021.
The company also announced a hike in its dividend on the back of the strong year.
City Pub Group revealed a total dividend of 2.75p, an increase of 22%.
Clive Watson, Executive Chairman of The City Pub Group, said:
“Our strategic expansion has continued at pace with the opening of eleven new pubs in 2018 bringing the total to 44. Our performance has been driven by both organic growth and the new pubs coming on stream. Considering the continued strong performance we are delighted to increase our dividend, by 22% for shareholders.
We continue to seek new sites to add to our portfolio and we have already earmarked six new pub openings for this year and are on course to meet our target of doubling the size of the estate to around 65-70 pubs by mid-2021. We believe the combination of further acquisitions, fine tuning the management of our existing estate and the benefits of our new divisional structure will enhance our performance further.
We are positioned to meet the number of well-trailed headwinds, not least the challenges brought through Brexit, and to take advantage of the softening market for acquisitions with our robust balance sheet and strong cash generation.”
Shares in City Pub Group (LON:CPC) are currently up 4.09% as of 12:09PM (GMT).
Societe Generale to cut 1,600 jobs from investment banking unit
Societe Generale announced the loss of 1,600 jobs from its investment banking unit on Tuesday, as it looks to streamline costs.
The French bank said it is launching two adjustment projects, following a review of its business and after the reporting of the group’s annual results in February.
Societe Generale added that the first was strategic, relating to its Global Banking and Investor Solutions businesses.
The second is operational and will involve the structure of the head office structure for its International Retail Banking & Financial Services activities.
The bank said that a total of 1,600 jobs globally. Specifically, 750 jobs in France are set to be lost.
Posts in both New York and London are also set to be reviewed.
The reorganisation of its business is set to be completed by the third quarter of 2019.
Looking ahead, Societe Generale set out how it plans to refocus its business. The statement added:
“The Group will concentrate its wholesale business model on its areas of strength where it has sustainable and differentiating competitive advantages.
The Bank’s leading position in Europe, the depth of its Corporate client portfolio, as well as its global franchises in equity derivatives and structured finance mean it can position itself as a provider of high value-added solutions, drawing on its financial engineering expertise that forms the core of its DNA.”
Societe Generale is headquartered in Paris, France. It is France’s third largest bank in term of total assets. It also the sixth largest in Europe.
It was founded back in 1864, 154 years ago.
Debenhams leans towards administration, shares suspended
Debenhams (LON:DEB) edges closer to falling into the hands of its lenders on Tuesday having rejected a new attempted rescue plan by Mike Ashley. Its shares were suspended before trading began on the stock market Tuesday morning.
Sports Direct (LON:SPD) boss Mike Ashley made an improved offer in the early hours of this morning of £200 million to underwrite a rights issue. In exchange, Mike Ashley would become CEO of Debenhams.
Sports Direct is desperately trying to save its 30% stake in the business. All of Debenhams’ shareholders risk being wiped out if its potential restructuring plans are pursued.
Mike Ashley’s offer was rejected on Tuesday morning, in addition to the £150 million rescue plan from Sports Direct on Monday.
“The company is in discussions with its lenders regarding the availability of the remaining facilities that have not yet been drawn down,” Debenhams said in a statement.
However, this is only likely to happen in the event of lenders taking full control of the operating assets.
Debenhams currently has debt facilities of £720 million. The business also announced on Tuesday that its shares were suspended.
“Further to its announcement at 7.00 am this morning, Debenhams plc has requested that its shares be suspended with immediate effect, pending a further update,” another statement read.
The back-and-forth battle for control with Mike Ashley has been going on since the start of March, and they each request that Mike Ashley be made chief executive of the ailing department store chain. Among these offers was a £61.4 million bid for full control of Debenhams.
Should Debenhams fall into administration, it would be the latest high street name to suffer from difficult trading conditions. It will join names such as Toys R Us, Poundsworld, Maplin and HMV.
At 08:37 BST Tuesday, shares in Sports Direct International plc (LON:SPD) were trading at -0.43%. Shares in Debenhams have been suspended.
House prices fall 1.6% in March, says Halifax
House prices fell 1.6% in March according to the latest figures from Halifax.
The high street lender said that the value of the average UK home rose to £233,181 last month.
Despite the fall, overall house prices grew by 2.6% in the three months to March compared with the same period a year ago.
This proved ahead of analyst expectations of 2.3%.
Ultimately, prices were dragged down by weak consumer confidence amid ongoing Brexit uncertainty as well as low mortgage approval rates.
Russell Galley, a managing director at Halifax, commented on the latest house prices index:
“The average UK house price is now £233,181 following a 1.6% monthly fall in March. This reduction partly corrects the significant growth seen last month and again demonstrates the risk in focusing too heavily on short-term, volatile measures. Industry-wide figures show that the number of mortgages being approved remains around 40% below pre- financial crisis levels, and we know that lower levels of activity can lead to bigger price movements.
“The more stable measure of annual house price growth rose slightly to 3.2% and is still within our expectation for the year. The need to build up a deposit before getting a mortgage is still a challenge for many looking to buy a property. However, the combined effect of fewer houses for sale and fewer people looking to buy continues to support prices in the long-term.
“These conflicting challenges, when combined with the ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, have had an impact across the country but most notably in London, meaning that we continue to expect subdued price growth for the time being.”
Brexit: Theresa May reattempts to secure June 30 extension
Brexit: Theresa May has once again asked the EU for an additional extension to Article 50 until the end of June.
Should the EU agree to the extension, the UK may, controversially, have to participate in the upcoming European Parliament elections.
However, Theresa May has said the government would aim to pass a deal before May 23 to avoid such a situation.
Last month the EU rejected the Prime Minister’s request for the same June extension precisely due to these concerns.
Instead, the EU initially agreed upon an extension until April 12, in a bid to avoid a disorderly Brexit and a no-deal scenario.
However, with a mere week to go until that revised deadline, the UK parliament and the government are still no closer to resolving the Brexit impasse.
In a letter to Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council The Prime Minister said:
“The government acknowledges, however, that after approval to the withdrawal agreement is achieved, the process of enacting those commitments in domestic law and therefore ratifying the agreement in the UK will take time,”
“Therefore, having reluctantly sought an extension to the Article 50 period last month, the government must now do so again . . . The UK proposes that this period should end on June 30, 2019.”
According to EU sources, Tusk is set to propose a 12-month flexible extension to the UK.
Nevertheless, the idea of a long Brexit extension remains unpopular among Eurosceptic Conservatives and Brexiteers, who have instead touted the idea of a No-Deal or World Trade Organisation aligned Brexit.
Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, chairman of the European Research Group and a fervent supporter of Brexit, took to twitter to express his opinion on the matter.
He tweeted the following:
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsHowever, the EU were quick to dismiss Mogg’s suggestion. Chief Spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said when asked about the tweet: “This gentlemen is not our interlocutor, and the principle of sincere cooperation applies, as May said in her letter today. And it’s a hypothetical.” The pound sterling is currently trading down against the greenback and the Euro, at 1.3061 and 1.1635, respectively, on the back of renewed fears of a No-Deal Brexit emerging.If a long extension leaves us stuck in the EU we should be as difficult as possible. We could veto any increase in the budget, obstruct the putative EU army and block Mr Macron’s integrationist schemes.
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) April 5, 2019
Co-operative reveals flat profit citing challenging “political and consumer backdrop”
The Co-operative Group announced on Friday that its annual underlying profit before tax remained flat at £43 million, noting the challenging “political and consumer backdrop.”
Its profits before tax from continuing operations increased by 27% to £93 million.
Group revenue was up 14% to £10.2 billion, supported by its acquisition of Nisa and the strong performance of its food sales.
Food like-for-like sales increased 4.4%, equating to five consecutive years of like-for-like revenue growth.
The company said that it has invested £75 million into opening over 100 new food stores as well as refitting 138 existing stores and creating 1,600 new jobs.
“Over the past year we have continued to successfully transform the Co-op, leading to a 14% increase in revenues to £10.2bn and the return of £60m directly to our members and £19m to over 4,000 community projects across the UK,” said Steve Murrells, Chief Executive of the Co-op.
“The acquisition and integration of the Nisa wholesale business has been a game changer in expanding our food footprint and we have also set out the path by which we can offer our members a broader range of compelling Co-op solutions in Insurance and Health,” he continued.
The Co-operative has said that it remains focused on long-term growth for the business as well as the positive role is plays in communities. It remains confident that it can continue to embark on commercial success and increase its social impact in spite of the uncertain political and consumer backdrop.
The group has side businesses that vary from insurance to funeral care. Last year, the Co-operative bank reported a nine-month loss before tax of £87 million.
As for 2019, recent data from Kantar shows that, elsewhere in food retail, Asda had overtaken Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) in main store sales.
Kantar’s figures show a year-on-year growth of 1.4% in supermarket sales for the 12 weeks to 24 March, the slowest market growth rate since March 2018.
Italy’s economy is “delicate”, says Moscovici
Italy’s current economic situation is “delicate” and must be carefully monitored, according to the European Union economics commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
The EUR/USD is currently trading above 1.1200 after German industrial output increased by 0.7%, coming in just above expectations.
Moscovici was reported by Reuters this morning as saying that “Italy is in a very delicate growth situation.”
The nation has the third-largest economy in the Eurozone and its huge public debt threatens the region.
It began the year by slipping into its third recession in a decade. Italy suffers from high unemployment rates, particularly among its youth.
Mosovici referred to non-EU figures that indicate no growth or even a recession for the nation, revealing that “these are figures that we need to follow very closely.” Latest approximations issued in February predicted a 0.2% growth for the nation’s economy in 2019.
He said that the Commission is set to reveal new economic forecasts on May 7.
“Italy is in a special situation because it is a country with a very high debt level and it is critical that debt does not start growing again,” Moscovici announced at a news conference earlier this year in February.
Italy’s huge public debt is only being exacerbated by the policies of its populist government.
In an unprecedented stand off with the EU, the European Commission rejected Italy’s original 2019 budget last October. Its over ambitious proposal was deemed controversial because it breached EU rules on government borrowing. It was only in December that Italy’s populists came to an agreement with the European Commission over the 2019 budget, having reduced its original deficit target.
Recently, Bloomberg reported that the Italian Treasury is set to cut its growth forecast for 2019 and raise its projected budget deficit. The news was delivered by two senior officials with knowledge of the draft outlook.
Bagir shares up as annual revenue grows
Bagir shares (LON:BAGR) ticked up during Thursday morning trading after the company posted its final results for the year.
The tailoring firm said revenue increased by 10% to $56.4 million, up from $51.1 million in 2017.
Bagir attributed this to new client wins and increased orders from certain its existing customer base.
The company said it returned to adjusted profitability including earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the second-half of the year.
This was as a result of due to expanding production capacity in Ethiopia, as well as competitive manufacturing programs in Vietnam and Egypt.
Moreover, Bagir said that its cost-saving program had ensured $2.7 million of annualised fixed cost savings.
Overall, the firm reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of $1.0 million, swinging to al loss from $0.6 million the previous year.
Nevertheless, the figure proved in line with management expectations, given rises in revenues across the period.
Bagir is a tailoring firm, based in Israel.
It provides tailoring for well-known retailers such as H&M, Brooks Brothers, as well as UPS delivery uniforms.
Shares in the AIM-listed firm are currently +20.83% as of 14:55PM (GMT).