Hostelworld shares up after growth in bookings in 2017
Hostelworld (LON:HSW) shares rose nearly 5 percent on Wednesday morning, after bookings shot up over the course of 2017.
In a trading update issued on Wednesday morning, the company reported a 6 percent growth in overall bookings for the year. Growth in the second half flagged however, up just 1 percent on the second quarter of 2016.
Bookings on its flagship Hostelworld brand increased by 13 percent over the year, with growth in H2 2017 of 6 percent.
Chief executive Feargal Mooney said: “We are pleased with the performance of the business in 2017.
“During the second half of the year we delivered an efficient booking mix with marketing costs for the full year marginally lower than our previously guided range.
“We continue to execute well on our strategy and this positions the Group well to make further progress in 2018.”
Hostelworld shares are currently trading up 4.24 percent at 375.80 (0845GMT).
Sage Group shares plummet despite Q1 revenue jump
Software provider Sage Group saw shares fall nearly 5 percent in early trading on Wednesday, despite a jump in revenues in the first quarter.
Group organic revenue increased by 6.3 percent for the first three months of the year, with organic recurring revenue grew by 7 percent. This was underpinned by software subscription growth of 26 percent, with organic software and software related services (SSRS) revenue increasing by 4.
North America saw the strongest performance during the three month period, with management making progress across the US, Canada and Sage Intacct as Sage Business Cloud revenues start to contribute significantly in this highly cloud-adoptive region.
France continued to be a problem area, significantly underperforming in relation to the rest of the Group. This weighed on both organic revenue and recurring revenue growth with recovery expected in the second half of the year, as previously indicated.
Steve Hare, Chief Financial Officer, confirmed that Q1 results remained in line with expectations.
“As we outlined at the time of the full year results, we have invested heavily in sales training in Q1 to set up the business for success, particularly in Sage Business Cloud, resulting in the delay of some revenue into Q2. Quarterly phasing of organic revenue growth is therefore expected to be similar to prior financial years.
“We expect acceleration throughout the year including a stronger Q2 and we reiterate our full year guidance of around 8% organic revenue growth and around 27.5% organic operating margin for FY18.”
Shares in Sage Group (LON:SGE) are currently trading down 4.36 percent at 785.60 (0830GMT).
WH Smith sales fall and CEO warns on future uncertainty
WH Smith (LON:SMWH) sales fell during the 20 weeks to January 20th, despite a rise in sales at airport outlets.
Like-for-like sales for the group overall were down 1 percent, whilst sales at airports and stations rose 7 percent, 3 percent on a like-for-like basis.
High Street sales were the worst hit, seeing a 5 percent fall, with like-for-like sales down 4 percent.
The company confirmed its cost efficiency programme was well underway, with will full-year cost savings expected to be slightly ahead of target at £12 million.
Chief executive Stephen Clarke said the results were delivered against a “very successful period last year”.
“Our travel business now accounts for almost two thirds of the group’s annual profit and we continue to deliver strong sales growth across all our key channels,” Clarke said.
“This was driven by ongoing investment in the business and continued growth in passenger numbers in our airport stores over the Christmas period. Our recently opened new concept store in Gatwick South has performed particularly well and is ahead of plan.”
Looking ahead, Clarke warned on “uncertainty in the broader economic environment”, but added that the group remains confident that it is “well positioned for the year ahead as we continue to focus on profitable growth, cash generation and investing in new opportunities.”
Shares in WH Smith are currently trading down 1.69 percent at 2,096.00 (0816GMT).
IntegraFin will be the first company to float on LSE in 2018
The Fintech company IntegraFin Holdings announced yesterday their intention to float in the London Stock Exchange, details of the disclosure valued the company at an estimated of £500m.
The finance software advice company emerged as one of the first companies in the sector to declare a London listing this year, after years of speculation.
“We have developed a clearly differentiated business of scale with impressive returns and strong margins that operates in a growing market. We have generated positive underlying profits every month since 2003 and the platform has had net inflows every year since launch in 2000,” said chief executive, Ian Taylor.
“There’s always more wealth being generated and more people wanting financial advice,” said Taylor.
After having worked on their IPO plans during the whole 2017, the company’s flotation is set for March.
However, they are not looking to raise money from the float, on the contrary their focus is to allow current shareholders cash in some of their investment.
In order to secure liquidity of IntegraFin shares for an IPO, the top shareholders and advisers were approached by the company to explore their interest in selling shares. A statement released by the company said “nearly all of these shareholders have agreed to sell shares.”
IntegraFin Holdings is a London-based Fintech, which was set up above an Italian restaurant 20 years ago in Shoreditch, in Tabernacle Street.
They provide a software investment platform called Transact which offers online services to UK independent financial advisers, through proprietary technology, a wide range of tax wrappers and an extensive choice of assets.
As of December 2017, they have 150,000 investor clients in their platform, plus 5,100 financial advisers using the software. Last year’s pre-tax profit was of £37m.
Harwood Wealth report 123pc revenue boost in 2017
Harwood Wealth Management (LON:HW) reported a “strong year of progress” on Tuesday, posting a set of positive figures for the year ended 31st October 2017.
The group reported an 81 percent rise in assets under influence to £3.8 billion over the 12 month period, with revenue up 123 percent to £25.9 million. This was up from £11.6 million last year, with Harwood’s new acquisition, Network Direct, contributing £9.8 million of this.
Profit after tax rose to £0.7 million, from £0.1 million last year, with total cash balances at the period standing at £19 million.
Commenting, Peter Mann, Chairman, said:
“Harwood has reported another strong year of progress, driven by both organic growth and the contributions of acquisitions, underpinning the strategy of strong financial services advice revenues, good quality investment performance and increasing assets, and completing further acquisitions.
“The Group is highly cash generative and I am pleased to announce that we are recommending the payment of a final dividend of 2.24 pence per share subject to shareholder approval at the Company Annual General meeting on the 18 April 2018. The final dividend will be paid on 11 May 2018 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 27 April 2018.
“Overall, the progress made since the Company’s IPO in March 2016 indicates a strong outlook for the next financial year.”
Shares in Harwood rose 1.59 percent in early trading to 160.00 (0834GMT).
Pets at Home shares boosted by 9pc rise in revenues
Pets at Home (LON:PETS) reported group revenue growth of 9.6 percent during the third quarter of its financial year, pushing shares up over 7 percent in early trading.
Revenue for the period as a whole rose to £223.3 million, with merchandise revenue growing 9 percent and services revenue growing 13.6 percent..
Its First Opinion vet practices continued to deliver “strong growth across both new and mature surgeries”, with the company opening two new Pets at Home superstores, two Vets4Pets practices and five Groom Room salons. It confirmed it was on track to deliver full year opening targets of around 10 superstores, 40-50 vet practices and 20-30 grooming salons, and said financial guidance for the full year was unchanged.
“I’m happy to report further progress in the third quarter, where trading momentum in our merchandise division built over the Christmas period,” chief executive Ian Kellett said.
“In the year since we launched our lower pricing initiatives we have seen a really strong customer response to the investments we have made.”
“At the same time, we continued to deliver strong growth in our veterinary business across both first opinion practices and specialist referral centres.”
Shares in Pets at Home are currently trading up 7.27 percent at 195.24 (0826GMT).
IG Group shares rise on record revenue and profit figures
Trading platform IG (LON:IGG) saw shares rise on Tuesday morning, after reporting a record 10pc revenue increase for the six months to the end of November.
Revenue was boosted to £268.4 million over the period, with pre-tax profit up 29 percent to £136.2 million. Operating expenses, excluding variable remuneration, fell by 7 percent to £117.6 million, with the diluted EPS rising 30 percent to 29.3 pence.
The group said it had taken action to ensure it remains competitive in the “more restrictive regulatory environment” heading into 2018, adding that the financial impact of the mooted ban on binary options and restrictions on CFDs was not likely to be significant in the current financial year.
Peter Hetherington, Chief Executive, said:
“As the industry leader, the Company is well placed to respond to regulatory change. The Company will continue to engage fully with regulators, to seek to achieve the best possible outcomes for current and future clients of this industry, and the greatest long term value for shareholders.”
Shares in IG Group are currently up 2.50 percent at 803.10 (0820GMT).
Easyjet shares rise 5pc on strong revenue and passenger growth
Budget airline Easyjet (LON:EZJ) reported a growth in both revenue and passenger growth during the first quarter of 2018, pushing shares up over 5 percent in early trading.
Total revenue in the first quarter increased by 14.4 percent to £1,140 million, aided by the company adding 1.4 million passengers during the period. The figure represents a 6.6% increase in revenue per seat at constant currency.
The number of passengers carried increased by 8 percent in total, to 18.8 million, driven by a growth in capacity of 5.5 percent to 20.4 million seats
The airline’s main costs in the quarter were a 2.1 percentage point increase in year on year load factor, severe adverse weather driving increases in de-icing and disruption costs and costs relating to the industrial action in October.
Commenting, Johan Lundgren, easyJet Chief Executive said:
“easyJet delivered a strong start to the financial year with a significant growth in revenue in part driven by an increase in passengers flown and strong growth in inflight and ancillary sales as we offer more and better quality options for our passengers
easyJet also completed the acquisition of part of Air Berlin’s operations at Berlin Tegel airport during the quarter, successfully started its flying programme there at the start of 2018.
“We expect to reach a series of milestones in 2018 including the roll out of our full summer schedule at our newly established base at Berlin Tegel, an increase in passenger numbers from 80 million to around 90 million, ‘Worldwide by easyJet’ will be expanded to around half of easyJet’s network allowing customers to connect to long-haul services, our fleet will increase to over 300 aircraft by spring 2018 and we will take delivery of our first A321neo aircraft. There’s a lot to look forward to.”
Shares in easyjet are currently up 5.60 percent at 1,651.00 (0811GMT).
Amazon open its first checkout-free supermarket
Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) is set to open its first checkout-free supermarket location in the U.S on Monday, as it looks to revolutionize retail.
The online giant is opening its first AmazonGo location in Seattle, with staff having tested out the concept over the course of the last year.
Gianna Puerini, head of Amazon Go, said the store testing phase had gone well: “This technology didn’t exist – it was really advancing the state of the art of computer vision and machine learning.”
Through the use of ceiling cameras and electronic sensors to identify each customer, their purchases are tracked and they are billed accordingly.
Shoppers who have downloaded the AmazonGo can immediately make use of the Seattle store. Purchases are billed to customers’ credit cards once they have left the store.
As of yet, Amazon has yet to announce the opening of any further AmazonGo locations.
Amazon has also moved to open more physical stores, with 13 bookstores across of U.S since 2015.
Back in october, Brian Olsavsky, Amazon chief financial officer, suggested that customers should expect to see more Amazon shops in months ahead.
“You will see more expansion from us – it’s still early, so those plans will develop over time,” he said last year.
Last year the company confirmed its plans to buy organic grocer Whole Foods, which it now sells online on its website.
However, Whole Foods customers have been complaining as of late, with food shortages at its locations across the U.K.
Whole Foods have pointed to its newly implemented inventory-management system called order-to-shelf, or otherwise referred to as OTS. The retailer has said that OTS reduces unnecessary waste, lowers costs, and frees up employees to focus on customer service.
However, the service has led to the adverse effect of empty shelves and out of stock items, much to shoppers dismay.
Shares in the company are currently trading up marginally by 0.097 percent as of 12.38AM (GMT).
Headlam Group shares up as pre-tax profits rise
Pre-tax profits at flooring company Headlam Group (LON:HEAD) are expected to be 6 percent higher than the previous year, despite weaker markets in the second half of 2017.
In an update to markets given on Thursday, the group confirmed that underlying pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 December would be comfortably in-line with market forecasts of £42.5 million.
The group’s update at the beginning of December warned that there had been weaker-than-expected demand in the second half of 2017, but that performance had picked up towards the end of the year.
This left the group with an overall positive result for the year, with total revenue growth of 2.1 percent.
Shares in Headlam are currently trading up 0.35 percent at 572.00 (0930GMT).