Worries over China have been soothed by better-than-expected export figures from the country, which rose 2.3 percent on a year ago in yuan-denominated terms.
China has affected investor sentiment with a spate of disappointing economic figures, but the markets were calmer today – these export figures were the first increase since June last year. Forecasts were predicting a 4.1 percent fall, but it seems that a weakening currency may have boosted the lagging sector.
Imports also beat expectations, falling by just 4 percent – better than the 7.9 percent drop expected by analysts.
Sainsbury’s reported a 0.4 percent drop in sales over the Christmas period, a better-than-expected figure in a tough market.
Sales in the week before Christmas were up 2.6 percent, at £30 million. In a statement, Sainsbury’s CEO Mike Coup confirmed the sales were an improvement on the last two quarters and was optimistic looking forward to 2016.
“We have traded well during the festive period in a highly competitive market. Our stores delivered excellent levels of service and availability and we launched several new seasonal products and range improvements. As a result we have seen our market share grow in the quarter”, he said.
However, he continued, warning that “food deflation and pressures on pricing will ensure that the market remains challenging for the foreseeable future”. The figures don’t seem to have impressed investors, with Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) shares falling over 2 percent in early morning trade.
Sainsbury’s are the second of the Big Four supermarkets to release Christmas trading figures, which have been highly anticipated by investors given the tough market conditions for supermarkets. Morrisons shares shot up on Tuesday, as positive sales over the festive period show the future may be looking up for the troubled group.
Grindr, the LA-based dating app for gay men, has sold 60 percent of its business to its first outside investor, Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech.
The sale of the majority stake valued the six year old business at $155 million, with the rest of the company still owned by the company’s founder, Joe Simkhai, and the company’s employees. Beijing Kunlun Tech made the announcement in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange.
In a blog post, Simkhai said:
“For nearly seven years, Grindr has self-funded its growth, and in doing so, we have built the largest network for gay men in the world. We have taken this investment in our company to accelerate our growth, to allow us to expand our services for you.”
With two million visitors a day and a 2014 revenue of $32 million, Grindr is one of the largest and long standing dating apps on the market.
“We have users in every country in the world, but in order to get to the next phase of our business and grow faster, we needed a partner,” Carter McJunkin, chief operating officer of Grindr, said in an interview.
This is Beijing Kunlun Tech’s second movement into the British fintech market – last year, it bought a stake in British mortgage lender LendInvest. Beijing Kunlun Tech closed up 10.02 percent on Tuesday.
Dutch investment firm Oikocredit International are working with London-based solar power start-up BBOXX to turn solar power into an asset class and bring energy to parts of rural Africa.
BBOXX, founded by three Imperial College engineering graduates – Christopher Baker-Brian, Mansoor Hamayun, Laurent Van Houcke – is a start up who have brought electricity to 120,000 people across Africa via its cut-price solar power kits. These are perfect for those in rural Africa not connected to on-grid power, and can light several lightbulbs and small appliances such as a television, fan and mobile phone charger, making a huge difference to quality of life.
By 2014, the company was turning over £2 million a year and had grown by 300 percent, and have now launched their latest initiative: they are hoping to replicate the US model of securitizing residential solar installations, in partnership with Oikocredit. Their aim is to “offer an on-grid experience in an off-grid world”, selling solar electricity systems on a monthly payment plan to the mass market, and issuing and selling the notes to Oikocredit. The value of the notes is based on future receivables on the customers’ contracts.
BBOXX founders Mansoor Hamayun, Christopher Baker-Brian and Laurent Van Houcke
The solar bond market has already taken off in the US and has attracted more than $60 million in investment; given the potential in such a project, Oikocredit and BBOXX are confident that, together, they can transform Africa’s off-grid sector through a similar solar bond in Africa. The potential for the solar market’s growth in Africa is huge – the International Energy Agency estimates that more than 1.2 billion people worldwide live without access to grid-connected energy, a large proportion of that within rural Africa. Investors like the idea too – at the end of 2015, BBOXX raised $15 million for funding its African solar venture.
David ten Kroode, renewable energy manager at Oikocredit, explained: “We are proud to be part of this innovative way of financing where we lend money on the basis of future receivables from solar home system contracts. By demonstrating how this can work, we are paving the way for other lenders to scale up the much needed investments in this early-stage growth sector.”
The solar sector has traditionally found it difficult to attract investment, perceived as a risky business model given the relatively new technology and clients with little or no credit history. However, having successfully sold over 41,000 products since launching in 2010 and on track to supply 20 million people with clean electricity by 2020, if any company can make it work – BBOXX can.
Oil giant BP (LON:BP) has announced plans to cut at least 4,000 jobs, as oil prices continue to fall and major oil companies struggle to stay afloat.
All companies are striving to cut costs, as the price of oil continues to tank and an OPEC agreement on output continues to look unlikely.
A spokesperson for BP said: “We want to simplify structure and reduce costs without compromising safety. Globally, we expect the headcount in upstream to be below 20,000 by the end of the year.”
The North Sea division wills see 600 jobs cut over the next two years, beginning in 2016.
BP are currently trading up 1.12 percent at 331.95 pence per share (1223GMT).
Travel search engine Skyscanner has secured the investment needed to take off globally, with five investor funds ploughing £128 million into the Edinburgh-based company.
The search engine, who turned its first profit in 2009, is a no-fee flight comparison site used by 50 million users a month. It has headquarters around the world and has rapidly become one of the world leaders in travel booking.
The new investors include Yahoo! Japan, with whom Skyscanner already has a partnership, the investment arm of the Malaysian government and Baillie Gifford investment firm in Edinburgh. The fundraising valued the business at a heady $1.6 billion, according to the Financial Times.
Skyscanner’s CEO Gareth Williams commented: “Skyscanner has enjoyed high double-digit growth rates for some years now, and has been profitable since 2009. This success is thanks to our 1,200 direct partner relationships, the trust of the 50 million travellers who use us every month, our technology, and the dedication of our teams to deliver the best experience for travellers possible.”
The supermarket sector suffered another period of decline over Christmas, according to the lastest figures from Kantar Worldpanel, with Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) the best performer of the Big Four.
The British grocery market was down by 0.2 percent overall in the 12 weeks to the 3rd January, with falling grocery prices contributing to the decline. Fraser McKevitt, head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar Worldpanel, commented:
“Shoppers reaped the benefit of falling prices this Christmas, with groceries 1.8% cheaper than last year. The amount spent on a typical Christmas dinner fell even faster – down by 2.2 percent – mainly due to cheaper poultry and traditional vegetable trimmings. Alcohol sales increased thanks to a surge in popularity for sparkling wines including Champagne and Prosecco, which increased in value by 11 percent.”
The big winner this year was Sainsbury’s, who became the only one of the Big Four to increase both sales and market share. Shares in Sainsbury’s were up 2.5 percent this morning. Lidl and Aldi also performed well, with an increase in market share from 8.3 percent to 9.7 percent.
In the run-up to Christmas UK Investor Magazine carried out a survey with our readers in order to predict how the supermarket sector would fare over the Christmas period. Our predictions saw Sainsbury’s, Lidl and Aldi at the forefron,t with the market share of Aldi increasing dramatically in our survey from 3.97 percent to 7.14 percent this year.
UK industry output saw its largest decline since January 2013 in November, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.
Industrial output fell 0.7% in November from October, with the ONS citing this winter’s warm weather as a large factor for the decline. Weak demand for gas heating led to a 2.1 percent drop in gas and electricity generation.
Manufacturing also saw a decline in November, falling 2.1 percent on the year and shrinking by 0.4% from October.
Supermarket chain Morrisons (LON:MRW) saw shares soar over 10 percent this morning after the company reported better than expected sales over the Christmas shopping period.
In a statement, the supermarket said that like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 0.2% in the nine weeks to 3 January – analysts had feared another set of negative results.
Morrisons have had a difficult 12 months, selling off 140 of its convenience stores below market value and seeing a 52 percent drop in annual profits last year and in December, the retailer dropped out of the FTSE 100.
Today’s figures from Kantar Worldpanel suggested another set of negative results, saying that Morrisons had lost 2.6 percent of market share and now claims only 11 percent of the overall grocery market.
Morrisons is currently trading up 10.24 percent at 167.90 pence per share (0911GMT).
Former traders at Deutsche Bank and Barclays stood trial in London today, accused of rigging the euro benchmark borrowing rate, Euribor.
Of the 11 men accused, six attended the hearing at Westminster Magistrate’s Court this morning. They are the first to stand trial as the Serious Fraud Office investigate manipulation of the Euribor between 2005 and 2009.
One of the traders, Christian Bittar, 44, was ordered to pay a bail of £1 million. The others, Colin Bermingham, 59, from Aldeburgh, Suffolk; Carlo Palombo, 37, from California; Philippe Moryoussef, 47, of Singapore; and Sisse Bohart, 38, of Denmark, were all.
This is the latest in several cases of interest rate rigging to reach the courts, with Tom Hayes becoming the first person to be convicted for the crime in August. One similar trial is currently in process in Southwark crown court, with another scheduled to begin next month.
