FitBug Holdings sees revenue fall in 2015
FitBug Holdings PLC today announced that revenues for 2015 fell to to £1.259 million, with pre-tax loss doubling from its previous year to £6.303 million.
The digital ‘health and well-being’ company unveiled a turnaround strategy to its ‘business-to-business’ (B2B) market after a failed buyer-to-consumer (B2C) strategy caused ‘unsustainable’ losses. The company was also hit by high legal costs, totalling £594,000.
However, trading in the first quarter of 2016 was encouraging, with sales in the Corporate Wellness sector increasing‘significantly’ over like-for-like sales in Q1 2015.
Anna Gudmundson, the group’s new chief executive appointed to address the ‘unsustainable situation’, commented:
“Recognising that the previous direct consumer retail focus failed to deliver the commercial results anticipated, we have identified an attractive opportunity within the growing B2B corporate wellness market.”
Gudmundson’s appointment sparked a move away from the company’s familiar strategy towards a move into the corporate sector – Fitbit has seen significant interest from organisations hoping to use the technology to engage their employees in a healthier, fitter lifestyle”
“On a corporate level we have strengthened our board and management team to ensure we have the requisite skill set for growth, implemented a number of cost saving initiatives, and undertaken a thorough review of our operations to ensure we are maximising efficiencies,” Gudmundson continued.
FitBug (LON:FITB) was trading at 0.510 – 24.44% at 11.29am BST.
13/06/16
G4S shares tumble on news that Florida gunman was employee
Shares in security firm G4S have tumbled over 5 percent this morning on news that the gunman who shot 50 people at a nightclub in Florida on Saturday was an employee.
The discovery has wiped £200 million off the value of the world’s largest security firm, where Omar Mateen has worked since 2007. Mateen had undergone company screening as recently as 2013 with no issues being found, and carried a gun as part of his duties as an armed security officer.
Shares in the London-based company fell over 6.5 percent this morning, before recovering a little. They are currently trading down 5.8 percent at 176.38.
This news is the latest in a string of scandals for the company, which is 2012 made headlines by failing to provide enough security guards for the London 2012 Olympics. Earlier this year, the company also took a 6£5 million charge on loss-making British government contracts.
13/06/2016
Carbon Dynamic beats crowdfunding target to help solve UK wide housing issue
Carbon Dynamic, an award winning innovative low energy construction company creating affordable and low energy buildings, has beaten its crowdfunding target of £80,000 on Crowd2Fund.com.
The business, first established in 2012 by founder Matthew Stevenson, is the only modular manufacturer currently based in Scotland. The company’s modular design approach subdivides a system into smaller parts which can be independently created; a more sustainable, and cheaper, solution to housing building. The company also have the advantage of being able to build properties within a lead time of just four weeks, and have residents being able to move into them five days after completion.
In 2015 Carbon Dynamic won an Edge Award, recognising it one of Scotland’s most promising startup companies. After Stevenson’s training at the Royal College of Art in Fine Art and Sculpture, with a special focus on architectural shapes and new materials, he was inspired to start the company and completely reengineer the way buildings are designed and built. The company now plan to use the funds to introduce a number of new innovative processes to scale up demand, in order to help solve the housing crisis, with the UK currently needing a extra one million new homes a year.
Stevenson says: “We are concluding the implementation of our Design for Manufacturing and Assembly systems and processes, and we will use some of the funds to enable the full integration of DFMA across the business. The remaining funds will be use to bolster our working capital position in order to help service the £12m of projects in our sales pipeline.”
Carbon Dynamic’s crowdfunding campaign beat its initial target of £80,000, and raised £87,000 in total from 50 different investors, who will now benefit from 9% APR. It was the first campaign on Crowd2Fund.com to benefit from being included as part of the IFISA. All of the investors used this mechanism to place their funds, and will benefit from tax free interest growth.
Carbon Dynamic choose to raise their debut funds due to crowdfunding due to Crowd2Fund.com offering a direct and innovative approach:
“We are innovative in everything that we do and traditional or conventional approaches are often not where we can provide or achieve best value,” said Stevenson.
“The crowdfunding approach is about engagement and being able to demonstrate uniqueness and core values as commercial strengths, which better suits us than the more conventional approach offered by banks.”
For more information and details on how to invest, visit their campaign page here. 
Miranda Wadham on 13/06/2016
Morning Round-Up: Pound plunges, Asian shares sink, rent across the UK soars
Pound plunges in the run-up to referendum
The British pound plunged to an eight-week low on Monday as latest polls show a swing towards Brexit.
The British pound lost another 0.3 percent in Asia, falling to $1.4200, after plummeting 1.4 percent on Friday and hitting a three-year low against the yen.
Brexit concerns continue to weigh, as well as Saturday’s mass shooting in Orlando and its impact on the presidential race having an effect on the dollar.
Worst day in four months for Asian shares
Asian shares had their worst day in nearly four months on Monday, with both the NIkkei 225 and the Shanghai Composite finishing down over 3 percent.
A rise in the yen had a negative effect on the Japanese markets, having a knock-on effect on large export companies, sending its benchmark index down 3.5 percent. Meetings by both the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan later this week both weigh.
A recent spate of poor economic data from Japan has also highlighted the difficulties Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has had with repowering the country’s weak economy, which has been subject to years of heavy stimulus to little discernible effect. Rents soar to over half of workers’ income, says Countrywide Renting a one-bedroom property in the UK now costs over half of young workers’ take-home pay, according to new data from property firm Countrywide. In London, the figure has risen from 41 percent to 57 percent of the monthly wages of the average worker under 30 since 2007. The average rent on a one-bed property in the capital was £1,133 in May. In comparison, the lowest rents are found in the Midlands, where workers spend a third of their take-home pay. And alarmingly, the report shows that rents are still rising. Countrywide’s analysis of all new lets showed landlords have increased prices by 2.9 percent since May 2015, with those coming up for renewal increasing by 5.2 percent. Johnny Morris, research director at Countrywide, commented: “Many tenants have adapted to rising prices by either moving to cheaper areas, further from the centre, or sharing. Stalling rental growth in the capital raises the question whether London’s rents have reached their affordability limits for now.”13/06/2016
German and UK bond yields sink to record low
German bond yields have sunk to a record low as investors turn away from equities in the run-up to a possible Brexit.
Benchmark 10-year German bund yields hit a low of 0.0021 percent, with UK bonds following suit; the yield on the UK’s 10-year gilt also dropped below 1.25 percent for the first time.
Analysts see a drop in bond yields as a “pessimistic” sign and a warning that investors are anticipating a prolonged downturn in the economy. The upcoming Brexit vote, as well as a weakening in China’s economy and weaker than expected US jobs figures are likely having an impact on investor sentiment.
Morning Round-Up: Line to IPO in New York, job losses in oil soar, Tesco sells assets
Japanese messenger Line to be 2016’s biggest tech IPO
Japanese instant messaging service Line is planning expansion into the US, aiming to list shares in both Tokyo and New York.
The listing, planning for next month, is looking to raise more than $900 million; potentially making it the largest technology IPO of the year The app launched in 2011 and is currently the most popular messaging service in Japan, Thailand and Taiwan. Through its expansion, it hopes to compete with big players Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. Job losses in oil to hit 120,000 Job losses in the UK oil and gas industry are expected to hit 120,000 by the end of the year as low oil prices continue to bite. The latest report from Oil & Gas UK estimated 84,000 jobs linked to the industry went in 2015, with 40,000 losses expected this year. Jobs in the sector peaked in 2014 at 450,000, but since then have fallen dramatically and are likely to fall to 330,000 by the end of 2016. The price of Brent crude has halved, currently trading at around $50 a barrel – up from lows of $30.10/06/2016
Hedging against Brexit? Invest in gold
Polls leaning towards an Exit from the European Union have led to an increase in appetite for gold bullion, with demand for the safe-haven metal spiking.
The latest online polls from ICM and YouGov showed the Leave campaign had taken a 4-5 percentage point lead ahead of this month’s referendum, panicking investors. Ross Norman, chief executive of Mayfair gold showroom Sharps Pixley, told Reuters: “It seems to have sunk into people’s consciousness that Brexit is a real possibility now. All stocks are being bought out in advance of even being shipped.”
The UK gold dealer The Pure Gold Company is another gold merchant to have seen an increase in interest, with enquiries to buy gold bars up 19 percent over the weekend compared to last week. Investing in gold can involve buying into a range of products, from 1 gram bars for less than 50 pounds to kilobars priced at more than £28,000.
Gold has also been in demand for other reasons of late, trading at a three-week high after the European Central Bank announced further positive measures, alongside the prospect of lower US rates for longer. The ECB entered a corporate bond buying programme earlier this week, buying the debt of some of the continent’s biggest companies, with disappointing US jobs figures making a rate hike unlikely at this months meeting.
09/06/2016
Morning Round-Up: Vodafone-Sky merger, house prices down on Brexit, Flybe makes profit
Vodafone NZ to merge with Sky
Vodafone in New Zealand will merge with the country’s biggest pay television provider Sky Network, it was announced today.
The deal, worth a $2.4 billion deal, will see UK-based Vodafone owning 51 percent of the joint company and will pave the way for Vodafone to expand its operations in Asia.
Sky is set to pay Vodafone NZ$1.25 billion in cash for the business, and issue new shares at a 21 percent premium to Wednesday’s closing price. House prices to fall on Brexit volatility UK house prices are set to fall for the first time since 2012 in the upcoming months, as Brexit worries weigh on the market. A majority of members polled by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said prices over the next three months were likely to fall, but the drop would be short-term only; most still saw an increase over the next year as a whole. George Osborne has already warned prices may fall up to 10 percent in the event of a Leave vote on the 23rd June, one of many economic warnings issued. Flybe returns to profit Troubled airline Flybe has returned to profit, after a catastrophic £35.6 million loss in 2015. The airline announced pre-tax annual profits of £2.7 million this morning, after seeing an 8.2 percent increase in revenue and 5.9 percent jump in passenger numbers. However, they warned that conditions remained “challenging”, with CEO Saad Hammad commenting: “We delivered top-line growth in a difficult revenue environment, expanding our network and carrying more passengers than last year.” Flybe shares are currently trading down 1.28 percent (0901GMT), after an initial jump at market open.09/06/2016
WTI Oil highest since July 2015
West Texas Intermediate has breached technical resistance at the October 2015 high and now trades at the highest level since July 2015.
Also known as Light Sweet Crude due to its low sulphur content, WTI has rallied from intraday lows of $26 in February as OPEC toys with the idea of a production freeze and US shale operations cease.
The recent rally has come as welcome relief to oil companies, many of whom were operating very close or below their marginal cost of production.
However, the recent rally may not be all good news. Many analysts predict if the price were to rise much further it would bring a large proportion of offline shale operations, back online, increasing supply and reintroducing downside pressure on the price.
Oil bulls may already be concerned as there have been signs of operations restarting, the Baker Hughes rig count rose last week, the first increase of 2016.
Sainsbury’s sales fall in Q1
Sainsbury’s PLC (LON:SBRY) traded at 246.80p – 0.04% at 11:05am BST.
In their first quarter trading update, the UK supermarket brand announced that it has seen a 0.8% fall in like for like sales excluding fuel (1%) beating expectations at the end of its first fiscal calendar months ending 4 June 2016.
Improvement in its clothing sales saw a 5% growth with its menswear range proving popular among buyers in its EURO 2016 campaign.
Total retail sales on the other hand were up 0.3% despite the company claiming it has been a “challenging environment” which has seen the food giant embark on a different sales strategy of reducing the price of everyday items in an attempt to match rival discounting brands such Lidl and Aldi.
In an attempt to offer lower prices overall, the company has removed ‘multi-buy’ promotions and brand-matched guarantees. The majority of Multi-buys will be scrapped by August 2016.
Mike Coupe, Chief Executive, said:
“Market conditions remain challenging. Food price deflation continues to impact our sales and pressures on pricing mean the market will remain competitive for the foreseeable future. However, we are confident that our strategy to be a trusted multi-channel, multi-product and services retailer is delivering and will enable us to continue to outperform our major peers.”
The company acknowledges that participation levels in promotional offers in the first quarter has reduced further to 23% following its previous standing at 30% in 2015.
Everyday products such as 1.35kg whole chicken has been reduced from £3.50 to £2.95 with other products such as 12 free range woodland medium eggs reduced from £2.00 to £1.75. Dairy products such as 250g grated Cheddar cheese is down from £2.00 to £1.75.
Sainsbury’s Bank had a ‘good performance’ in its first quarter with a 28% increase in travel money transactions and a 10% increase in Travel Insurance sales.
Online sales were up over 8% in sales growth with almost a 13% rise in orders alongside it’s launch of its online app.
Sainsbury’s second Quarter Trading Statement will be released on 28 September 2016.
08/06/2016