Today, Belluscura announced progress in the distribution of their portable oxygen devices designed to help millions of people that suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).

As a portfolio company of Tekcapital, Belluscura has the potential to save and improve the lives of millions of people by taking a foot hold in the Portable Oxygen Concentrator Market.

Having listed in London in 2021, the company recorded its first sales in the latter half of the year and today said sales had increased 34% in the first half of this year.

In addition to revealing their latest sales figures, Belluscura unveiled a significant agreement with a leading distributor in the US which promises to help push further sales growth. 

Belluscura has used their formative period as a London listed company to improve their manufacturing capabilities and said they expect to reduce production costs by 10% going forward as they bring manufacturing in-house.

The company is well funded with $11.3 million net cash at the end of June 2022.

Belluscura Innovation

Belluscura continue to drive forward innovations with the introduction of technology that allows users to connect to devices such as iPhones and FITBITS to help track their oxygen uses.

The FTSE 100’s housebuilders were a major drag on the index on Tuesday as investors positioned for the Bank of England’s interest rate decision this Thursday.

The Bank of England are expected to hike by 50 basis points to 2.25% at a time the Uk housing market is starting to show signs of slowing. A hike in rates will make mortgages more expensive while households are facing inflationary pressures across the board.

Persimmon, Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group were all down more than 3% at the time of writing.

Despite the sharp downside in housebuilders, the FTSE 100 was down only 0.3% with oil companies and banks helping provide support for the index.

As a beneficiary of rising rates, Lloyds shares were 1% higher and at the highest levels since April.

A stronger dollar played its part once more with providing the FTSE 100 with some support ahead of a Fed meeting tomorrow from which the market will attempt to gauge the trajectory of interest rates.

Ocado was among the FTSE 100s faller after the group was cut to reduce by analysts at HSBC. The retailer said in a recent update they expect costs to hit profitability in the short term.

Kingfisher was another consumer-facing casualty as the DIY specialist slipped 2% as it said sales slowed further.

“The number of amateur builders, painters and carpenters hanging up their tool kits is growing as homeowners scramble around for savings, intently focused on finding ways to cut their energy bills,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Although the purchase of outdoor bigger ticket items have remained resilient, it’s a far cry from the boom last year when people spent lockdown savings doing up their homes and gardens. Kingfisher’s numbers paint a picture of the waning DIY craze, with sales dropping by 4.1% to £6.8 billion from the £7.1 billion reported the same time last year.”

Ocado shares sank on Tuesday as the online retailer had their rating cut by analysts at HSBC. HSBC cut their rating on Ocado from hold to reduce, sending the Ocado share price down by over 7% in early trade.

Ocado recently said they see costs weighing on profitability for Ocado Retail Q4 2022, despite growing customer numbers.

Ocado Retail is joint venture between Ocado and Marks & Spencer recording Q3 sales of £532m, up 2.7% on the year prior and well ahead of pre-pandemic levels.

Although they noted high customer numbers, customer’s baskets were smaller as shoppers sought out bargains, a problem for Ocado and their positioning towards the higher end of the market.

“Our online grocery model, which creates efficiency through advanced technology, offers customers a combination of competitive prices, the widest ranges, and industry-leading service,” said Tim Steiner, Chairman of Ocado Retail.

“As we have seen in Q3, customer numbers are sharply up as consumers either switch from other providers or try online grocery for the first time; underlying productivity in fulfilment and the last mile continues to improve; and the new CEO of Ocado Retail, Hannah Gibson, brings fresh vision and energy to the business. As consumer spending stabilises, we expect Ocado Retail will again deliver attractive and accelerating growth in sales and a strong recovery in profitability.”

B&Q-owner Kingfisher reported a continue ease back from a boom in DIY activity during the pandemic. Kingfisher sales declines by 4.1% on a reported basis to £6,809m in the six months to 31st July.

Despite Kingfisher sales falling back from last year, they remain well ahead of pre-pandemic levels. Like-for-like sales were 16.6% higher than before the pandemic.

“Kingfisher has delivered a very resilient first half of sales. While facing very strong comparatives from the prior year as well as a more challenging environment, LFL sales were 16.6% ahead of pre-pandemic levels with a sequential improvement from Q1 to Q2. This was driven by the extension of share gains in all our key markets, reflecting successful execution of our strategy, and resilient sales from both DIY and trade customers,” said Thierry Garnier, Chief Executive Officer.

Kingfisher also felt the pressure of falling margins as high comparatives last year saw operating margin fall 130 basis points to 36.7%. The group has set about a cost-cutting programme, but this is only partially offsetting the impact of rising costs.

Dividends for the period remained steady at 3.80p and investors will watch keenly to see if expansion in Poland and improvements to ScrewFix are enough to mitigate the cost of living crisis.