The UK health minister confirmed that there would be no tighter restrictions ahead of Christmas.
Gillian Keegan confirmed that no extra measures would be bought in ahead of December 25. Keegan also confirmed that extra measures would be bought in to protect businesses.
“We do still have support in place for businesses,” Keegan sain on Sky News this morning.
“So we’ve still got VAT reductions, we’ve still got business rate cuts of 66 per cent, and we’ve still got recovery loans in place”.
Walkers have swung to profit for the first half of the year.
Revenues were up by 9.3% and increased from £14.35m to £15.69m. Profits grew from last years loss of £374,000 to a profit of £232,000.
“The Group reports a small profit at the half-year compared to the prior period loss, and continues to generate positive adjusted EBITDA and underlying operating cash, which enable continued support of our revenue and growth initiatives,” said Martin Wright, Chairman of the group.
“Headwinds include inflationary cost pressures and our focus continues to be on revenue growth, improving operating efficiency and cost control,” he said.
Shareholders received an interim dividend of 0.30 pence per share.
Boohoo has lowered its full-year sales growth guidance, from 25% to 12% – causing shares to plunge. Shares fell 11% this morning to 122.05p.
Despite strong demand, guidance was lowered due to continued supply chain issues and inflation.
Chief executive John Lyttle said: “The group has gained significant market share during the pandemic. The current headwinds are short term and we expect them to soften when pandemic related disruption begins to ease.
“Looking ahead, we are encouraged by the strong performance in the UK, which clearly validates the boohoo model.”
Gross sales increased by 28% whilst UK net sales were up 32% compared to the same period a year earlier.
“It’s never good when the name of your company is the same sound as the management are making after issuing a profit warning,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Boohoo has already had a troubled year; add in the damage from the latest setback and you’re looking at a 66% share price slump so far in 2021.
“Last year the business was dragged over the coals for poor ESG practices, and it spent a long time trying to rectify what had become a PR disaster.
“This year supply chain issues and cost inflation are to blame for the online fashion retailer’s struggles, with a spike in product return rates also dragging the business down.”
Locket is a new kind of home insurance that helps people to actively protect their homes and families with smart technology. The company made waves last week as its latest crowdfund on Seedrs raised more than £1 million from 430 investors, overfunding the campaign by more than 45%. It’s a demonstration of just how popular the company’s “prevention is better than cure” philosophy is proving with homeowners and renters across the UK. The campaign remains open for investment at the time of writing but is expected to close by 17th December 2021.
When investing, your capital is at risk.
Locket’s data shows that people who use smart technology are up to 35% less likely to suffer major damage to their homes. And because those homes are significantly safer, Locket home insurance is available at very competitive rates for many people across the UK. It’s a win-win model where customers get more of what they really want from insurance – safety, security, peace of mind – and often pay less for it, too.
“We feel as though traditional insurance misses the point”, says CEO and co-founder Krystian Zajac. “You buy insurance to protect the things you love, but it does nothing to actually protect you. It just tries to compensate you after the damage is already done”. But many of the most valuable things in life can’t be replaced with money, Zajac points out – family heirlooms, photo albums, or a child’s favourite teddy. Or even just the sense that your home is a safe place – around 60% of burglary victims say they never feel safe at home again, and many ultimately end up having to move house. Locket’s approach emphasizes proactively protecting those things in the first instance, and makes payouts a secondary safety net rather than the sole feature of home insurance.
Locket has already created an alliance of leading, global smart home manufacturers including Ring video doorbells, Yale smart locks and Philips Hue smart lighting. Zajac says they plan to partner with many more in the near future and expand their offering into new insurance verticals such as intelligent cover for AirBnB lets. “People live in a world where they can summon food, products or transport to their door in a couple of swipes on a smartphone”, says Zajac. “And yet over here in insurance, 86% of providers say fax is still a crucial part of their business. We think it’s time the industry caught up”.
View the Locket Campaign on Seedrs– Closing Friday 17 Dec 2021.
Statistics correct at time of writing. Investing involves risks, including loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of dividends and dilution, and should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. This blog post has been approved as a financial promotion by Seedrs Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 550317)
Cineworld share were rocked on Wednesday by the news of a court ruling ordering the cinema group to pay Cineplex C$1.23 billion, equivalent to £720 million at current exchange rates.
The legal proceedings relate to the termination of a takeover approach by Cineworld of Cineplex in June 2020.
Cineplex alleged Cineworld broke their obligations under the agreement and Cineplex set about claiming damages.
Cineworld filed counter claims that were rejected by the court.
The ruling will be a hammer blow to Cineworld and their investors who have faced dire trading conditions during the pandemic.
Cineworld shares were down 30% on Wednesday as investors questions the ongoing viability of the company with such a large penalty hanging over them.
“Cineworld’s hunger for growth has come back to haunt it,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“Pre-pandemic the company had expanded through acquisitions including taking on considerable debt to plant a flag in the US via the purchase of Regal Entertainment.
“Despite having borrowings up to its eyeballs, Cineworld then chased more growth by striking a deal in December 2019 to buy Canada’s Cineplex. That was a bold move, and many people suggested its eyes were bigger than its belly.
“The timing couldn’t have been any worse. The pandemic struck and it looked like Cineworld’s only way to survive this crisis was to bail out of the Cineplex deal, given that it had massive debt repayments and suddenly no income.”
The latest court ruling came shortly after another legal case that saw Cineworld pay out to prior shareholders of Regal which Cineworld took over in 2018.
“Ironically the ruling comes three months after an agreement by Cineworld to pay $214 million to disgruntled Regal shareholders who argued that the £2.7 billion acquisition of the US cinema chain in 2018 wasn’t done at a fair price,” Mould said.
“Cineworld is losing credibility fast with investors, having taken too many risks with expansion and paid the price for unscrupulous tactics.”
Alan Green joins the UK Investor Magazine Podcast to deliver his top stock picks for 2022.
We touch briefly on the economic outlook for 2022 before delving into the companies Alan will be keeping a particularly close eye on next year.
Top picks for 2022:
Technology Minerals (LON:TM1)
Power Metal Resources (LON:POW)
Blue Star Capital (LON:BLU)
IQE (LON:IQE)
Poolbeg Pharma (LON:POLB)
Tertiary Minerals (LON:TYM)
Special Mentions:
Coinsilium (LON:COIN)
Cadence Minerals (LON:KDNC)
A number of these companies have been discussed in greater detail on the Podcast this year so do check back through for great insight on companies mentioned.
Lloyds share price has remain subdued in the past week as investors prepare for the Bank of England’s interest rate decision.
Having previously rallied on expectations of a rate hike in December, the discovery of the Omicron variant has all but put pay to hopes of a rate hike this week.
This has caused negative price action in Lloyds shares as the prospect of higher rates is generally considered to provide a boost to banking profitability.
Lloyds shares are one of the most actively traded stocks on the London Stock Exchange and are a good bellwether for overall sentiment of equity traders.
With Lloyds shares falling into the announcement, it is clear equity markets are positioning for rates to be kept on hold, and a prolonged period of near-zero rates.
However, with UK inflation data soaring 5.1% in November, it really does put the Bank of England in a difficult position.
“The most interesting part of all of this is whether the Bank of England will raise rates this week on the back of this data. Having inflation running at 5.1% and interest rates at 0.1% doesn’t seem like the most sensible idea and people could make the case they are failing in achieving their mandate,” said Dan Boardman-Weston, CIO at BRI Wealth Management.
“The decision is finely balanced though as large parts of this inflationary pressure are outside of their control and moving rates higher won’t help. When this is coupled with the emergence of Omicron, the decision is on a knife edge. They may decide to hold fire until they have further clarity on the impact Omicron has on health and wealth.”
Analysts also questioned the overall strength of the UK economy and pointed to the robustness of recovery as a further headache for the BoE.
Faced with such a high inflation reading, coming in at 5.1% and with forecasts that the only way is up, the Bank of England would ordinarily be expected to call time on the cheap money party and raise interest rates. But here's why it's looking unlikely to happen tomorrow 👇
— Susannah Streeter (@StreeterNews) December 15, 2021
Despite the drop going into the Bank of England meeting, the Lloyds share price is still up 23% YTD.
Curry’s has said that despite supply chain issues, it remains to be on track with profit expectataions.
“We may face into further headwinds from Omicron and associated restrictions, but the stronger business we’ve built can ride out both the industry-wide disruption to supply chains and bumpy demand,” said chief executive, Alex Baldock.
“Yes, more customers are shopping online, and our hard work to build a strong online business has seen us thrive here. But most customers buy tech through both online and stores, our sweet spot, where we’ve worked hard to build on our strengths. That’s paying off,” Baldock said.
In the six months to the end of October, the group posted profits of £48m, up from £40 in the same period a year previously.
Curry’s expects to hit full-year profits of around £160m.
