Name: FTSE 100 live: Shares open higher as HSBC and Hargreaves impress
Brand: proactiveinvestors.co.uk
SKU: proactiveinvestors-co-uk-3
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

FTSE 100 live: Shares open higher as HSBC and Hargreaves impress

preview





More on those first-quarter results from Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU). They showed a distinct lack of a big shiny new share buyback, which disappointed investors whose hopes were raised by Hong Kong rival AIA yesterday.&nbsp;

The FTSE 100-listed insurer, which has a major focus on Asia, reported an 11% rise in new business profit to US$810 million, excluding economic impacts.

Analysts at Jefferies noted that Prudential's new business growth was considerably slower than&nbsp;AIA, which reported 27% growth for Q1.&nbsp;

They said: "While we expect that the market was hoping for a share buyback, especially after AIA yesterday, the lack of additional capital returns today is partially compensated for with management's comment that 'we expect to provide an update on our capital management plans by the HY 2024 results'."



The FTSE 100 is being led higher by HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA), the third largest company on the index, which is up 2.4% on the back of its first-quarter results.&nbsp;

A further $3 billion share buyback took the gloss off the news that CEO Noel Quinn's surprise retirement news.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Read-across from the numbers saw fellow Asia-focused lender Standard Chartered PLC (LSE:STAN) rise 1.6%.

Drinks bottler Coca Cola HBC AG (LSE:CCH)&nbsp;is another of the top risers, 1.9%, on the back of solid quarterly numbers and with management reiterating full-year guidance.

St James's Place PLC is now among the leading blue-chip fallers, having started higher in early trading.&nbsp;Net flows in the quarter of £0.7 billion were shy of the City consensus of £0.9 billion.

Biggest faller is Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU), down 4.7% after its results included no buyback, which many expected.

It is&nbsp;followed by Fresnillo PLC (LSE:FRES) and perennial see-saw stock Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO).&nbsp;

Down in the FTSE 250,&nbsp;Hargreaves Lansdown PLC is up almost 8% after announcing a strong third quarter, with&nbsp;the end of the tax year reigniting activity among clients, who added £0.9 billion in the past two quarters, with a higher-than-expected 34k new customers during the third.

Total net flows of £1.6 billion&nbsp;were well ahead of the consensus forecast of £1.4 billion.&nbsp;

The FTSE 250 is&nbsp;up almost 48 points at 20,132.38 - still nowhere near its 2021 highs in the 24,000s&nbsp;



The FTSE 100 has started at a healthy trot on Tuesday, adding 22 points to yesterday's record close to reach&nbsp;8,169.30.

HSBC and St James Place are both helping matters, up 2.4%&nbsp;and 2% respectively so far.&nbsp;

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is down 1% after announcing 1,500 job cuts as its restaurant business, which includes chains like Brewers Fayre and Beefeater, struggles.&nbsp;

Revenues from its UK food and beverage division have dropped 2% year-on-year in the first weeks of the new financial year, largely caused by “softer trading in a number of our branded restaurants”.



Quarterly numbers from &nbsp;St James's Place PLC (LSE:STJ)&nbsp;include no big news on the&nbsp;surge in customer complaints it has been seeing.

The UK's largest wealth manager said it is "making good progress with our review of the&nbsp;business" and continues to "move forward" with what it admitted are significant programmes of work to review historic client servicing records and to implement&nbsp;the&nbsp;new charging structure announced&nbsp;in October.

The&nbsp;financial guidance&nbsp;associated with&nbsp;each of these&nbsp;remains&nbsp;unchanged, CEO Mark FitzPatrick said, hailing a "good quarter" as client funds under management&nbsp;(FUM)&nbsp;increased to £179 billion from £168.2 million at the end of December.

Elsewhere,&nbsp;Premier Inn owner&nbsp;Whitbread PLC said it would be cutting 1,500 jobs and shutting sites as part of an overhaul of its food and drinks business.&nbsp;



There are plenty of big and mid-cap results out this morning.

Looking around, Card Factory (LSE:CARD)&nbsp;has reinstated dividend payments following a jump in revenue and profitability over the last year.

Revenue increased by 10.3% to £510.9 million in the year to January, the greeting cards retailer&nbsp;reported, feeding through to a 9% rise in pre-tax earnings to £122.6 million, or 27% to £62.1 million if adjusted to exclude one-offs.

A&nbsp;4.5p dividend is declared for the year as a result, a figure that the FTSE 250 group was not able to reward shareholders at the interim stage.



HSBC Holdings PLC (LSE:HSBA) chief executive Noel Quinn delivered some surprises with the bank's first-quarter results, including announcing his retirement and a&nbsp;new $3 billion share buyback.

Some analysts had expected an improved outlook, due to reduced policy easing, but&nbsp;the Asia-focused lender keept its guidance unchanged.

A pre-tax profit of $12.7 billion was reported, down from $12.9 billion a year ago but beating the consensus City forecast of $12.6 billion.

Net interest income fell 3.3% to&nbsp;$8.7 billion due to deposit migration, which was better than forecast, while net interest margin of 1.63% was better than analysts predicted.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The FTSE 100 has been predicted to start higher on Tuesday as UK shop price inflation dropped to the lowest levels in almost two and a half years.&nbsp;

London's equity benchmark was trading 11 points higher on spread-betting platforms ahead of the open, having notched a new record intraday high just above 8189 and a new closing high yesterday of&nbsp;8,147.03.

Shop price inflation eased to 0.8% in April from 1.3% in March, according to research from the British Retail Consortium, which said this was lowest since December 2021.&nbsp;

Non-food price inflation even turned negative, with deflation of 0.6% in the month, down from 0.2% and the lowest since October 2021.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Food inflation softened to 3.4% from 3.7% in the 12th&nbsp;consecutive month of deceleration to the lowest since March 2022.

Today's company news includes quarterly results from HSBC, where chief executive Noel Quinn also announced his surprise departure after five years.

&nbsp;





More on those first-quarter results from Prudential PLC (LSE:PRU). They showed a distinct lack of a big shiny new share buyback, which disappointed investors whose hopes were raised by Hong Kong rival AIA yesterday.&nbsp;

The FTSE 100-listed insurer, which has a major focus on Asia, reported an 11% rise in new business profit to US$810 million, excluding economic impacts.

Analysts at Jefferies noted that Prudential's new business growth was considerably slower than&nbsp;AIA, which reported 27% growth for Q1.&nbsp;

They said: "While we expect that the market was hoping for a share...

FTSE 100 live: Shares open higher as HSBC and Hargreaves impress

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS