Spreadex Market Update

FTSE struggles for direction as Lloyds, Shell and Sky reveal latest updates




The most headline-grabbing update was arguably Lloyds, which fell nearly 4% as it announced it was slashing 3000 jobs thanks to the post-Brexit uncertainty. Elsewhere Smith & Nephew dropped 4% as it revealed an 18% plunge in first half net profit, while Royal Dutch Shell followed BP’s lead from earlier in the week to post a wince-worthy 72% slide in Q2 profits thanks to the continued weakness of oil and gas prices. This not only sent Shell 4% lower but pushed the rest of its sector into the red as well.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom, however. Sky jumped 4% following a 7% increase in adjusted full year revenue to £11.97 billion, 12% growth in operating profit to £1.56 billion and a 700k rise in customers, though the company did see its UK and Ireland churn rate creep up to 11.2% across the last 12 months. In stark contrast to the oil sector the miners also had a good morning, led by a 6% surge from Anglo American. Despite posting a net loss of $813 million for the first half of its current fiscal year, thanks to a 20% fall in revenue to $10.6 billion, the company still managed to reassure investors thanks to a reduction in its net debt to $11.7 billion from $12.9 billion.

This left the FTSE almost flat on the day, the index rendered inert by the sheer number of companies reporting. The DAX, meanwhile, slipped by around 25 points ahead of the German unemployment change data (expected at -3k vs -6k last month), with the CAC ticking around 0.2% higher.


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