Equity market rally broadens
Macro & Overnight
Tesla and Netflix failed to live up to the strong NASDAQ billing ahead of results and TSMC lowering guidance. US market leadership has widened, with the S&P500 outperforming mega-cap tech.
UK Company News
Close Brothers’ loan book increased 3.7% year-to-date to £9.4bn, and net interest margin remained strong at 7.7%. Its bad debt ratio was 2.3%, and its credit performance has remained stable, with an annualised bad debt ratio of 0.9%. In asset management, managed and total client assets have remained steady at £16.1 billion and £17.0 billion, respectively, as adverse market movements largely offset net inflows. Winterflood’s performance continued to be impacted by the cyclical trends and weak retail investor activity, generating an operating profit of c.£3 million in the financial year-to-date. The external environment remains uncertain while it is making the most of opportunities, and our business is performing as we would expect at this stage in the cycle.
DP Poland has updated on its strategy of building a “High Volume Mentality” business, delivering a compelling value proposition based on fantastic quality pizza delivered quickly. These efforts have improved customer satisfaction ratings and increased consumer loyalty, placing the company in a solid position to capitalise on the strong potential we see in Poland and Croatia. Inflation in energy and food eventually started to abate in May, and whilst labour rates are still under inflationary pressures, it is focusing on further optimisation projects. It expects performance to continue improving and remains optimistic about the outlook. It reported cash of £2.5 million as of 30th June 2023 (31st December 2022: £4.1 million).
Kistos has succeeded in reversing the decision on its key Dutch development prospect extending it by five years.
Thruvision FY Revenue was up 49% to £12.4m and gross margin up 4.8pp to 51.5% resulting from a favourable product mix and higher margin software revenue. Note here.
Prognosticator
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