Putin experiments with coalition government
Macro & Overnight
The attempted Russian coup, what we call an election, over the weekend didn’t prove conclusive. However, the unexpectedly strong showing from the opposition has resulted in a weakened President Putin, forced into a fragile coalition with his former catering manager, now turned warlord.
No market evidence exists of increased concern for global stability. The value of the Dollar, gold, oil and US Treasuries are broadly unchanged from Friday’s close. Crisis, what crisis?
UK Company News
Cake Box, the celebration cake franchisor, reported FY revenue up 5.6% to £34.8m, gross margin increased to 49.4% and cash flow from operations of £6.3m (2022: £5.3m). It had £7.4m cash at period end (2022: £6.6m), a 4.1% growth in online sales for the year to £13.8m, and it opened 20 new franchise stores, with 205 franchise stores in operation at the end of FY23. Cake Box also expanded its supermarket kiosks and invested in baking facilities at Enfield, leading to an improved baking yield. Like-for-like sales grew by 1.0% in franchise stores last year, while franchisee total turnover was up 9.6% to £72.1m. It has a new target of 400 UK stores.
Prognosticator
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