Markets Overview:

UK 100 is called to open +25 points this morning at 6750 (Having also paid a 9.91 point dividend).  Calls for a positive open this morning come as traders welcomed subdued inflation data in the States yesterday, dampening fears of rising interest rates and also news that Joe Biden's its $1.9 trillion stimulus plan has now been passed and is just his signature away from being rolled out.  It was a mostly positive session yesterday Stateside, The Dow Jones rallied 464 points or 1.46% on Wednesday to reach a new record close at 32,297, meanwhile, the S&P 500 added 0.6% to 3,898, the Nasdaq was the underperformer, albeit only a slight drop to 13,068.  Positive sentiment carried into the Asian session, where Japan’s Nikkei moved 0.6% higher to 29,211 and the Hang Seng climbed 1.17% to 29,247 and the Shanghai Composite marked a 1.7% gain to 3,419.

Company News & Broker Comments:

Company News:

IG Group posted a surge in Q3 revenue, up by 65% to £230.3m driven by high levels of trading in financial markets.

Marshalls reports that their 2020 pretax profit fell to £22.5m (2019: £69.9m) stating they are well positioned for sustainable growth.

Marston's CEO Ralph Findlay is to step down from 30th September 2021 as his successor search is underway.

Morrison WM Supermarkets reported a halving in annual profit as COVID-19 related jump in sales was more than offset by the huge extra costs of the crisis. They reported a profit before tax and exceptional items of £201m for FY 2020, prior to a business rates payment of £230m. That compared to analyst's average forecast of £200-408m made in 2019-20. Like-for-like sales rose 8.6% over the year, but it incurred direct pandemic costs of £290m. They declared that their FY ordinary dividend increased 5.6%; total payout 11.15p.

Playtech reports that their 2020 revenue dropped 25% YoY to 1.08bn euros.

Rolls-Royce plunged to a worse than expected £4bn loss in 2020 (£3.1bn loss forecast by analysts) as the pandemic stopped airlines flying, but stuck to its outlook for 2021. Its cash outflow (burn) was £4.2bn which was in line with consensus.

Savills sees tough first half after posting lower 2020 annual profit, as underlying profit before tax declined to £96.6m (2019: £143.4m profit).

WPP says it will relaunch its buyback scheme immediately after cost cuts and client wins under its new strategy helped it to post FY results slightly better than forecast. They reported a Q4 drop of underlying net sales of 6.5%, slightly better than analyst consensus of 6.7% taking the FY drop to 8.2%.

Broker Comments:

Berneberg Downgrades IWG to Hold from Buy (5 Buys / 3 Holds / 0 Sells)

Jefferies Downgrades Aviva to Hold from Buy (9 Buys / 4 Holds / 0 Sells)

RBC Downgrades Hunting to Sector Perform from Outperform (3 Buys / 5 Holds / 0 Sells)

Reporting Today:

Derwent London

G4S**

Helios Towers

IG Group Holdings

Just Group

Marshalls

Playtech

Rolls Royce

Savills

WPP Group

Morrisons

Reporting Tomorrow:

Berkeley Group

Bodycote

Cineworld**

Hammerson

In Focus Today:

ECB Interest Rate Decision

US Initial Jobless Claims

Today's Ex Dividends:

UK 100:

Persimmon

Evraz

HSBC Holdings

UK 250:

St. Modwen Properties

Micro Focus International

JPMorgan Emerging Markets Invest Trust

Law Debenture Corporation

Apax Global Alpha

BMO Commercial Property Trust

Alliance Trust

LondonMetric Property

Assura

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