Ithaca Energy lowers production expectations, Moonpig backs full-year guidance
By Josh White
Date: Thursday 30 Mar 2023
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 30 points higher on Thursday, having closed up 1.07% on Wednesday at 7,564.27.
Stocks to watch
North Sea oil and gas producer Ithaca Energy lowered annual production and capital expenditure guidance, citing the UK government's windfall tax operational delays and lower volumes despite almost trebling profits in 2022. Full year 2023 production guidance was revised to 68-74k barrels of oil equivalent a day (boe/d) from 72-80k boe/d, reflecting lower first quarter volumes, non-operated portfolio delivery and the impact of the government's Energy Profit Levy to capital programmes.
Online greeting cards and gift retailer Moonpig backed its full-year guidance on Thursday as it hailed a record Mother's Day performance. The company said trading has been resilient across the second half of the year to date and it recorded its largest ever week of sales in the UK ahead of Mother's Day.
Ascential reported record revenues on Thursday, as it pushed ahead with plans to break up the business, but saw losses widen as costs mounted. The specialist information and analytics firm reported revenues of £524.4m in the year to 31 December, ahead 50% or by 30% on an organic basis.
Newspaper round-up
People in Britain have more confidence in the EU than the UK parliament, reversing a state of affairs that has lasted for more than 30 years, research reveals. Since the UK voted for Brexit, the proportion of people declaring confidence in parliament has slumped by 10 percentage points to 22% while there has been a seven percentage point rise in confidence in the Brussels-based bloc, to 39%. Confidence in the UK government also fell from 2017 to 2021. - Guardian
The Welsh government is to press ahead with plans for a visitor levy on tourists who stay in the country overnight. Legislation allowing local authorities to introduce a levy will be put to the Senedd, the Welsh parliament, within this government's term. Some tourism organisations have criticised the plan, calling it a misguided "bed tax" that risks discouraging people from visiting. - Guardian
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank highlighted failures by executives and regulators, according to a senior official at the US Federal Reserve. "I think that any time you have a bank failure like this, bank management clearly failed, supervisors failed and our regulatory system failed," Michael Barr, vice-chairman for supervision at the Fed, told Congress yesterday. "We're looking at all of that." - The Times
The City regulator is pressing ahead with a plan to shake-up the stock market listing regime amid fears that London is losing business to overseas financial centres. The Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday that it would start a consultation on its proposal to simplify the rules by replacing the premium and standard segments of the London market with a single category. - The Times
The union representing Royal Mail's frontline staff is on the verge of announcing new strike dates, Sky News understands, should a final push to end their long-running dispute fail. A Communication Workers Union (CWU) source said talks at the conciliation service Acas were scheduled for Thursday but fresh walkouts could be called the following day should substantial progress not be achieved. - Sky News
US close
Wall Street indices closed higher after a positive session on Wednesday, with the tech sector leading the way as banking sector fears took a back seat.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1% to close at 32,727.60, while the S&P 500 rose 1.42% to 4,027.81.
The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite was ahead 1.79%, ending the day at 11,926.24.
In the currency space, the dollar was last down 0.01% against sterling at 81.2p, while it was unchanged on the euro at 92.22 euro cents.
It slipped 0.1% against the yen, meanwhile, to change hands at JPY 132.73.
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