Whitbread maintains full-year guidance, Pearson flags solid full-year profit growth
By Josh White
Date: Thursday 16 Jan 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 40 points higher on Thursday, having closed up 1.21% on Wednesday at 8,301.13.
Stocks to watch
Premier Inn owner Whitbread held full year guidance and said UK accommodation sales in the Christmas/New Year period were up 2%. In a third quarter trading update, Whitbread said total group sales fell 2% to £763m. Trading improved during the quarter resulting in total accommodation sales broadly in line with last year, while total revenue per available room - a key industry metric - was down 3%.
Pearson reported 3% underlying group sales growth for 2024 in an update on Thursday, flagging expected adjusted operating profit of £595m to £600m, up 10% year-on-year, with a margin of 16.8%. The FTSE 100 education publisher said it exceeded its free cash flow conversion target, and delivered on its strategic priorities including advancing AI initiatives during the year, launching an AI-powered digital language tutor.
Newspaper round-up
The UK government has promised a record £410m investment in nuclear fusion which could help construct a world-leading fusion power project on the site of an old coal plant in Nottinghamshire. Ministers hope the funding, which will be made available for the coming financial year, will support the rapid development of the UK fusion energy sector and deliver "a future powered by limitless clean energy". - Guardian
A slump in trade with the EU should spur ministers to negotiate a fundamental rewrite of post-Brexit rules to more closely align the UK with Brussels, a leading left-of-centre think tank has said. Donald Trump's arrival in the White House next week should also encourage the government to get on the front foot in trade agreement talks with the US to support the growth of UK exports, said the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). - Guardian
BT has scrapped a major electric car charging scheme after installing just one charging point. The telecoms giant last year outlined plans to convert old broadband street cabinets into electric vehicle (EV) charging points. Around 60,000 cabinets had been earmarked for possible conversion in what bosses described as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" to boost the number of chargers across the country. - Telegraph
Sales of Murphy's Irish stout have skyrocketed amid claims of a nationwide Guinness shortage. Heineken, which owns Murphy's, said sales of the 169 year-old stout had enjoyed a 632pc rise in British pubs and bars in December compared with a year earlier. - Telegraph
Dyson has scrapped plans to move into a £100 million technical and research centre in Bristol and will move all its staff in the southwest into one location. The vacuum and hairdryer maker, which announced the centre in 2023, will move 180 staff to its Malmesbury campus 30 miles away in Wiltshire, home to the Dyson Institute, where undergraduate and postgraduate engineers study while working for Dyson. - The Times
US close
US stocks surged on Wednesday after a closely watched inflation report showed an easing of underlying price pressures while quarterly results from the banking sector smashed expectations.
Earnings from heavyweights Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup were lifting sentiment with share prices of all four banks rising strongly.
The Dow jumped 1.7% to 43,221.55, its highest close since 26 December, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 1.8% and 2.5% respectively.
According to the Department of Labor, the headline consumer price index for December was 2.9% higher than the year before, with the annual rate of inflation picking up for the third straight month due to a jump in gas prices.
This was up from 2.7% in November but in line with economists' forecasts.
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