FTSE 100 Live: Vodafone delivers robust update, Alphabet shares higher – Evening Standard
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Vodafone boss Nick Read today backed his growth strategy after the mobile phone giant delivered quarterly results in line with expectations.
Read is under increased scrutiny following a poor share price performance and this week’s disclosure that activist investor Cevian Capital has built a stake in the group.
Vodafone’s third quarter results showed revenues growth of 2.7%, up from 2.4% in the previous three months and a performance that Read said showed the “sustainability of our growth strategy and medium-term ambition”.
FTSE 100 Live Wednesday
Live updates
The FTSE 100 is up 54 points, or 0.7%, at 7590 with about 45 minutes left of the trading day.
The themes are much the same as they have been all day: Ocado is top of the bluechip index with a gain of 6.2% after an upgrade from Credit Suisse, while Auto Trader isn’t far behind after Jefferies bumped up its price target. Vodafone completes the top three with a gain of 3.3% after a solid update this morning and suggestion from CEO Nick Read that returns could improve soon and strong hints at M&A ambitions.
At the other end of the index, industrials and miners are out of favour. Antofagasta is down over 4%, while defense giant BAE System and engine maker Rolls-Royce are both also nursing losses.
Today Playtech shareholders held a Court Meeting and General Meeting to decide upon the acquisition offer from Aristocrat.
However, the total votes in favour of the Aristocrat bid were 56.13% at the Court Meeting and 54.68% at the General Meeting, which was below the minimum threshold 75% needed to agree on the offer.
As a result, Playtech is no longer in an offer period as defined by the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.
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Google-parent Alphabet and semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) stocks surged following strong quarterly results.
The S&P 500 (.SPX) rose 19.78 points, or 0.44%, on the opening bell.
S&P 500 opened at 4566.39.
The Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) rose 148.5 points, or 1.03%, to open at 14494.472 points.
The Nasdaq is poised to open higher today after increased revenue announcements for the fourth quarter of 2021 from both Google and semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
Fourth-quarter results for AMD saw revenue of $4.8 billion, which was up 49% year-over-year and 12% quarter-over-quarter.
The profits were due to its Ryzen processors and Radeon graphics processor sales.
AMD said it expected $21.5 billion in sales in 2022.
This was ahead of analyst expectations of $19.26 billion.
That would see a 31% increase over 2021′s sales.
Is the Bank definitely going to put rates up?
It will be a big surprise if they don’t. The City expects the nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to increase rates from 0.25% to 0.5%, the first back-to-back interest rate rises since 2004.
It increased rates in December from 0.1% — that was a more controversial decision. The Bank said then it could no longer ignore inflation, something that until it had tried to present as a passing issue.
Read more here
US stock futures rose on Wednesday with Google helping the Nasdaq futures rise by 1.5%.
Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL) had a premarket surge of 10.4% before the Wall Street opening bell
This was after the company reported soaring profits at an earnings call late on Tuesday.
Shares of Facebook parent Meta Platforms rose 3% in the premarket ahead of its earnings announcement later today.
Stocks gained across Asia and Europe today.
Trading in London saw the FTSE 100 rising by 0.76%, Frankfurt’s DAX gained 0.35% and the CAC 40 in Paris up 0.54%.
The Nikkei in Japan was rose 255 points today, up 1.68%.
Cevian’s targeting of Vodafone is a head-scratcher.
The Swedish money manager is an activist fund, specialising in investments where it thinks it can add value. Before taking a position, it “commits considerable time and resources to develop a deep understanding” of the businesses it goes after. It looks for opportunities among Europe’s unloved businesses.
Vodafone is certainly unloved but it is hard to see what new Cevian can bring to the table.
Read today’s City comment on the Voda/Cevian situation.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.89% today amid the news that Eurozone inflation has hit a record high of 5.1%.
The green gains look set to spread across the Atlantic with US stocks set for a positive start.
Among the risers, Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:VOD) is up 2.25% following its latest update, now at 130.83p.
Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) is another riser, up 7.03%, now at 1,531.61p
Another gainer was Auto Trader Group PLC (LSE:AUTO), 3.7% higher today, ow at 700.6p.
Those that fell into the red as of lunchtime today included Antofagasta plc (LSE:ANTO), down 3.53%, now at 1313.5p.
BAE Systems plc (LSE:BA) took a drop of 0.93%, down to 574p.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (LSE:HIK) fell 0.58%, down to 2050p.
Inflation in the Eurozone jumped 5.1% last month, breaking through a forecasted increase of 4.4%
The record-high inflation is putting pressure on the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, to implement an aggressive tightening of monetary policy.
In contrast to the Bank of England and the US Federal Reserve, the ECB has so far refrained from following suit with an interest rate rise of its own.
Lagarde insists inflation within the bloc will prove short-lived.
Inflation in the eurozone has had risen 5.1% from a year ago, from measurements in January.
The price growth has been inflamed by a spike in energy costs.
The co-founder of Games Workshop has successfully raised £115 million for one of London’s first SPACs — a cash shell targeting takeover deals.
Sir Ian Livingstone, who helped set up the fantasy figurine retailer, chairs Hiro Metaverse Aquisitions, a SPAC targeting a company in the gaming, connected fitness or metaverse space.
Hiro today raised £115 million in only the second SPAC IPO on the London Stock Exchange. SPACs — special purpose acquisition companies — exploded in in the US in 2020 but have since seen their star fade. Fans say they offer a cheaper and quicker route for firms to join public markets but critics argue SPACs are a fad.
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