AUS
NZ
UK
CA
USA
FRA
GER
ESP
ITA
NLD
PRT
SWE
GRC
IND
POL
BRA
ZAF
RUS
CHN
UAE
Monday – September 13
1. Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON: MKS)
Marks and Spencer Group Plc, a UK-based high-street home, fashion, and food retailer, plans to shut down select 20 stores and retail outlets in France, mostly based out of Paris, due to the delays caused by supply chain issues. The imposition of fresh Brexit border controls has left the company reeling under the impact of prolonged supply and delivery timelines causing huge volumes of food to be spoiled and stock not reaching the market shelves on time. New trade regulations resulted in only 60% of sandwiches reaching store shelves for sale. As most food items and perishables have a short shelf-life of only 48 hours, even short delays in supply can make these items unsaleable.
Tuesday – September 14
- JD Sports Fashion Plc (LON: JD.)
JD Sports Fashion Plc recorded an increase in profits due to the pent-up shopper demand. Growing in-store shopper footfall and rising online sales helped drive profits for the retailer. The sportswear retailer’s pre-tax profit for the six months ended 31 July 2021 swelled to £364.6 million compared to £41.5 million for the same period in 2020. It estimates total profits for the financial year at £750 million, ahead of industry analysts’ £600 million prediction. The company recorded a 52% year-on-year increase in revenues to £3.89 billion in H1 2021, despite being impacted by pandemic restrictions, poor high street retail footfall, supply chain inadequacies and Brexit.
Wednesday – September 15
- Redrow Plc (LON: RDW)
Redrow, a UK-based housebuilding company, recorded an order book of £1.43 billion, benefiting from the housing boom during the pandemic. The housebuilder warned that the period of rising demand for new houses would be followed by a cool down in housing prices next year. The company’s revenues rose by 45% year-on-year to £1.94 million, and pre-tax profit stood at £314 million for the year ended 27 June 2021. Sales were, however, still 8% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The company registered an average home sales rate of 0.66 per site for the first 11 weeks of this financial year compared to 0.84 in the previous year.
Thursday – September 16
- Royal Dutch Shell Plc (LON: RDSA)
Royal Dutch Shell announced the construction of a new, 820,000-tonne biofuels manufacturing facility in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, slated to commence production by 2024. The plan is a part of Shell's initiative to eliminate carbon emissions by 2050 to battle climate change. About 50% of the new facility’s capacity would be used to manufacture sustainable aviation fuel, while the rest will be used for renewable diesel. The production unit will be engaged in manufacturing fuels from residual waste such as that obtained from manufacturing and processing of animal fats, cooking oil, etc.
Friday – September 17
5. Pennon Group Plc (LON: PNN)
Pennon Group’s £814 million acquisition of Bristol Water is currently under probe by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), as it is alleged that the deal could reduce competition in the water industry. As a part of the acquisition, Pennon announced that it would return £1.9 billion to shareholders in the form of a special dividend and as buy-back shares.
CMA officials will examine if the deal will create a “relevant merger situation” and if it will impact competition in the United Kingdom. The regulatory body will also make separate assessments after the completion of the merger of the two water companies.
