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Highlights
- British employers have experienced a confidence shock in March as per Lloyds Bank’s monthly survey.
- The number of firms that might go for a price hike to counter the impact of surging inflation went up to 55% in March.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, the already high UK inflation levels have risen further. On 31 March, Lloyds Bank published the results of its monthly survey, which showed that British employers have experienced a confidence shock in March. Due to the rising inflation levels in the country, the confidence level of UK employers has significantly gone down by 11 points to 33%, which represents the largest monthly decline in the confidence levels since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
Rising by 3 points, the number of firms that might go for a price hike to counter the impact of surging inflation went up to 55%. Even though the hiring expectations stayed solid, standing at 31%, they were down by 7 points. A minimum 2% average wage growth is expected by almost half of the UK firms over the next year. Since March 2021, this represents a hike of 32 points, taking the firms expecting at least 2% pay growth to 49%.
Let’s look at 3 UK stocks that have gone for a price hike due to escalating inflation levels.
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Tesco plc (LON: TSCO)
Tesco plc is the leading UK-based retailer of groceries and merchandise across the globe. The company has recently announced a price hike of around 20% for its fresh milk as the skyrocketing on-farm inflation levels have heavily burdened the suppliers.
The shares of the FTSE100-listed retailer were down by 0.14% at 8:13 AM (GMT+1) on 31 March 2022, at GBX 324.90. The current market capitalisation of the firm stands at £21,567.55 million. As of 31 March 2022, the company’s share has given a return of 22.92% in one year.
BT Group plc (LON: BT.A)
BT Group plc is a London-headquartered globally operating telecommunications holding company. With the soaring broadband and mobile costs, the customers of BP are set to deal with the largest increase in prices over years from today, raising the monthly consumer bills by 9.3%.
The shares of the FTSE100-listed telecom giant were down by 0.19% at 8:27 AM (GMT+1) on 31 March 2022, at GBX 186.95. The current market capitalisation of the firm stands at £18,592.21 million. As of 31 March 2022, the company’s one-year return stands at 21.73%.
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Marston's plc (LON: MARS)
Marston's plc is one of the leading UK-based operators of hotels and pubs. The company has recently declared that due to rising operating costs, it is going for a price hike of up to 45p on certain products its offers.
The shares of the pub chain were up by 0.79% at 8:17 AM (GMT+1) on 31 March 2022, at GBX 82.65. The current market capitalisation of the firm stands at £520.00 million. As of 31 March 2022, the company’s one-year return stands at a negative 15.86%. However, its return on a year-to-date basis stands at 7.47%.
Note: The above content constitutes a very preliminary observation or view based on market trends and is of limited scope without any in-depth fundamental valuation or technical analysis. Any interest in stocks or sectors should be thoroughly evaluated taking into consideration the associated risks.
