Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross
Aston Martin
The IPO for Aston Martin LON:AML is racing ahead with conditional dealing due to start on exchange today. The offer price has been set at £19 per share, giving the company a market cap of £4.33 billion. That’s unlikely to be sufficient to land the business a place in the FTSE-100, with the automatic qualification point at the next reshuffle sitting around a billion pounds higher than that.
Tesco
Interim numbers from Tesco LON:TSCO are out this morning, showing a 12% jump in sales but this is matched with a close on 7% decline in operating profits. A dig through the numbers however reveals that this might not be a signal to panic – it’s a string of intangibles which have skewed the picture rather than a grocery price war.
A £16 million FCA provision for the banking division, restructuring costs and the closure of Tesco Direct have between them racked up almost £100m worth of charges for the period.
- Tesco shares: will it be more good news from Dave Lewis?
- Tesco strategic alliance with Carrefour – for consumers or shareholders?
Topps Tiles
A trading update from Topps Tiles LON:TPT for the last year has been published and they anticipate posting full year revenues up by around 1.5%, slightly ahead of the upper end of market expectations.
The company is highlighting its recent strategic shift as having been a success, although remains wary of the uncertain UK economic outlook – a focus on keeping costs in check is promised.
