Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross.
IHG
Hotel operator IHG LON:IHG has published full year results this morning, which paint a predictably bleak picture – although the company has remained profitable. Revenues are down a little over half whilst operating profits have fallen 75% and RevPAR (Revenue per available room) is off by 52.5%. There is however an interesting breakdown of this stat by region in Q4, with the China figure less than 20% lower, whilst EMEAA was still 70% off. Despite limited visibility over the outlook, the company continues to invest in expanding its footprint. The dividend however remains suspended.
Frasers Group
A short note out from Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group LON:FRAS this morning notes that the company expects the current lockdown – which will hopefully see non-essential retail reopening on April 12th – to result in a further cash impairment of at last £100m. Systemic change in consumer behaviour is cited as a consideration here and that number comes in addition to impairments already announced back in December.
HSBC Holdings
Full year results from HSBC LON:HSBA have left shareholders with something to cheer this morning after profits beat expectations, even though they were some 34% lower than seen in 2019. That has been sufficient to allow the bank to resume dividend payments from August at $0.15 per share, although bad debt provisions have more than trebled whilst lower global interest rates continue to drag on performance, too.
Sign up for three quick facts and more with our Free Daily Digest newsletter, every weekday morning.
