Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross.
Ocado Group
There’s a profit upgrade out from Ocado LON:OCDO this morning, noting that sales through Q4 remain strong following the JV with Marks & Spencer. As a result of the strong performance, full year EBITDA is now expected to exceed £60m for the full year against previous expectations which put the figure at £40m. Separately, the company also advised of two robotics acquisitions for a total consideration of almost $300m.
Associated British Foods
It’s not all good news for retail this morning however, with Associated British Foods LON:ABF issuing a COVID-19 update. They note that Primark stores across much of Europe are already closed and expect stores across England to join that list on Thursday. Working on the currently announced closure periods, the expected loss of sales is put at £375m. Full year results will be released as planned tomorrow and the business notes that it has in excess of £3.1bn worth of liquidity.
Purplebricks
A half-year update from Purplebricks LON:PURP gives some visibility across the housing market, with the company reporting it has seen a 20% increase in instructions over the last five months, so since the tightest element of lockdown was eased. Obviously this came after a slow start and there would be a degree of pent up demand following the slump at the end of the previous financial year but full year EBITDA is expected to be comfortably ahead of consensus. The company notes that attempting to extrapolate performance, given the impact of the stamp duty holiday and fresh COVID lockdowns makes providing much detail over the full year outlook difficult.
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