Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross
Ocado
Ocado has this morning announced more details of its deal with US supermarket group Kroger. The first news of the tie up back in May saw Ocado’s share price jump 44%, but the question now is that as the granularity surfaces, does the reality look as good as investors had hoped. The financial impact is earnings neutral for the current financial year, whilst Ocado is having to invest £90 million for the first three Customer Fulfilment Centres. The company has sufficient cash to more than cover this, but the final financing structures are still to be agreed.
Reckitt Benckiser
There’s a Q3 trading update out from Reckitt Benckiser, the company behind everything from condoms to powdered baby milk, but the numbers have disappointed. Problems with manufacturing have held back output, with sales growing by only 2%, versus a hoped for 4%. Although new manufacturing facilities are now on stream, the company notes that it does expect some residual impact on performance both in the final quarter of the year and on into 2019, too.
BP
Soaring oil prices have served up a boost for BP in their quarterly results published today. Profits have doubled, although this appears to be broadly in line with expectations. The company is cheering the success of its integration of shale assets acquired from BHP Billiton – a transaction which is expected to officially complete tomorrow.
