Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross.
Pearson
There’s a Q1 trading update out from the educational publishers Pearson LON:PSON this morning. Revenues for the period are up 5% as the company attempts to navigate its way out of the COVID crisis and the question here has to be how this will play out in the months ahead. Online learning sales were up 25% but assessment sales were down 2% – this division had been impacted by the closure of exam centres owing to lockdowns, but professional certification has been roaring back. It’s the sluggish performance in US schools assessment that is weighing here – hopes of pent up demand resulting in a spike on this metric later in the year may be misplaced.
Tate & Lyle
There’s a note out from Tate & Lyle LON:TATE relating to media speculation that it could be looking to split its food & beverage solutions and primary products divisions, by selling a controlling stake in the latter to a long-term financial partner. The rationale behind such a move is to deliver enhanced shareholder value by allowing the two divisions to focus on their own capital allocation strategies. No word however if this would result in a windfall dividend for investors…
Lok’nStore Group
There’s an interesting note out from Lok’nStore Group LON:LOK this morning, the AIM listed self-storage company, covering the six months to January 31st. The report notes unprecedented growth, with occupied space up by a quarter over the last year and occupancy hitting 81.6% of available space. Perhaps most critically, a note from management states that the market is currently under supplied and the company will continue to expand its footprint in light of this. The interim dividend is being lifted by more than 8% and plans are afoot to grow strage capacity by 38% in the coming years.
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