Three things you need to know in the financial markets today from investment writer, Tony Cross.
#1. IAG revenues back to pre-pandemic levels
International Consolidated Airlines LON:IAG, the owners of British Airways, have this morning published Q3 results, with an operating profit of EUR1.2bn being reported, against a EUR452m loss a year ago. Total revenues have fully recovered from the pandemic despite lower capacity than in 2019, caused by capacity restrictions at Heathrow and limits on travel to the Asia Pacific destinations. Business travel remains down but this is offset by upbeat leisure traffic and full-year profits are expected to be in the region of EUR1.1bn.
#2. Computacenter’s recent growth moderating in the near term
Computacenter LON:CCC has also issued Q3 numbers this morning. After two exceptional years of growth, management caution that 2022 will see a more modest expansion in profitability. Details beyond this are scant, growth is being reported across the business and management are confident that the momentum will carry into FY23. However with the constrained performance this year being linked to headwinds involved in unwinding COVID initiatives, the assumption would be these are transitory.
#3. NatWest RoTE down but expected to return to target in FY23
Rounding off the morning are Q3 numbers from NatWest Group LON:NWG. The much-watched Return on Tangible Equity metric came in at 12.1% if Ulster Bank operations are excluded, income increased almost 40% and the net interest margin rose by 27 basis points to 2.99%. Impairments of £242m have been account for in the quarter given the worsening economic situation and the outlook for next year is that the RoTE will return to the 14%-16% planned range.