Here are three developing stories you need to know about at the UK stock market open, from Tony Cross.
1. £20m share buy back announced by Kier
Kier Group LON:KIE has this morning published a scheduled trading update for the six months to 31st December. Performance was in line with expectations, 95% of FY25 revenue has been secured and the buoyed by this confidence, management have announced a £20m share buy back. Deleveraging continues and the company believes it will continue to benefit from UK government and regulated industry infrastructure spending plans.
2. Interactive Investor continues to deliver for abrdn
Asset manager abrdn LON:ABDN has published a Q4 update, showing a modest uptick in AUM from the position a year ago, with its Interactive Investor brand remaining the stand out. The retail platform saw net flows of £5.7bn, with AUMA rising almost 20% to more than £77bn. The FY24 outlook is for adjusted operating profits to be in line with current market expectations.
3. Exceedingly good Christmas for Premier Foods
A Q3 trading update from Premier Foods LON:PFD will be giving investors something to get their teeth into this morning with strong momentum being sufficient to push full year profit forecasts to the upper end of expectations. The company noted a particularly strong Christmas season for its Sweet Treats range, with sales of Mr Kipling mince pies up a reported 20% YoY. As the company had previously identified, this underlines a trend of consumers now trading up, with premium ranges performing well. The longer term growth strategy remains in tact, too.
