Good morning from a very wintry London, where the FTSE 100 is looking pretty frozen itself holding steady at around 7,430 points. It’s a bit of a mixed bag in terms of performance, the mining giants mostly doing well so far today but some tough starts for some big names.
Metro Bank PLC has announced £50 million worth of cost-cutting, including 800 job losses comprising around 20% of the workforce, as part of a £325 million financial rescue package. The challenger bank’s policy of opening seven days a week will most likely also become a casualty of the new measures.
And Shares in Doc Martens are down 20% after the shoemaker warned its earnings will come in below market expectations and that the recovery in the US would take longer than expected. Broker Peel Hunt said it was a “larger profit warning than expected.” Is it a case of go woke and go broke, let me know in the comments. Elsewhere in the UK market pub group Mitchells & Butlers shares also lower this morning, down nearly 10% despite reporting higher sales. Head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown Derren Nathan says it’s been “challenging” to get the bottom line moving in the right direction and that despite cost pressures easing, the company’s return to profit growth is far from assured.
And finally on the subject of cost pressures, we’ve got inflation data from both sides of the pond today, with lots of European data as well as US core personal consumption expenditures index data - the Fed's preferred inflationary gauge.
Have a great day out there and remember you can keep up with all the latest business news right here on Proactive.
