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Dividend-paying Meta Platforms led the way for the Magnificent Seven last night after the Facebook owner reported a trebling of quarterly profits.
With fellow tech giants Apple and Amazon also posting strong figures, markets on both sides of the Atlantic are poised for strong sessions today.
The gains come despite continued uncertainty over when the Federal Reserve and Bank of England will begin cutting interest rates.
Mercuriadis moves from CEO to chair of Hipgnosis Songs Management
07:58 , Daniel O’Boyle
Music industry veteran Merck Mercuriadis is taking a step back from his direct involvement with managing music rights, as he moves from CEO to chairman of Hipgnosis Songs Management (HSM), the investment advisor for the Hipgnosis Songs Fund.
Ben Katovsky will become chair of HSM, which also manages a portfolio of unlisted songs co-owned by Blackstone.
HSM said: “Merck will continue to lead engagement with songwriters, artists and the music industry, generate opportunities to increase consumption and enhance the value of HSM’s client’s portfolios, lead acquisitions and advocate on behalf of songwriters, artists and HSM.
“Ben will assume responsibility for executive management of the business, implementing HSM’s strategy to build on the company’s position as the premier platform for acquiring and managing Song assets.”
The move comes as the Hipgnosis Songs Fund considers plans to win back shareholders after they voted to wind up the fund. One possible option appeared to be the replacement of HSM as investment manager, but the change in CEO might make a change less likely.
Water bills to go up 6% as industry opens the taps on investment
07:55 , Michael Hunter
The lobby group representing the UK’s embattled water companies said that the average household bill will go up 6% this year, a rise of around £27.
Water UK said the increase will come as the industry plans to invest over £14.4 billion in better infrastructure after the public outcry over sewage discharges into rivers and leaking mains supply.
That came alongside anger at high pay for senior executives in the industry, that led to the departure of Thames Water’s CEO, Sarah Bentley, in June last year.
London’s heavily indebted utility has been grappling with a £14 billion debt burden amid concern about its ability to continue as a going concern. Its new permanent CEO, Chris Weston, has led efforts to buy back some short -term debt and issue longer term bonds.
Water UK said today that “customers have seen their bills fall in real terms over the last decade” as it pointed to the £2 monthly rise, due to kick in from April.
Investment plans will help build 10 new reservoirs nationally. There is also “targeted support” for those struggling to pay their bills.
It added: “If water bills had kept pace with inflation since 2014-15, they would be around £60 higher today.
“Increased bills are only allowed where they pay for investment in things that are genuinely new and genuinely needed, like meeting targets for our water and sewerage system.”
Meta shares jump on first dividend, profits surge
07:52 , Graeme Evans
Meta Platforms is to pay a dividend of 50 cents a share on 26 March, its first-ever distribution after posting strong fourth quarter results last night.
The Facebook and Instagram owner, which has previously returned capital through share buybacks, intends to make quarterly dividend payments.
It said revenues rose 25% to $40.1 billion (£31.4 billion) in the three months to 31 December. Net income jumped 201% to $14 billion (£11 billion).
Shares rose 15% to $454 in after-hours dealings following the dividend and better-than-expected results performance. It revealed headcount of 67,000 at the end of December, a decrease of 22% year-over-year.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said: “2023 was our “year of efficiency” which focused on making Meta a stronger technology company and improving our business to give us the stability to deliver our ambitious long-term vision for AI and the metaverse.”
More passengers, but also more empty seats at Ryanair and Wizz
07:49 , Daniel O’Boyle
Ryanair and Wizz Air both saw a big rise in empty seats in January compared to 2023.
The falling load factors at both the two low-cost airlines could be the latest sign safety and geopolitical fears are putting people off travel, though Wizz Air noted that new visual flight rules and “reallocation of capacity” also played a part.
The number of passengers who flew with both low-cost carriers continued to rise, but Ryanair’s load factor fell to 89%, while for Wizz Air it was just 82%.
YouGov stands by profit forecasts helped by tech firms
07:31 , Michael Hunter
London-listed polling and market intelligence group YouGov stood by its profit forecasts today, helped by demand from the tech sector for its market insight.
The company, best known for its political polling tracking the fortunes of parties around major elections, also conceded that “some other sectors have been more challenging”.
It also said there had been “FX headwinds”, a reference to the stronger levels of the pound on currency markets, meaning revenue earned abroad buys less sterling.
“Reported revenue for the first half will be strong and we have continued to invest in the business, in particular on staff costs,” it said.
The £1.4bn company’s half-year results are due in late March.
Markets seen higher as tech giants lift mood, Meta surges on first dividend
07:17 , Graeme Evans
US stock markets are set to open higher after a largely positive reaction to results by Magnificent Seven tech giants Apple, Amazon and Meta Platforms.
Plans by Facebook owner Meta to pay its first dividend following the trebling of fourth quarter profits meant its shares led the way with a rise of 15% in after-hours dealings.
Retailer Amazon’s 14% increase in net sales for the quarter caused its shares to lift 7%, but Apple fell 3% as concerns over slower growth in China offset forecast-beating results.
In Thursday’s regular trading, the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq Composite rose by more than 1% as traders quickly came to terms with the Federal Reserve’s guidance that a March cut in interest rates is unlikely.
Today’s Wall Street session includes results by oil giants Chevron and ExxonMobil and the latest non-farm payrolls figure, which is expected to highlight the resilience of the US economy with 180,000 new jobs added compared with 216,000 in December.
The FTSE 100 index closed 0.1% lower last night but is forecast by CMC Markets to start today’s session 60 points higher at 7682.
Recap: Yesterday’s top stories
06:46 , Simon Hunt
Good morning from the Standard City desk.
The post-pandemic conventional wisdom that London would be saddled with millions of sq ft of empty office space in the working from home era is now looking laughably wide of the mark.
As a new report yesteday shows, the opposite is true.
The pipeline of new office schemes is in fact nowhere near full enough to meet the demand for extra new space from companies hauling their workers back into central London.
One of the great strengths of London — unlike some of its more museum-like European rivals such as Paris and Rome — is that there are plenty of ugly bits that can be knocked down or reinvented to make way for the new. So expect more cranes as the depleted office building pipeline fills up again to meet the demand.
The London skyline will once again be transformed with a new generation of tall buildings. That will not please everyone. But ceaseless reinvention is a key part of what make London such a compelling world city.
Here’s a summary of our top stories from yesterday:
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