Updates from TUI Group, Michael Page and Cineworld
More pressure on the FTSE 100, down a chunky 1.4% to 6,571.1 on Wednesday as more yuan devaluation aftershocks made themselves felt. Mining companies, hugely reliant on the Chinese economy, again fell with Glencore down 5.6% to 180.20p. ARMHoldings sank 4.5% to 916p while BA owner IAG tumbled 4.4% to 525p. Nervousness for Unilever also: its shares sank more than 4.2% to 2788p as Goldman Sachs warned on e-commerce concerns for Unilever's grocery business.
Stateside the Dow Jones was down more than 270 points during the day but by the end of trading had recovered almost all lost ground, ending at 17,402.5, down less than 0.1%. Both Intel and ExxonMobil saw 1.7% rises.
We commence with a likely £20m knocked off annual profits for travel operatorTUI Group, owner of First Choice and Thomson - these new (predicted) numbers are a direct result of the tragic Tunisian beach attacks in June says the company.
Still, underling revenues for the third quarter came in at €5,081m for the travel operator, up 6% on last year while earnings lifted to €194m, an 18% climb. Boss Peter Long says TUI's business model has an "inherent assumption that we will face a level of disruption as a result of external events".
"In spite of the events in Tunisia and Greece, we have continued to deliver strong growth in underlying EBITA. This demonstrates the resilience of our integrated business model."
We move onto half year results for Michael Page International. The recruiter says revenues arrive at £530.4m, up 3.5%, while operating profits climb to £40m, a rise of 12.3%. Basic earnings per share are bumped up 19.7% to 9.1p.
Currency volatility though continues to impact Page's numbers. This has affected year-to-date results by £11m of gross profit and £2m of operating profit it thinks.
"At June closing rates, this implies a full year impact of £28m of gross profit and £6m of operating profit." However Board expectations for the full year remain unchanged.
Lastly, Cineworld. New half-year numbers see group revenue growth of 22.5% on a statutory basis with UK & Ireland revenue growth of 11%. Group revenue hits £329.1m while earnings leap 41% to £64.7m.
The interim dividend is upped 31.6% to 5.0p consequently. Cineworld claims net cash generated from operating activities of £51.3m, representing a 34.3% upturn.
"The strongest titles," it says, "released during the period, "Fifty Shades of Grey", "Fast and Furious 7", and "Jurassic World", all of which broke box office records...alongside other titles such as "Avengers: The Age of Ultron" resulted in overall pro forma revenue growth of 11.3%."
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