Markets move higher on prospect of ECB bond buying but euro slidesThe European Central Bank’s higher than expected €1.14tn bond buying programme sent UK shares to their best level for four months.The FTSE 100 finished up 68.59 points or 1.02% at 6796.63, its highest since 19 September last year. European markets also gained ground, while the euro fell sharply as the ECB turned on the money taps. Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG, said:Overall, the ECB has got away with it today, but with Greek elections looming there is still a big risk that the European rally in stock markets has run its course for now.It is good to see that the appraisal of the two major discoveries in Kenya is going well, underpinning the already discovered gross 600m barrels of contingent resources and their potential development. Net assets have already been written down to £130m so further write-offs should be manageable. Not big news either way, but improves the quality of the group.At the time of the November finals and AGM on 5 December guidance was that earnings before interest and tax this full year would be lower due to sharply reduced sugar profits offsetting advances elsewhere but with this negated by lower finance and tax charges leading to small-scale growth in earnings per share.Revised guidance is that a marginal decline in adjusted earnings per share is expected. The swing factor is the strength of sterling – despite some offset via the dollar, this is set to cost £15m. Pretax profits projections for this full year and next have been reduced by 4.9% and 4.1% respectively, with the change this full year mainly due to a materially lowered earnings before interest and tax estimate for sugar. Earnings per share reductions are 4.1% and then 3.4% due to lower assumed tax rates. Continue reading...
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