BUSINESS LIVE: Aston Martin losses narrow; SJP faces £426m provision; Halfords cuts profit forecast

Consumer goods group Reckitt missed fourth-quarter comparable net sales expectations, after a drop in sales of cold and flu season products.

But the maker of painkiller Nurofen and cleaning products Dettol said it is “confident about the year ahead” and expects like-for-like net income growth of 2 to 4 percent, with mid-single-digit growth for its Health and Fitness business. Hygiene. wallets.

Reckitt said comparable quarterly net income fell 1.2 percent, while analysts in a survey provided by the company expected growth of 1.6 percent.

“While our performance in the fourth quarter was subpar, we look confidently toward 2024 and beyond,” said CEO Kris Licht.

Abrdn’s boss has won a 26 per cent pay rise to £2.1m, even as the fund manager cuts hundreds of jobs and suffers an exodus of investors.

Chief executive Stephen Bird’s salary as fund manager for 2023 included £1.1m in bonuses, up 68 per cent on the previous year.

This was despite another year of losses for the beleaguered business, although at £6m, these were down from £612m in 2022. Abrdn suffered net outflows of £13.9bn, up from £ 10.3 billion pounds.

Halfords Group has cut its annual profit forecast, warning it had seen a further weakening in demand for bicycles in January, as unseasonable weather also hit sales of winter car products and tyres.

Halfords, which is the UK’s largest supplier of automotive products and services, said it now expected underlying pre-tax profit for the year to the end of March to be between £35 million and £40 million, down from al minus 17 percent.

The drop in sales at Halfords comes despite official data released in early February showing British retail sales rose in January to their highest level in almost three years, as consumers regained some of their appetite for spending , after a weak December.

But the mild, wet weather affected Halfords’ sales, he said.

St James’s Place suffered a loss last year after the wealth management firm took a provision of £426m for potential refunds to customers for historical service complaints.

The company’s loss after tax amounted to £9.9m for the year to December 31, compared with a net profit of £407.2m a year earlier.

Boss Mark FitzPatrick He said the group will be forced to change its strategy for payments to investors.

He said: “A combination of the provision we have put in place and an expected decline in the level of profit growth over the coming years as we transition to our new charge structure, reduces our ability to invest for long-term growth. term of our business over the next few years.

‘Accordingly, the Board has decided to review our approach to shareholder distributions. Going forward, the Board expects total annual distributions to be set at 50% of the underlying cash result for the full year. Over the next three years, this will comprise 18.00 pence per share in declared annual dividends, with the remainder distributed via share buybacks.

‘Once our new charge structure is fully integrated, we anticipate the business will be on a earnings-improving trajectory through 2027 and beyond.

‘The Board expects that the distribution of 50% of the underlying cash result will continue to strike the appropriate balance between investing for growth and shareholder returns, while distributions to shareholders will increase over time. The upward earnings trajectory should provide the Board with options to increase the dividend element within the total return.

The Shein boss has held talks with Jeremy Hunt about a potential multi-billion pound London stock market listing that could give the beleaguered stock market a big boost.

Donald Tang met with the Chancellor earlier this month and raised the possibility of the City taking away the China-founded fast fashion giant’s initial public offering (IPO) from New York.

Reports suggest the company, now based in Singapore, could be valued between £40bn and £70bn, setting the stage for what could be Britain’s biggest ever stock float.

Aston Martin’s pre-tax losses narrowed to around £172 million last year from £451 million in 2022, beating market expectations thanks to a rise in selling prices.

Analysts on average expected an adjusted pre-tax loss of £209 million for the period, according to a consensus compiled by the company.

Wholesale sales volumes increased just 3 per cent during the year, but revenues soared 18 per cent to £1.6bn, reflecting the continued execution of our growth strategy; enhanced positioning of our ultra-luxury brand and an enriched product portfolio driving growth in volumes and record average selling prices.”