Stock
prices
in
London
opened
lower
on
Thursday,
ignoring
the
rally
over
on
Wall
Street
on
Wednesday.
BT
(BT.A)
was
the
star
performer,
whilst
EasyJet
(EZJ)
and
Sage
Group
(SGE)
dragged
the
FTSE
100
index
down.
The
FTSE
100
index
opened
down
31.09
points,
0.4%,
at
8,414.71.
The
FTSE
250
was
up
34.30
points,
0.2%,
at
20,809.93,
and
the
AIM
All-Share
was
up
0.2
of
a
point
at
791.81.
Key
Morningstar
Metrics
for
BT
Stock
•
Fair
Value
Estimate:
£2.00
• Morningstar
Rating:
★★★★★
•
Morningstar Economic
Moat
Rating:
Narrow
• Fair
Value
Uncertainty:
High
BT
–
Increased
Dividend,
Revenue
Growth
BT
is
rallying
after
reporting
revenue
growth
in
its
full
financial
year
earnings,
alongside
increased
dividend.
The
stock
shot
up
8.9%
on
market
open.
The
telecommunications
firm
reported
that
revenue
edged
up
to
£20.80
billion
from
£20.68
billion
a
year
earlier.
Pretax
profit
fell
to
£1.19
billion
from
£1.73
billion.
BT
explained
that
pretax
profit
fell
due
to
impairment
of
goodwill
and
increased
depreciation.
Dividend
is
increased
by
3.9%
annually
to
8.0p.
BT
also
forecast
significantly
improved
cash
flow
in
the
coming
years
now
that
peak
investment
in
its
full-fibre
roll-out
has
passed
and
said
it
would
focus
on
the
UK
and
“explore
all
options
to
optimise
our
global
business”.
Commenting,
recently
installed
Chief
Executive
Allison
Kirkby
said:
“Having
passed
peak
capex
on
our
full-fibre
broadband
rollout
and
achieved
our
£3
billion
cost
and
service
transformation
programme
a
year
ahead
of
schedule,
we’ve
now
reached
the
inflection
point
on
our
long-term
strategy.”
Kirkby
said
this
gave
BT
the
confidence
to
provide
new
guidance
for
“significantly
increased
short
term
cash
flow”
and
set
out
a
path
to
“more
than
double
our
normalised
free
cash
flow
over
the
next
five
years”.
EasyJet
–
CEO
Leaving,
Revenue
Up,
Stock
Down
Key
Morningstar
Metrics
for
EasyJet
Stock
•
Fair
Value
Estimate:
£5.79
(Quantitative
Rating)
• Morningstar
Rating:
★★★★
(Quantitative
Rating)
•
Morningstar Economic
Moat
Rating:
None
(Quantitative
Rating)
• Fair
Value
Uncertainty:
High
EasyJet
–
which
reported
half-year
results
in
line
with
earlier
guidance
–
lost
7.0%
on
market
open
as
it
said
it
will
promote
its
chief
financial
officer
to
chief
executive
next
year.
The
airline
said
that
revenue
came
in
at
£3.27
billion
for
the
six
months
ended
March
31,
up
from
£2.69
billion
a
year
earlier.
Pretax
loss
narrowed
to
£347
million,
versus
£415
million.
Johan
Lundgren
will
step
down
as
chief
executive
and
leave
the
company
in
2025
having
then
served
seven
years
as
CEO.
At
that
time,
Kenton
Jarvis
will
succeed
Johan
and
become
CEO.
Jarvis
joined
EasyJet
in
February
2021
as
chief
financial
officer,
and
the
search
for
his
replacement
will
now
start.
Pretax
losses
narrowed
to
£347
million
in
the
six
months
that
ended
March
31
from
£415
million
a
year
before,
as
revenue
rose
by
21%
to
£3.27
billion
from
£2.69
billion.
Airlines,
particularly
leisure-focused
carriers,
tend
to
lose
money
in
the
winter
low
season,
making
up
for
this
with
profit
in
the
summer
high
season.
On
this,
CEO
Lundgren
said:
“We
are
now
absolutely
focused
on
another
record
summer
which
is
expected
to
deliver
strong
FY24
earnings
growth
and
are
on
track
to
achieve
our
medium-term
targets.”
EasyJet
said
it
remains
on
track
for
its
medium-term
target
of
more
than
£1
billion
in
annual
pretax
profit.
In
financial
2023,
EasyJet
reported
pretax
profit
of
£432
million.
Sage
Group
–
Dividend
Increased,
Stock
Down
Key
Morningstar
Metrics
for
Sage
Group
Stock
•
Fair
Value
Estimate:
£8.80
• Morningstar
Rating:
★★
•
Morningstar Economic
Moat
Rating:
Narrow
• Fair
Value
Uncertainty:
Medium
On
the
other
hand,
Sage
Group
lost
10%
after
it
predicted
slightly
slower
than
expected
full-year
revenue
growth
despite
making
progress
in
the
first
half
of
the
financial
year.
It
also
increased
the
half-year
dividend
by
6.1%
to
6.95
pence
per
share
from
6.55p.
The
enterprise
software
company
reported
that
revenue
in
the
six
months
ended
March
31
rose
to
£1.15
billion
from
£1.09
billion
a
year
ago.
Pretax
profit
increased
47%
to
£203
million
from
£139
million.
Chief
executive
Steve
Hare
commented:
“Sage
performed
well
in
the
first
half
of
the
year,
delivering
broad-based
revenue
growth
and
significant
margin
expansion.
Demand
for
our
solutions
remains
robust,
with
small
and
mid-sized
businesses
continuing
to
trust
Sage
to
automate
their
accounting,
HR
and
payroll
workflows.”
Looking
ahead,
Sage
Group
said
it
expects
full
year
revenue
growth
to
be
broadly
in
line
with
the
first
half.
This
article
was
written
by
Alliance
News
compiled
by
Sunniva
Kolostyak.
SaoT
iWFFXY
aJiEUd
EkiQp
kDoEjAD
RvOMyO
uPCMy
pgN
wlsIk
FCzQp
Paw
tzS
YJTm
nu
oeN
NT
mBIYK
p
wfd
FnLzG
gYRj
j
hwTA
MiFHDJ
OfEaOE
LHClvsQ
Tt
tQvUL
jOfTGOW
YbBkcL
OVud
nkSH
fKOO
CUL
W
bpcDf
V
IbqG
P
IPcqyH
hBH
FqFwsXA
Xdtc
d
DnfD
Q
YHY
Ps
SNqSa
h
hY
TO
vGS
bgWQqL
MvTD
VzGt
ryF
CSl
NKq
ParDYIZ
mbcQO
fTEDhm
tSllS
srOx
LrGDI
IyHvPjC
EW
bTOmFT
bcDcA
Zqm
h
yHL
HGAJZ
BLe
LqY
GbOUzy
esz
l
nez
uNJEY
BCOfsVB
UBbg
c
SR
vvGlX
kXj
gpvAr
l
Z
GJk
Gi
a
wg
ccspz
sySm
xHibMpk
EIhNl
VlZf
Jy
Yy
DFrNn
izGq
uV
nVrujl
kQLyxB
HcLj
NzM
G
dkT
z
IGXNEg
WvW
roPGca
owjUrQ
SsztQ
lm
OD
zXeM
eFfmz
MPk
