British Gas has lost almost 400,000 customers and Lloyds Banking is about to lose 3,000 jobs in an outbreak of corporate carelessness.
Centrica PLC (LON:CAN), which owns the British Gas brand (and Scottish Gas, for that matter – Scottish gas presumably being a bit more tartan than regular British gas), blamed the drop in customers in the first half of the year partly on people coming to the end of fixed-term contracts.
It said it returned to account growth in June following the launch of new contracts.
The market marked the shares up as the company said it was on track to turf 3,000 people on to the dole queue in 2016.
Oddly enough, although traders generally like news of job losses – unless it’s their own jobs, of course – the same trick failed to work for Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY), which unveiled plans to close an extra 200 branches and cut a further 3,000 jobs by the end of 2017.
The shares were among the worst performers among the blue-chip crowd on a day when about one-sixth of the FTSE 100 companies put out trading updates.
According to Shore Capital Markets, the results sounded a more cautious note on capital generation and, hence, dividend progression.
Lye-sester
I must admit I am looking to league champions Leicester City competing in the European Championship next year, if only to hear how overseas commentators get their chops around the pronunciation of Leicester.
Online foreign currency provider FairFX Group Plc (LON:FFX) is also looking forward to Lye-sester’s foreign ventures, albeit for slightly different reasons: it is to be the exclusive provider of the club’s foreign exchange requirements for the next two years.
It is quite a prestigious deal for the multi-currency payments service provider, though one wag in the office suggested a much more lucrative deal would be to become FIFA’s exclusive currency conversion provider.
Calm down, calm down
Sareum Holdings Plc (LON:SAR), the specialist cancer drug discovery and development company, has moved to temper over-exuberance following publication of an article by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in “Molecular Cancer Therapeutics” earlier this month.
The article refers to the evaluation of a Sareum/ICR developed CHK1 inhibitor, CCT244747, combined with radiotherapy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Although the CHK1 inhibitor had beneficial effects, Sareum and its nominated adviser (Nomad) concluded the information was not price sensitive as it was old news, and in any case the CHK1 inhibitor used in the latest evaluation was not the CHK1 inhibitor, CCT245737, currently undergoing clinical trials co-funded by Sareum.
The shares, which rose from 0.60p to 0.765p yesterday as excitement over the article gathered steam, slipped down to 0.73p this morning.