2.15pm ASOS bounces as it agrees new banking facility
Shares in ASOS PLC (LSE:ASC) bounced 10.10% after the online retailer said it had agreed a £650mln banking facility to give it “financial flexibility” and was aiming to rearrange its operations by cutting costs, improving management of stock and “refreshing the culture” of the business.
The rally came after recent hefty falls in the group’s share price following a lowering of profit expectations and concerns on whether the retailer would be able to agree the credit facility.
The news came as the group said it would write off more than £100mln of stock and cut costs after diving into the red.
The group revealed that sales had risen only 1% to £3.94 billion in the year to 21 August and that it had made a £32mln pre-tax loss compared to a £177mln profit a year before.
12.10pm: IOG PLC (AIM:IOG) slumps on production guidance downgrade
IOG PLC (AIM:IOG) (IOG PLC (AIM:IOG)) shares slumped some 55% after the company downgraded production guidance and a well was suspended amidst "fluid loss" problems.
The North Sea firm, in a statement, told investors that the Southwark A1 well has been “securely suspended”.
The statement comes after it was determined that fluid losses from the well had not been "sufficiently cured" to drill ahead safely and the resulting delays have impacted the available time for drilling, before the scheduled arrival of a hydraulic stimulation vessel which will now move on to work on the A2 well.
"Drilling the Southwark A1 well has continued to be very challenging with further fluid losses at the base of the Bunter Shale,” said chief executive Andrew Hockey.
10.05am: Moneysupermarket.com (LSE:MONY) slides as Amazon enters UK insurance comparison market
Shares in Moneysupermarket.com (LSE:MONY) (Moneysupermarket.com (LSE:MONY)) slumped 8% as Amazon said it had launched a small online insurance store in the UK, with an initial focus on home policies.
So far it has just three insurers on board and plans to add more next year.
At first, the Amazon Insurance Store will only be available to a limited number of Amazon UK account holders, and payment will be taken from the same payment card used for other shopping.
This is a small start but Amazon has been eyeing the UK insurance market for a while. Last year it partnered with a London-based broker called Insuretech to offer a range of policies to small and medium-sized businesses.
Jonathan Feifs, Amazon's general manager of EU payment products, told the BBC that in the UK particularly, shopping for insurance online was "a well-established behaviour".
9.13am: Flutter Entertainment falls on Barclays downgrade
Shares in Flutter Entertainment fell today following a rating downgrade by Barclays.
The broker has cut its rating to equal weight from overweight highlighting the impact on the company of its higher leverage, plus the macro impact of rising interest rates and an impending recession.
As a result, Barclays said this requires a re-think on Flutter’s valuation compared to industry peer, Entain PLC (LSE:ENT) (Entain PLC (LSE:ENT)).
After a stress test of the group’s balance sheet given its higher leverage, Barclays concluded a preference for Entain (less leverage, less incremental recession risk to the multiple, US upside, historical bid support) to Flutter.
Shares fell 1.88% to 10,712.50p.