Investors were taking a glass half empty view of the full year numbers released by the online estate agent Rightmove this morning. Whilst macroeconomic. Uncertainties continue to grip the housing market, the company noted that sales of value-add tools to customers were bolstering revenues and that there was optimism this momentum could be maintained in 2024. An hour into the day and shares were at the bottom of the FTSE-100 board, down almost 4%.
Full year numbers from the educational publisher Pearson received a rather more welcome reception this morning as cost saving measures saw profitability improve despite a modest decline in revenues. Again the growth is being forecast to continue for the year ahead and management have the confidence to increase the scale of the ongoing share buyback scheme by a further £200m. In early trade, the stock was close on 3% higher.
A big move for broadcaster and TV production company ITV this morning following an announcement that they had sold their 50% stake in the BritBox subscription streaming service to arch-rivals BBC Studios. The deal is worth £235m on a cash basis, allowing ITV to focus on its advertiser-led ITVX streaming platform. The entire proceeds will be returned to shareholders by way of a buy-back, something that lit a fire under the stock this morning and left it trading 15% higher shortly after the open.
Headlines we expect on Monday
Clarkson full year results
This time last year Revenue £604m, pre-tax profit £100m, total dividend 93p (20th consecutive year of dividend growth)
Quartix Technologies full year results
This time last year Revenue £27.5m, pre-tax profit £5.5m, total dividend 7.8p
