The African focused mobile telecoms and e-banking company Airtel Africa updated the market this morning with results for the first nine months of the year. Momentum remains strong for the business, subscribers to its e-money service passed the 50 million mark and profits after tax advanced 136%. Again the market was quick to cheer the news, with the Airtel Africa share price adding over 3% in the first few minutes of trade.
Shares in the credit reference agency Experian jumped in early trade following news that management had initiated a capital allocation program. This will see up to $1bn returned to shareholders by way of a buy back, that is set to conclude in June 2027. In addition to reducing the number of shares in circulation, the deal will also help satisf obligations under the employee share plan. The Experian share price was up more than 2% shortly after the open.
The FTSE-250 listed precious metals miner took something of a drubbing this morning, tracking falls in the price of gold. A sharp reversal during Thursday’s trade means that prices in the underlying are off almost 10% from the recent highs. Donald Trump will announce his new nomination for the head of the Federal Reserve later today and there’s speculation that they may come with a more hawkish outlook than had been expected, so interest rates won’t fall as fast as some had expected. That in turn will limit inflation and take some of the shine off gold. Miners were down across the board, but Hochschild was propping up the FTSE-250, down more than 4% by 8.30am.
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