Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves
Speaker 2: in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 3: Now, let's take a look at some stocks on the
Speaker 3: move today in Europe. I'm Stephen Carroll and I'm joined
Speaker 3: by Bloomberg's Breaking News editor Louise Moon. Now, Louise, we're
Speaker 3: going to start with the energy sector and BP.
Speaker 1: Yeah, WELLBB had an update this morning on their first quarter,
Speaker 1: saying the oil trading has been exceptional, in their words, exceptional,
Speaker 1: so they're essentially benefiting from the one Iran war jolting
Speaker 1: the energy markets. Obviously, prices have surged and BP has
Speaker 1: essentially signaled that its traders have profited from that, and
Speaker 1: this kind of echoes a similar sentiment from Shell last
Speaker 1: week they also signaled the same. So it's been a
Speaker 1: strong first quarter four pp in particular for oil trading
Speaker 1: for them. This comes at quite a significant time. So
Speaker 1: this is their first update since their new CEO, Meg
Speaker 1: O'Neill joined. She's on a mission, as BP has been,
Speaker 1: on this long standing mission to return it to its
Speaker 1: core of oil and gas, divest in clean energy assets
Speaker 1: that the kind of low returning assets and make it
Speaker 1: a more lean organization, all under pressure from activists, investor
Speaker 1: Elliott and other shareholders after years of underperformance. So it's
Speaker 1: quite significant timing and a positive first update from her
Speaker 1: on the back of the conflict. Shares however, are down
Speaker 1: this morning. There. Investors are focusing on oil prices. They're
Speaker 1: tracking the fallen oil obviously on the news that US
Speaker 1: and Iran are weighing more talks and Shell is the same.
Speaker 1: So oil prices and energy majors actually falling on that
Speaker 1: news despite that, in BP's words, exceptional first quarter.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, interesting to layer some of the individual company
Speaker 3: news against the broader energy market moves as well, Alouise,
Speaker 3: but we're going to try. Next to the tobacco company,
Speaker 3: Imperial Brands, their shares doing sharply in London this morning.
Speaker 1: They are yeah, over six percent, as much as six
Speaker 1: point four percent this morning, saying they're expecting to lose
Speaker 1: market share. Obviously, this kind of comes on the back
Speaker 1: of these wider trends changing consumer habits for tobacco companies
Speaker 1: that they've been grappling with that for a while now.
Speaker 1: But one thing I kind of really want to focus
Speaker 1: on for Imperial is that their mention of the Middle
Speaker 1: East warps. They say that there's been no material impact
Speaker 1: operations so far, but they are flagging that the rest
Speaker 1: of the year is quite uncertain, and this is being
Speaker 1: seen in quite a few company updates. It's kind of
Speaker 1: starting to feed through that uncertainty and the lack of
Speaker 1: predictability for the companies. So we've had Page Group, the
Speaker 1: recruiter in London saying similar this morning as well, very
Speaker 1: similar wording. Shares also down, and then you're also seeing it,
Speaker 1: you know, feeding through across industries. So you've had LVMH
Speaker 1: that they're saying that they're so has been disappointing as
Speaker 1: the conflict is wearing on demand shares also down. So
Speaker 1: it's just interesting to see how this is becoming obviously
Speaker 1: a key topic for companies across a broad range of
Speaker 1: fields and playing out in different ways. As I say,
Speaker 1: you know, oil tracking in other directions, but yeah, playing
Speaker 1: through in company updates the morning. So Imperial Brands, Page Group,
Speaker 1: Elvia make sure some of those examples.
Speaker 3: And next to a company we don't hear from very often, Intertech,
Speaker 3: which are a products safety tester. They're the best performing
Speaker 3: share in the stock six hundred this morning.
Speaker 1: Why they are, Yeah, shares off as much a fourteen percent,
Speaker 1: the most since twenty twenty. Essentially, what they've done this
Speaker 1: morning is they've initiated a strategic review, so they might
Speaker 1: potentially separate their business into so one half being testing
Speaker 1: an assurance and one half being energy and infrastructure. So
Speaker 1: they're going to review this and that will all be concluded,
Speaker 1: wrapped up and implemented if it is by mid twenty
Speaker 1: twenty seven. It's being welcomed by analysts as a potential positive.
Speaker 1: You know, some are saying that they could trade at
Speaker 1: a higher rate as separate businesses could be easier for
Speaker 1: them to for the overall group to allocate capital for growth,
Speaker 1: you know, could unlock value by creating two more simple assets,
Speaker 1: a more attractive on a standalone basis. So is being
Speaker 1: welcomed that that potential move to separate the business. Intertech's
Speaker 1: been lagging way behind peers for the part in terms
Speaker 1: of share price for the past year or so. So Yeah,
Speaker 1: being welcomed by the market and shares shares up as
Speaker 1: much as fourteen percent.
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