Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news, The.
Speaker 2: Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves in
Speaker 2: the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg Data.
Speaker 1: Well, let's take a look at some of the stocks
Speaker 1: on the mode today in Europe. I'm Stephen Carroll and
Speaker 1: I'm joined by Bloomberg's Chloe Melee for more. Chloe, good morning.
Speaker 1: Let's start in the UK and the retailer Next has
Speaker 1: some thank you letters to be writing.
Speaker 3: Why yeah, absolutely well to Santa in particular. So Next
Speaker 3: boosted its profit target for a fifth time this financial year,
Speaker 3: and that was thanks to really strong sales over the
Speaker 3: Christmas period. So the sales were super strong in international
Speaker 3: markets in particular, but even in the UK, where expectations
Speaker 3: were a little bit more muted, growth was actually ahead
Speaker 3: of those estimates as well. But it's not because the
Speaker 3: Christmas spirit was strong that twenty twenty six will necessarily
Speaker 3: be golden either. So Next did warn that profit in
Speaker 3: sales would grow slower pace in the year ahead. It
Speaker 3: blamed rising unemployment and slowing wage growth, which means of
Speaker 3: course that there will be more constrained consumer spending, more uncertainty,
Speaker 3: less money to just spludge on nice clothes. And you know,
Speaker 3: Next is usually quite cautious with its guidance and so
Speaker 3: the fact that it had this world of caution isn't
Speaker 3: wasn't necessarily taken like a real warning from the market,
Speaker 3: and the chase did still rise. But it's worth keeping
Speaker 3: in mind that they are still challenges for Next and
Speaker 3: for other peers within that British retail sector. And there
Speaker 3: will be more details on that when we get some
Speaker 3: of the food retailers reporting some Christmas trading updates as
Speaker 3: well later this week. We've got Tesco and Sainsbury's as
Speaker 3: well as em and s keeping US updated later this week,
Speaker 3: so we'll see what's happened there as well.
Speaker 1: Okay, so more to watch for on the UK consumer front.
Speaker 1: Accado meanwhile delivering fresh gains. This is after the latest
Speaker 1: report by analysts JP Morgan. What have they said.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a good day for Ricado.
Speaker 3: They were placed on a positive catalyst watch by JP Morgan.
Speaker 3: There was also a monthly report from an industry researcher
Speaker 3: that showed that Ocado would once again the UK's fastest
Speaker 3: growing grosser in December, so there's kind of two positive
Speaker 3: things there for Ocado. If we go back to the
Speaker 3: positive catalyst watch from JP Morgan, they said that there
Speaker 3: is now greater operational stability at the company after some
Speaker 3: recent setbacks. Of course, we remember the biggest one was
Speaker 3: when Ocado's biggest customer, Kroger, announced it would close three
Speaker 3: automated warehouses that were operated by Ocado, and that had
Speaker 3: sent the shas plunging and really hurt investor confidence in
Speaker 3: the company. But now there is a lot more clarity
Speaker 3: on that partnership with Kroger.
Speaker 4: There is also Acado going.
Speaker 3: To be pursuing more deals in more markets after ending
Speaker 3: some exclusivity agreements, and JP Morgan analysts also said that
Speaker 3: the balance sheet looks much sturdier, much stronger. So all
Speaker 3: of that means that perhaps a card we'll be back
Speaker 3: on track in twenty twenty six, so we'll be looking
Speaker 3: for that as well going forward.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's turn next to Microchip. Got some traders watching
Speaker 1: europe tech firms for non micro gains.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so Microchip over in the US has said that
Speaker 3: it expects higher sales than previously thought, So that's taken
Speaker 3: by the market as a sign of recovery for industrial
Speaker 3: and automotive end markets. So This is a good day
Speaker 3: then for semiconductor companies in Europe that are exposed in
Speaker 3: particular to those end markets. So we're talking about Infinian
Speaker 3: and st Micro. We've have course talked a lot about
Speaker 3: semiconductor companies and their exposure to AI and how much
Speaker 3: they benefit from that, but there's a lot of other
Speaker 3: sectors that need chips, including cars and factories for a
Speaker 3: lot of other things, and there's been a lot of
Speaker 3: weakness recently in those end markets and really a lot
Speaker 3: of uncertainty about when that would lift. So the fact
Speaker 3: that Microchip has signaled rebound there is really reassuring for
Speaker 3: Infinian and st Micro, especially given that those two actually
Speaker 3: had said previously that the quarter that is that ended
Speaker 3: in December would be below seasonal trend, so they might
Speaker 3: actually be doing.
Speaker 4: Better than they expected.
Speaker 3: There's still a gap in stock performance between those names
Speaker 3: and then the names that are a little bit more
Speaker 3: exposed to AI in that semiconductor sector. So let's see
Speaker 3: if that recovery in those end markets brings that gap, well,
Speaker 3: you know, closes that gap a little bit more.
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