European Indices have opened slightly lower on Tuesday, with the FTSE 100 down 0.11% and the FTSE 250 falling 0.07%.
As for stocks, ABF have come to a agreement with National Milk Records, sending its shares up 60%, British American Tobacco announced its first half trading update and Argo Blockchain reported its Q1 results.
Associated British Foods
The boards of ABF and National Milk Records have reached an agreement for a recommended cash acquisition to be made by ABF.
- The terms of the agreement values NMR shares at approximately £48m.
- This represents a 87% premium to the closing price of NMR as of June 5.
- NMR shares have surged 60% this morning
British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco announced its H1 pre close trading update showing it is on track to meet its full year guidance after a strong performance. Tadeu Marroco, CEO stated “I am pleased with our performance in a number of key areas. We increased the number of consumers of non-combustible products1 by a further 900,000 in Q1, driving good revenue growth and further reducing losses of New Categories.”
- The group stated that the global tobacco industry volume is expected to be down 3%.
- Expect to deliver 3-5% organic constant currency revenue growth.
- Shares up over 1% so far this morning.
Argo Blockchain
Argo Blockchain announced its Q1 results for the quarter ended 31 March 2023. Seif El-Bakly, Interim CEO of Argo, said: “In terms of financial discipline, we are taking a much more critical view of all operating expenses, and we’ve implemented a robust internal process aimed at reducing non-mining operating expenses. Compared to 2022, we’ve reduced our expenses by 70%. We are also evaluating options to strengthen our balance sheet.”
- The group ended the quarter with $14.2m of cash on its balance sheet, along with 85 bitcoin.
- Argo achieved revenue of $11.4m, up 15% compared to Q4 2022.
- However, the firm announced a net loss of $8.7m
- Argo mined a total of 491 BTC, 5.3 BTC a day.