Tesco, Topps Tiles and International Personal Finance

“The FTSE100 edged lower in early trading despite US and Asian markets registering solid gains. Investors will be looking at UK services data later this morning and US job figures this afternoon,” says AJ Bell Investment Director, Russ Mould.

“Supermarket giant Tesco topped the blue-chip board in early trading after it resumed dividend payments following a jump in interim pre-tax profits to £562m from £71m last time. Tesco’s restructuring costs fell and sales increased by 3.3% to £25.2bn, although the rise was a more modest 0.7% on a constant currency basis. But the resumption of dividends clearly reflects the group’s confidence that it can build on the strong first half sales performance. Tesco’s shares were up by more than 1% in early trading but have retraced their ground.

“Topps Tiles’ shares fell after it warned that its full-year pre-tax profits would be at the lower end of market forecasts. The group has seen a moderate improvement in trading in its final quarter but market conditions remain challenging as consumers continue to rein-in spending. Topps Tiles’ shares were down by more than 2.8% in early trading.

“International Personal Finance was a double-digit faller after Polish ministers approved changes to the country’s corporate income tax. The proposals now go before the Polish parliament and could come into force from the beginning of January. The proposals would have resulted in an increase in IPF’s tax charge of around £12m to £14m in 2016 and would result in a one-time accounting charge in 2017 of up to £30m arising from the write-down of a deferred tax asset. IPF is continuing to argue the case for their modification and also started to evaluate potential changes to its operations to mitigate the impact of the proposed legislation. IPF’s shares were down by over 12.5%.”

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