McColl’s record low as supplies dry up
NewsageNt chain McColl’s crashed to an all-time low after supply chain issues left it struggling to fill its shelves.
shortages of key products, lorry drivers and workers at distribution centres have intensified over the past three months. the shares fell 18.6pc, or 3.35p, to 14.64p.
McColl’s, with more than 1,200 stores in Britain, tried to reduce disruption by working with supermarket giant Morrisons, its wholesaler. However, it was unable to fully address the shortages, and as a result, revenues were ‘significantly lower’ than expected.
McColl’s warned that its fullyear results ‘may fall short’ of expectations, with profits of between £20m and £22m, down from a previous forecast of £27m.
Chief executive Jonathan Miller said: ‘we are working with our Morrisons to restore in-store product availability as quickly as possible.’ Retailers across the UK have been grappling with supply chain strain as the end of pandemic restrictions and a shortage of workers have made it harder to shift goods ahead of the key Christmas shopping period.
Miller is also McColl’s biggest shareholder with a 14.9pc stake and the share price fall meant a big hit for his paper fortune.
the FTSE 100 was down 0.49pc, or 35.77 points, to 7291.2 while the FTSE 250 dipped 0.45pc, or 105.64 points, to 23434.07.
equities came under pressure after UK inflation soared to a tenyear high of 4.2pc in October, pushing up the pound’s value.
the news increased the chances of a December hike in interest rates from the Bank of england, which was good news for some of the UK’s domestic banks.
Lloyds was up 0.03pc, or 0.02p, at 49.99p while Natwest climbed 0.4pc, or 0.9p, to 224.3p. Ftse 100 engineer Spirax-Sarco sank 4.9pc, or 840p, to 16,165p after it was hit by disruption to supply chains. while demand was strong in the four months to the end of October, all three of its businesses had been ‘somewhat impacted’ by delays’, which hit some sales.
tools and building equipment lender Speedy Hire tracked up 7.1pc, or 4.5p, to 68.3p after it swung back into profit in the six months to the end of september amid a boom in demand from major infrastructure projects.
Pre-tax profits in the period came in at £14.3m compared to a £0.4m loss a year ago, while revenues jumped by 28pc to £188.6m.
Credit data firm Experian upped its full-year guidance after profits climbed 43pc to £654m in the six months to the end of september. Revenues rose 23pc to £3.1bn.
It now expects revenue growth for the year ending March 2022 to be between 15pc and 17pc, higher than previous predictions. shares fell 4pc, or 139p, to 3373p.
High street stalwart Marks & Spencer dropped 1.9pc, or 4.5p, to 227.7p after analysts at Jefferies downgraded it to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ due to ‘limited upside’ following a recovery in the business.
But the broker increased its target price to 250p from 220p, saying the business was experiencing strong tailwinds.
Mid-cap firm Caledonia Investment added 2.7pc, or 100p, to 3850p as it sold its stake in lab analysis firm Bioagilytix to Us private equity group Cinven. It expects to make £136m from the sale, a 167pc rise on the £51m it valued the stake at in september.
storage unit provider Safestore ticked up 0.5pc, or 6p, to 1255p after revenues jumped 18pc yearon-year to £48.9m, for the quarter between august and October, helped by high levels of occupancy in its units. these reached 85.1pc, up five percentage points on the same period a year ago.
Meanwhile, Technology Minerals, a firm developing technology to recycle electric car batteries, had a strong first day on the London stock exchange’s main market. shares were 3.25p, up a penny on their float price of 2.25p.