Trending tickers: Bellway | Flutter Entertainment | TUI | Coca-Cola

Bellway (BWY.L)

Housebuilder Bellway has sold fewer homes over the last year as the recent increases in mortgage rates resulted in a weaker trading environment.

The company said it completed on 10,945 homes, down from 11,198, with an average selling price of £310,000 ($395,338), down from £314,399 the previous year. Reservations were also down, declining 28.4% in the year to 31 July.

It warned that surging mortgage costs impacted sales in the final three months of 2022 when the UK was already reeling from the bonds crisis sparked by Liz Truss’ mini-Budget.

Revenues fell to £3.4bn in the year to the end of June, from £3.5bn, while profit margin also narrowed due to rising build costs and overhead inflation.

Jason Honeyman, Bellway's chief executive, said: "The backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty and cost of living pressures affected consumer demand during the year and, given affordability remains constrained by higher mortgage interest rates, underlying trading conditions are likely to remain challenging in the near term.

“To help mitigate this, and notwithstanding ongoing delays in the planning system, the depth of our land bank provides scope to deliver outlet growth in the current financial year and beyond."

It comes as Bellway is currently consulting on the closure of its London partnerships arm, which sees it working with housing associations, councils and private rental sector investors on projects, as wells as its South Midlands division.

Under the proposal by the group, which has 22 divisional offices across England, Scotland and Wales, sites in these businesses would move to other arms such as Bellway North London.

The move could see around 90 employees from the company's 3,000-strong workforce lose their jobs.

Flutter Entertainment (FLTR.L)

Flutter Entertainment hailed "exceptional" performance from its US operations, which swung into the black during the first half of the year.

The gambling firm said it had acquired more than two million new players in the period across the pond, and grew its share in iGaming to 23%. It added that US betting business FanDuel generated over $100m (£78m) in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).

It comes as Flutter, which owns Paddy Power and Betfair in Britain, is planning to list its shares in New York in the coming months.

Overall revenue climbed 42% to £4.8bn, while profits came in as £128m, up from a £112m loss the year before. The acquisition of Sisal in August last year also contributed significantly to the growth.

In total the business has more than 12 million players, growing its UK and Ireland revenue by 13% in the six month period.

Read more: LIVE: FTSE 100 and European markets in the green despite UK growth warnings

“Gambling stock Flutter continues to lay the groundwork for a move to the US, pointedly highlighting an ‘exceptional’ performance across the pond. This may be over-egging things a touch given its American FanDuel business has only just nudged into profit. However, given the speed of the growth it can be forgiven for getting slightly carried away," Russ Mould, AJ Bell investment director, said.

“The move of its primary listing to New York remains on track for the turn of the year and will further diminish the ranks of an increasingly depleted FTSE 100.

“Elsewhere the company’s debt is starting to look a touch burdensome in a rising interest rate environment and now the US business is starting to make a positive contribution to the bottom line, paying down these borrowings may become more of a priority for the company.”

TUI (TUI.L)

TUI shares climbed as much as 3% in London after it swung to a third-quarter profit for the first time since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Sales jumped thanks to higher average selling prices, which were up by more than a quarter compared with summer 2019, and 7% higher than last year.

Revenues rose 19% to €5.3bn (£4.6bn) and summer bookings are 6% higher compared the year prior.

It came despite the airline admitting that it expected a €25m hit from wildfires in Rhodes last month, with ongoing costs for cancellations and lost business, compensation for customers, and repatriation flights.

It evacuated some 8,000 guests from the Greek island after wildfires broke out last month, with around 5% of its flights heading to Rhodes in the summer.

But TUI said the heatwave sweeping across parts of Europe had only “temporarily” dampened demand for holidays.

Sebastian Ebel, chief executive said: “Summer 2023 is going very well and demand for holidays remains high. The Mediterranean remains the most sought-after destination for summer holidays.

"For the full year we continue to expect a significant year-on-year increase in underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT). We are investing today to continue to significantly grow profitably in the future.”

Coca-Cola HBC (CCH.L)

Coca-Cola HBC, the Swiss-based bottler of the soft drink, popped higher on Wednesday as its net profit “more than doubled” to almost €386m (£333m) for the first-half.

The firm, which departed from Russian markets after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine said it "cycled the impairment charges relating to our operations in Russia taken in 2022”.

Revenues fizzed 19.3% higher to €5bn in the six months to June, rising 17.8% on an organic basis, thanks to price hikes throughout 2022 and earlier this year.

It added that its comparable net profit was up almost 23% to €388.9m while sales of sparkling and energy drinks rose, as well as coffee.

The 22% rise in coffee offset a drop of over 11% in still drinks volumes, with the decline led by water, which was 11.2% lower.

"It has been a very good first half of the year with progress across our strategic pillars. Our priority categories of sparkling, energy and coffee, together with a strong performance across all segments, have driven organic revenues and EBIT growth ahead of expectations," said Coca Cola HBC chief Zoran Bogdanovic.

"While some markets continue to face a challenging consumer environment, revenue per case has been improved through careful price and mix management enhanced by data, insights and analytics. At the same time, volumes have remained resilient which is testament to the quality of our execution."

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