Good morning!

The FTSE fell by 1% yesterday and the S&P 500 was down by 0.8% on concerns over Trump's tariff plans.

FTSE futures this morning are slightly lower again, down by 0.1% to 8560.

Tariffs on Mexico and Canada have been delayed by one month, and Trump has said that the UK may be able to avoid tariffs.

However, he also says that tariffs on the EU will "definitely happen". Tariffs of 10% on Chinese goods have already been implemented, and China has immediately retaliated with tariffs of their own on US exports: 15% for US coal and LNG and 10% for crude oil, farm equipment and some autos, starting next week.

I'm hopeful that the UK will not be directly impacted by Trump's tariff plans, and that many of the stocks we cover in this report will be able to avoid major disruption caused by this issue. But it seems inevitable that a trade war between the two largest global economies, and probably involving several other major economies, will have far-reaching effects.

1.15pm: we've reached the cut-off time for today, thank you everyone.


Companies Reporting

Name (Mkt Cap)RNSSummaryOur view (Author)

Diageo (LON:DGE) (£53bn)

Interim Results

Volumes -0.2%, op profit -4.9%, leverage 3.1x EBITDA. Dividend held. Tariff/macro headwinds. Removed medium-term guidance.

AMBER/GREEN (Graham)
Tariff and general macro uncertainty leaves DGE unable to make useful forecasts for now. I'm a huge fan of this one but I accept that there are plenty of reasons for investors to stay away.

Vodafone (LON:VOD) (£18bn)

TU

Revenue +5% to €9.8bn in Q3. On track to grow in line with FY guidance, reiterated today.

AMBER (Roland)
Headwinds remain but much progress has been made over the last two years. I believe it’s worth remaining patient at this point.

Crest Nicholson Holdings (LON:CRST) (£449m)

Final Results

Results in line with guidance. Rev -6% to £618m, adj PBT -53% to £22.4m. Completions -7%. Interest rates holding back outlook.

YouGov (LON:YOU) (£423m)

TU

Modest underlying H1 growth, core biz stabilising. Performance in line with mgt exps. CEO leaves.

Mortgage Advice Bureau (Holdings) (LON:MAB1) (£416m)

Business update (CMD)

Possible move to Main Market. Medium term target to double revs with adj PBT margin >15%.

GREEN (Graham)
Excellent news that they are considering a move to the Main Market, and aiming to join the prestigious FTSE-250. Ambitious…

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