FTSE 100 Live: Airbnb shares slide; Compass Group, ASOS losses

All change at National Express as transport firm rebrands as Mobile

National Express, the coach operator and transport group, is changing its name.

The company, which has grown from its origins in Birmingham to run public transport services from Bahrain to Spain, Canada and Morocco, said today that it would become known as Mobic from next month.

It added that “well-known customer-facing brands” would remain, including the National Express name in the UK, which first appeared on coaches in the UK in 1970s.

The exact timing of the change will be announced later, and when it is made, the company’s NEX stock ticker symbol will be retired and replaced by MCG.

Ignacio Garat, National Express Group CEO, said: “Whilst National Express is a highly valued consumer brand, Mobico better represents our multi-modal operations, global reach and future ambitions. We remain focused on providing best-in-class services and delivering our Evolve strategy, with the intent of establishing Mobico Group as the world’s premier shared mobility operator.”

Compass to report profits in dollars as US business dominates but has no plans to move shares to New York

Compass Group, the world’s biggest contract caterer, said today it will start reporting its profits in dollars, but that it does not plan to shift its share listing to New York.

The global canteen and sporting event food business said it would swap the currency it reports in from October “due to foreign exchange translation”. Companies earning the bulk of their revenue in dollars can get a lift from a weaker pound, when the earnings they report are flattered by buying more sterling. But when the pound is high or strengthening, the trend reverses. Sterling is up 2.4% in a year.

Compass said today that its North America business contributed 67% of group revenue of nearly $16 billion, up almost a quarter in the first half of its financial year. Operating profit rose by over 41% to cross above £1 billion.

Capita expects £15m-£20m hit from cyber attack

Outsourcing giant Capita expects the cybersecurity breach that left staff working at organisations including the NHS and Ministry of Defence locked out of their computers to cost it between £15 million and £20 million.

The firm, which provides 61,000 employees for various roles including many in the civil service, was hit by a ransomware attack in late March, locking staff out of their computers. It later revealed that some data was likely to have been taken in the attack.

It has now counted the cost of the breach, including recovery and remediation costs and investment to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Last year, Capita made £235.7 million in profits.

US inflation set to offer clues on rates outlook

Today’s US inflation reading for April comes with Wall Street looking for signs the Federal Reserve’s interest rate tightening cycle is over.

The headline annual rate is expected to be unchanged at 5%, having fallen from 6% the previous month and a peak of 9.1% in June last year.

The biggest focus will be on whether core prices fall back to 5.4% or 5.5%, having edged up to 5.6% in last month’s release. This put core inflation above the headline rate for the first time since January 2021.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said: “It is this stickiness in core prices as well as the resilience in the US jobs market that is making the Fed’s job so difficult, even allowing for the fact we’ve seen the US central bank hike rates at every meeting over the last 12 months.”

He added that one area of encouragement has been in the direction of core producer price inflation, which fell to 3.4% in March having been as high as 9.6% a year ago.

The S&P 500 index last night closed 0.5% lower ahead of this afternoon’s inflation reading, with CMC expecting the FTSE 100 index to open two points lower.

Spoons hails record trading as sales surge past pre-pandemic levels

J D Wetherspoon said it saw its highest ever trading day over the bank holiday weekend as it predicted sales would surge past pre-pandemic levels.

The pub chain said sales increased 12.2% in the 13 weeks to the end of April, and said it expected its full-year sales to hit a new record, with profits to be towards the top of market expectations.

But in a warning shot to MPs, boss Tim Martin said: “Inflation, especially in labour, energy and food costs, remains a more intractable issue.

“In order to bear down on inflation, political parties should encourage free enterprise, rather than a reliance on additional regulations. A lack of understanding, among some senior politicians, about the need to encourage a successful free market economy, presents a real threat to the future prosperity of the country.”

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Airbnb shares slide on bookings forecast

Shares in Airbnb fell as much as 11.5% in aftermarket trading overnight, as the online holiday booking firm warned it expected fewer bookings and lower rental rates in the second quarter compared with last year.

The company forecast second-quarter revenue between $2.35 billion and $2.45 billion, broadly in line with analysts’ expectations, and said that revenue growth was being stifled by customers becoming more price sensitive.

CEO Brian Chesky said: “In the United States, the lowest price listings have the highest occupancy.”

“Some of the pressures that we’re seeing there on overall revenue growth has frankly just been some of the elevated rates,” CFO David Stephenson added.