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Prices delayed by at least 15 minutes
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday as investors mulled disappointing US tech results.
The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 25 points.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank, said: "On the equities front, sentiment is much less cheery this morning as Google and AMD results - released after the bell - didn't enchant investors.
"Google announced better-than-expected earnings per share but a slight miss on the revenue growth. More importantly, growth in Google Cloud was *just* 30% (lower than the 32% expected by analysts) and slowing. The combination of slowing cloud revenue and massive AI investment - which will reach reportedly $75bn at Google this year (!) - raises a few eyebrows among investors. By a few eyebrows, I mean a 7% drop in the afterhours trading as reaction to the latest results.
"AMD, on the other hand, posted better-than-expected earnings and revenue in Q4, its data centre revenue nearly doubled last year but fell short of analyst expectations, leading to a nearly 9% drop in AMD's stock price in the after-hours trading."
In UK corporate news, private housing provider Grainger said net rental income rose 15% year on year in the four months to the end of January 2025, driven by strong demand and portfolio growth. It added that government plans to build more homes "further strengthens our outlook for the future".
Pharma giant GSK missed forecasts slightly with its annual results, but raised its guidance for long-term growth.
Sales in 2024 increased by 3% to 31.38bn, slightly short of the 32bn expected by analysts, while core earnings per share rose 3% to 159.3p, missing the 163.9p consensus estimate.
However, due to progress in its late-stage drug pipeline, GSK has upped its 2031 sales outlook to more than 40bn, up from 38bn previously.
The company also unveiled plans to buy back 2bn of stock over the next 18 months.
SSE said in an update that it expects full-year adjusted earnings per share to range between 154p and 163p, on the back of a strong operational performance despite variable weather conditions.
The FTSE 100 power giant said renewable energy output rose 26% year-on-year in the first nine months of the financial year, driven by capacity additions and weather variations, while it progressed key infrastructure projects including the RIIO-T3 business plan for 22bn in grid investments.
Strategic developments included advancing major renewable projects, securing a financial decision on the 208MW Strathy South wind farm, and committing to a 300MW biofuel power plant in Ireland to enhance energy security.
