Europe Movers: JD Sports Fashion, Ocado

Inga Muller
14 Jan, 2025
Frankfurt

Stock market indexes in the eurozone attempted to rebound, the euro hovered near a two-year low, and bond yields approached multi-year highs amid ongoing political turmoil in France and Germany. 

The DAX index increased by 0.8% to 20,289.72; the CAC-40 index rose by 1.1% to 7,485.42; and the FTSE 100 index inched higher by 0.2% to 8,243.07. 

The yield on 10-year German bonds edged higher to 2.59%, French bonds rose to 3.45%, the UK gilts increased to 4.87%, and Italian bonds edged lower to 3.80%.

Ocado Group PLC gained 9.4% to 295.30 pence after the UK-based online grocery portal operator and grocery technology company reported a 17.5% surge in quarterly revenue. 

Retail revenue increased by 17.5% to £715.8 million from £609.4 million, driven by a 16.9% increase in weekly orders to 476,000 from 407,000 a year ago. 

The number of active customers increased 12.1% to 1.1 million from 0.998 million, the average item price was nearly unchanged at £2.75, and average basket value rose 0.2% to £120.85 from £120.62 a year ago. 

The company estimated fiscal year 2024 ending on December 1 revenue increased 13.9% to £2.69 billion, and the retailer reiterated its target of reaching "high mid single-digit adjusted EBITDA margin by the end of the first half. 

JD Sports Fashion PLC decreased 8.6% to 87.94 pence after the specialty retailer issued a profit warning. 

The company said organic comparable sales in December increased 3.4%, but comparable sales over the two-month period to December decreased 1.5% amid "current headwinds" in the market. 

The retailer held out for full-year organic revenue growth of 5%, and the company said it will release full financial statements in March.

JD Sports estimated pre-tax earnings before adjustments to range between £915 million and £935 million, and full-year gross margins are expected to be around 48%, matching the level in the year ago.