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The FTSE 100 continued its downward spiral in early morning trading, falling 1.2% to 6,736 as the coronavirus spread further.
Broadcaster ITV warned advertising revenue in April will fall 10% as the spread of the coronavirus weighed on travel companies' marketing spend. The company also reported an 11.5% fall in adjusted pre-tax profit.
ITV studios saw total revenue increased 9% driven by ITV Studios US and ITV Studios International. The full year dividend was unchanged at 8p a share. ITV's share price fell just over 9% to 105.3p per share.
Financial group Schroders saw assets under management rise by 23% in 2019, to reach a new high of £500bn.
The company's pre-tax profit for the period was £701.2m, while net new business reached £43.4bn. Its shares slipped 1.1% to £28.51.
Meanwhile, Spirent Communications saw its revenue surge 5.6% in 2019, driven by demand of 400G high-speed ethernet and a higher win rate with US defence contractors for GNSS positioning products.
Adjust operating profit increase 20% during the year, with an improved operating margin of 18.4%. The stock jumped 3.5% to 220p.
Premier Oil reported an increase in full-year profit after tax from $133m to $164m, with record free cash flow of $327m (2018: $251m). Net fell from $2.33bn to $1.99bn. The shares fell 5.2% to 75.01p.
Elsewhere, the chief financial officer at Smith and Nephew resigned from his position and from the board in order to take up a new CFO role outside of the healthcare sector. Graham Baker will step down from his position on 30 April and the company said it is at an 'advanced stage' of appointing a successor.
Ian Melling, senior vice president group finance, will serve as interim CFO and join the executive committee but not the board during this period. The shares dipped 1% to £17.60.
