Vodafone, Paysafe and AO World
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“The FTSE100 edged higher in early trading following a mixed performance on Wall Street and minor retreats in Asia. Investors will be looking at the UK’s public-sector net borrowing data due mid-morning, and a raft of eurozone services and manufacturing purchasing-manager index data around the same time,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“Mobile phone giant Vodafone led the blue-chip board in early trading after a good first quarter. The group is buoyed by momentum in Europe with robust growth in Italy and Spain. Overall sales were down by 3.3% at €11.5bn but the group’s preferred measure of comparable sales showed an increase of 2.2% to €10.3bn. Vodafone is gaining profitable market share in broadband, and a growing proportion of its customers now take its fully converged offers. Its cost efficiency programme, ‘Fit for Growth’, is also on track and the group has reiterated its full-year outlook. Vodafone’s shares were up by more than 2.2%.

“Payments group Paysafe topped the FTSE250 index following a takeover approach by funds managed by Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners. Paysafe’s largest shareholder, Old Mutual, is backing the possible offer which, at 590p per share, represents a premium of around 34% to the average price for the six months to the end of June. Meanwhile, Paysafe has strengthened its presence in North America with the acquisition of Texas-based Merchants' Choice Payment Solutions for $470m. Paysafe’s shares were up by over 8.5% in early trading.

“AO World remains on track despite a challenging trading environment. Overall UK revenue growth in the three months to the end of June was 2.5% which reflected the expected reduction in third party website sales and third party logistics sales as the group focused on the AO brand. The performance in Europe was on track with strong year-on-year revenue growth of 57.6% in local currency, up 73.1% on a sterling basis.”

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The daily market update is written by Russ Mould, AJ Bell’s Investment Director and his team. The article highlights the movement in the main index, winners and losers on the day and any macro-economic announcements.