Lloyds Dips, Haleon Down, Shell Gains

0:02 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news. The Stock Movers Report, your roundup of companies making moves in the stock market, harnessing the power of Bloomberg data.

0:16 Let's take a look at some of the stocks on the move today in Europe. I'm Tiwa Adebay alongside Caroline Hepker. And we're joined by Bloomberg reporter Josh Gaunt-Warner in the studio. Let's start with the U.K.

0:27 Budget.

0:28 We've been talking about it all morning. How have Lloyds Bank shares reacted, particularly to that hiking of bank taxes that we had about yesterday?

0:37 Yeah. So, yesterday, we saw most of the U.K. banks, including Barclays, NatWest and Lloyds, all nudge higher after the rise in that bank surcharge was less than feared and because the Chancellor Healey said that.

0:49 It will be temporary.

0:50 Although we are seeing the sector under some pressure today, we had Lloyds down as much as 6% this morning after reporting better than expected results. Morgan Stanley said investors might be booking some profits following the good news yesterday. And some analysts are also citing a bit of a lack of an upgrade considering the rising rate environment also weighing on the stock a bit.

1:13 Elsewhere in the U.K.

1:13 Budget, we saw bookmaker Entain jump to a one-month high after also the rise in machine games tax was smaller than expected, although we're seeing that one pull back a bit too this morning. And also, Hotelier Whitbread said this morning that the smaller planned increases in business rates for hospitality firms will lead to costs rising less than expected over the coming years. CEO Dominic Paul said the move will make a significant difference and shares are extending yesterday's gains and trading at the highest level since February this morning.

1:45 Yeah, absolutely. Interesting, the budget in the middle of this earnings season with UK banks reporting. Let's talk about Haleon, which makes pharmaceutical products, cutting their outlook, big reaction in the markets.

2:00 Yes, it's the worst performer on the stock 600. It fell as much as 14%. That's the most on record. Obviously, down to this outlook cut and also sales growth coming in weaker than expected. So, the main issue here is that a change in regulations in China. meant that it had to pull its over-the-counter Centrum vitamins and supplements from the shelves. At the moment, almost half of its Centrum products are not for sale in mainland China. There's also some softness in cold and flu medicines in the U.S.

2:30 and some problems in Brazil. So, a few issues hitting the stock. Halion is now expecting slower growth. And that's quite a surprise following a bullish update back in July.

2:41 And very briefly on Shell, increasing share buybacks, how's that going down?

2:45 Yes, quite well, up about 3% in London at a new all-time high. Shell's now returning $ 5 billion worth of shares in the fourth quarter. That's up from the $ 3 billion it's been returning recently. RBC noted that that puts the annual run rate on buybacks on par with larger pit ExxonMobil, despite having a valuation at less than half of its peer. So, that's been taken particularly well this morning.

3:11 The Stock Movers Report from Bloomberg Radio. Check back with us throughout the day for the latest roundup of companies making news on Wall Street. And for the latest market-moving headlines, listen to Bloomberg Radio Live. Catch us on YouTube, Bloomberg.com, and on Apple CarPlay and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.