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Consumer confidence remains at its highest level in a decade as we head into the final stages of the general election campaign, according to research company GfK.

Its monthly UK Consumer Confidence Index has stayed at +4 in April – levels previously seen in 2002.

The index measuring changes in personal finances during the last 12 months has increased two points this month to 0; this is 11 points higher than April 2014. The measure for the General Economic Situation of the country during the last 12 months has increased two points this month to +3; this is 16 points higher than April 2014.

Nick Moon, Managing Director of Social Research at GfK, commented: “The government goes into the election with the final Consumer Confidence Barometer offering mixed fortunes. On the one hand, there is no continuing momentum – the Index has not risen since last month – while on the other hand the Index is standing at a far higher point than when the government came to power.

“In May 2010, the core index score was – 18. After dipping to as low as -33 in December 2011, it was out of negative territory at zero by May 2014 and over the past 11 months has recorded six positive scores. We haven’t seen the scores of the past two months (+4) since September 2002.”

Morning update

After a hectic day yesterday it’s a slightly quieter morning on the markets this morning.

There’s a brief trading statement from Irish banana importer Fyffes (FFY), which restated its earnings expectations after delivering “positive performance in the early months of 2015, with profits in the year to date in line with expectations”. 

The group restated its 2015 target of EBITDA of between €44-€50m and said it “continues to pursue necessary increases in selling prices in all markets in response to the significant strengthening of the US Dollar against the Euro and Sterling”.

Recently listed bottler of soft drinks and fruit juices Refresco Gerber has refinanced a portion of its outstanding debt with the proceeds of its IPO. It has refinanced €100m of its existing senior secured corporate bonds and revolving credit facility, following its listing on Euronext Amsterdam in March. Redemtion of €200m of floating rate notes and €360m of fixed rate notes will be completed in May. The refinancing will “lower overall finance costs to create headroom for continued execution of the Company’s growth strategy”. 

Yesterday’s AGM for British American Tobacco (BATS) saw something of an investor revolt on pay, with 6.6% of those shareholders voting actively voting against its remuneration report.

The markets have opened down this morning with the FTSE 100 already losing another 0.5% to 6,909pts. Most major grocery and fmcg stocks are trending down, but Tesco has opened 0.6% up at 221.8p.

Yesterday in the City

There was a mixed market reception to those companies issuing  updates to the market yesterday.

Real Good Food (RGD) leapt almost 30% to 41.5p after France’s Teros Group agreed to buy its struggling Napier Brown sugar business. Shares in Greggs (GRG) continue to go from strength to strength, rising another 7.3% yesterday to 1,155p after it issued a special 20p per share dividend and announced that like-for-like sales were at a higher than expected 5.9% for the first four months of the year.

Thorntons (THT) opened over 12% down, falling to as low as 71.5p in morning trading after issuing its own disappointing trading update, but the chocolatier recovered through the day to end 0.9% up at 83.75p.

British American Tobacco (BATS) tumbled 2.2% to 3,588.5p after its own trading update and many of its multinational consumer goods contemporaries had a similarly tough day. Unilever (ULVR) was 2.8% down to 2,846p, Diageo (DGE) fell 2.7% to 1,796.5p and SABMiller (SAB) was 2.1% down to 3,464p.

The shares were hit by renewed concerns over global growth after weaker than expected quarterly GDP figures from the US. The FTSE 100 fell 1.2% to 6,946.2pts.

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