Earnings season continues, with a flurry of results yesterday and today. Diageo PLC, the producer of alcoholic beverages such as Guinness and Baileys, reported a decline in sales for the six months ending December 31, with a notable 23% decrease in organic net sales in Latin America & Caribbean. Pretax profit fell to USD 3.08 billion from USD 3.61 billion. Despite the drop, Diageo increased its dividend and expects sales growth to improve in the second half of the fiscal year.

Renewi PLC, a waste-to-product company, anticipates its fiscal 2024 results to be below market expectations due to a weak regional economic environment. The company's shares were down 5% in early Tuesday trading.

Speedy Hire PLC, a British tool and equipment rental firm, saw its shares slump over 20% after forecasting annual profit below expectations, citing weakness in the construction sector and a milder winter.

SSP Group PLC, which operates food outlets at airports and train stations, reported a 17.7% increase in sales for the fiscal first quarter ended December 31, 2023, and reaffirmed its full-year sales growth expectation of 6-10%.

WPP PLC expects its full-year 2023 results to be in line with guidance, with a headline operating profit margin of 14.8%. For 2024, the company anticipates a headline operating profit margin improvement of 20 to 40 basis points.

Pets at Home Group PLC reported a 4.3% increase in group revenue for the 12 weeks ended January 4 and expects underlying pretax profit to reach 132 million pounds for the full year 2024.

In other news, Delivery Hero SE sold its entire 4.5% stake in Deliveroo PLC, raising GBP 76.8 million.

UK grocery price inflation fell to 6.8% in the four weeks to January 21, down from a re-stated 6.9% in the previous period, with a slower decline compared to the 2.2 percentage point decrease between November and December 2023.

Investors’  focus now turns to Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision and results by tech giants Alphabet and Microsoft after the closing bell.

Things to read today: