Ascential trading in line, Amigo CEO leaves

London open

The FTSE 100 was called to open 11 points higher at 7,380.

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Exhibitions and information company Ascential said trading was in line with full year expectations with its product design, marketing and sales divisions all reporting organic first half revenue growth.

Amigo's chief executive Glen Crawford has left due to ill health, leaving the guarantor loans company without a boss until Crawford's replacement gets regulatory approval. Crawford has resigned with immediate effect to have surgery for a degenerative spinal condition. Hamish Paton, the former CEO of Brighthouse, is due to take over but has not yet gained approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.

Eastern Europe-focussed low cost carrier Wizz Air added a new metric to its monthly statistics - its carbon footprint per passenger - as it staked its claim to the title of ‘Europe’s greenest airline’. The FTSE 250 company said that in May, it carried a total of 3.47 million passengers and totalled 5.66 billion revenue passenger kilometres. In the same month, carbon dioxide emissions totalled 319,760 tonnes, with carbon dioxide emissions per passenger kilometre being 56.5 grams.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s businesses are being urged to step up their preparations for a no-deal Brexit amid signs that Theresa May’s successor could be prepared to leave the EU without a deal at the end of October. The Institute of Directors – one of the UK’s employers’ groups – said its members had so far failed to take advantage of the seven-month delay to Brexit and warned that companies should not put faith in politicians to produce an agreement. – Guardian

An influential committee of MPs has criticised the government for its failure to curb “extravagant” boardroom pay packages. In a report in March, the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee argued companies must do more to link leading executives’ pay to that of the rest of their workforce. In her response, Kelly Tolhurst, the minister for small business, consumers and corporate responsibility, said: “Our immediate priority is to focus on the effective implementation and then assessment of these reforms before considering any significant further changes.” – Guardian

Blocking investors from withdrawing money from investment funds can stop a fire-sale of assets, but also encourage investors to dash for the exit in an effort to get out before the door is shut, a top Bank of England official has warned. If enough funds run into trouble in an “economic earthquake” it raises the risk of funding for businesses drying up, warned Alex Brazier, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability strategy and risk. – Telegraph

One of Britain’s biggest contractors is preparing to sell its housebuilding unit amid increasing evidence of financial pressure on the group. Kier Group has sounded out advisers about the potential to sell the division, which is understood to be valued at between £100 million and £150 million. – The Times

US close

Wall Street closed higher on Thursday after Donald Trump declined to set a deadline on slapping tariffs on a further $325bn-worth of Chinese imports and energy stocks rallied on the back of two oil tankers being damaged in suspected attacks off the coast of Iran.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.39% at 26,106.77, while the S&P 500 had gained 0.41% to 2,891.64 and the Nasdaq Composite closed 0.57% firmer at 7,837.17.