Barratt full-year profit rises, RBS makes extra PPI provision

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The FTSE 100 was called to open 30 points higher at 7,298.

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Royal Bank of Scotland Group said a last minute higher-than-expected spike in claims for payment protection insurance claims would result in an extra charge of £600m – to £900m in the third quarter.

The deadline for claims expired on August 29 and RBS said it had so far made provisions of £5.3bn of which £4.9m had been utilised.

Barratt Developments reported an increase in annual profit and continued good progress against medium term targets as growth was driven by the success of margin initiatives.

The FTSE 100 housebuilder completed 17,856 new homes during the year, its highest number for 11 years, and said that its order book remained strong despite continued economic and political uncertainty.

Newspaper round-up

Amazon has been accused of continuing to underpay corporation tax in the UK despite nearly tripling the payment from a key British division to £14m. Amazon UK Services, the company’s warehouse and logistics operation that employs more than two-thirds of its 27,500-plus UK workforce, said its corporation tax contribution had risen by nearly £10m in the year to December 2018 from the £4.7m paid in 2017. – Guardian

The British government is facing growing outrage from the European commission and five EU member states over its plans to leave some decommissioned oil rigs in the North Sea, with one senior German official describing the UK’s proposal as a “grotesque idea” that amounts to a “ticking timebomb”. Several hundred oil drilling platforms in the North Sea are due to be decommissioned over the next three decades as they approach the end of their operational lifetime. - Guardian

Jeremy Corbyn, the scourge of bankers and avowed opponent of capitalism, is winning support from unexpected new quarters: two of the biggest global banks operating in the City of London are warming to the Labour leader. Unlikely as it may seem, he is now seen as the lesser of two evils by analysts at Citibank and Deutsche Bank, respectively American and German titans of the financial system. – Telegraph

Google faces further pressure over the search giant's dominance after multiple US states joined forces to investigate whether the company has behaved anti-competitively. The monopoly probe, brought by more than half the nation's attorneys general, who are lawyers that represent each state, is expected to be announced in Washington on September 9, the Washington Post reported. – Telegraph

US close

Stocks closed sharply lower on Tuesday following the Labor Day break after the latest round of US-China trade tariffs kicked-in over the weekend.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.08% at 26,118.02, while the S&P 500 was 0.69% lower at 2,906.27 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.11% weaker at 7,874.16.