Bodycote holds full-year guidance, Legal & General warns on revenue

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 16 points higher on Friday, having closed down 0.06%, or 4.65 points, at 7,346.54 on Thursday.

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Bodycote held full-year guidance and said revenues in the four months to October 30 rose by a third due to price increases and energy cost surcharges. Total group revenue for the period grew by 29% on last year to £258m, or up 22% at constant currency rates. Bodycote introduced energy surcharges at the end of last year with the intention of covering the highly volatile costs of electricity and gas.

Legal & General reiterated its full-year guidance in a trading update on Friday, for operating profit growth in line with the 8% it delivered in the first half, and capital generation of £1.8bn. It did, however, warn that defined benefit flow-related revenue had decreased in liability-driven investing as higher fee products were sold to meet collateral requests. It said it expected defined benefit flow-related annual revenue and profits to reduce by around £10m in 2022 as a result, adding that rising interest rates had reduced its assets under management in fixed income and solutions strategies, with a consequent reduction in revenue.

Newspaper round-up

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US close

Wall Street stocks finished weaker on Thursday, as market participants digested several data points and comments from an array of Federal Reserve bankers.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.02% at 33,546.32, as the S&P 500 lost 0.31% to 3,946.56 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.35% lower at 11,144.96.

The Dow closed 7.51 points lower on Thursday, adding to the losses it recorded on Wednesday following sour earnings from retail giant Target.

Thursday's focus was on a number of Fed speakers, with Raphael Bostic, Michelle Bowman, Loretta Mester, Philip Jefferson, and Neel Kashkari all delivering speeches through the course of the day.

St. Louis Fed president James Bullard also made a hawkish speech, telling an audience in Louisville, Kentucky that the central bank’s interest rate target would need to be raised further to bring inflation down.