Renewi trades in line, Dunelm margins remain squeezed

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 24 points higher on Thursday, having closed down 1.3% at 7,591.96 on Wednesday.

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International waste business Renewi said trading in the quarter from April 1 was in line with management's expectations with merger synergy and integration projects progressing well placing the company on track to deliver €30m in savings for the full year. The company added that it would start reporting in euros to provide a more stable picture about its performance. Full year guidance remained unchanged.

The battle for Sky stepped up a notch late on Wednesday after US media giant Comcast raised its bid for the London-listed broadcaster. Comcast increased its bid to £14.75 per share, up from a previous offer of £12.50 and trumping the sweetened £14 per share bid from 21st Century Fox. The company said that the offer, which implies a valuation of £26bn, has been recommended by Sky’s Independent Committee of directors.

Dunelm reported flat like-for-like revenues and squeezed profit margins in the fourth quarter, meaning the homewares retailer expects full year underlying profit to fall almost 7% to £102m. In a year-end trading update, the company said total full year revenues of £1.05bn will be up 9.9% on the previous year, with LFL sales up 4.2%.

Primary Health Properties has contracted to fund and acquire a significant purpose-built primary care centre in the Republic of Ireland, it announced on Thursday. The FTSE 250 firm said its wholly-owned Irish investment vehicle, Primary Health Properties ICAV, had contracted to provide development funding for the construction of a new primary care centre in Bray, County Wicklow, for a total consideration of €22.3m.

Newspaper round-up

Theresa May faces a rebellion by dozens of her own MPs on Monday in a Commons vote that they hope will deliver a blow to her Chequers plan for Brexit. Jacob Rees-Mogg, who leads the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs, is tabling amendments to a bill that would challenge the plan. - The Times

Hardline Tory Brexiters plan to try to force Theresa May to publish a rival draft of the white paper drawn up by David Davis in the run-up to last week’s Chequers summit, which Downing Street ditched. The abandoned draft set out something closer to a Canada-style trade deal, with additional elements drawn from other EU agreements, sources said – an alternative to the approach to be set out in the government’s Brexit white paper, due to be published on Thursday. - Guardian

Labour has taken a two-point lead over the Tories in the first indication that the row over Theresa May’s Chequers compromise has damaged the party. After days of briefing, resignations and infighting, the Conservatives now trail Labour for the first time since March, according to the latest YouGov opinion poll. - The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street ended in the red on Wednesday amid escalating tensions between the US and China, after President Donald Trump followed through on his threat to slap tariffs on an additional $200bn of Chinese imports.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.9% to 24,700.45, the S&P 500 closed down 0.7% at 2,774.02 and the Nasdaq dropped 0.6% to 7,716.61, with energy shares under the cosh as oil prices tumbled.

Sentiment took a knock after US officials released a list of thousands of Chinese imports that will be hit with the additional tariffs, including hundreds of food products, tobacco, chemicals, coal, steel and aluminium. The list also includes a number of consumer goods, including car tyres, bicycles, furniture and handbags, that are due to be hit by a 10% tax as early as September, on top of the 25% tariffs on $34bn worth of goods that came into effect last week.

China will definitely take trade counter-measures and protect its "legitimate rights", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters.

Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said: "While this announcement has been expected ever since US President Donald Trump first hinted at such a response to Chinese retaliatory measures, it is a stark reminder that common sense is not prevailing - as many hoped - and the risk of a full-blown trade war is very real.

"Trump's relationship with US allies will certainly come into focus in the coming days.The Nato meeting over the next 48 hours will certainly be a tasty affair with Trump having repeatedly and publicly bashed other members for their contributions, particularly Germany who the US President has also targeted on trade."