New data regulation affecting Royal Mail postal volumes, Galliford Try expecting 'strong' full-year results
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 10 points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 0.8% at 7,600.45 on Monday.
Stocks to watch
Royal Mail said it was monitoring the impact of new data regulations on customers as letter volumes declined faster but the postal operator said trading was in line with its expectations. UK parcels, international and letters (UKPIL) revenue fell 1% in the three months to 24 June. Parcel revenue rose 6% and total letter revenue dropped 7%.
Housebuilding, regeneration and construction company Galliford Try updated the market on its trading for the year ended 30 June on Tuesday, saying it expected to report “strong” pre-exceptional full year results, in line with previous guidance, and net cash at 30 June of £97m, with average net debt for the year below previous guidance at £227m. The FTSE 250 firm said its outlook for the current financial year remained in line with management's expectations.
Shareholders in British Land were told how the company had made an “active” start to the year on Tuesday, hearing that along with its joint venture partner, it completed on the sale of 5 Broadgate for £1bn - in line with book value - and commenced a £200m extension to its share buyback programme. Ahead of its annual general meeting, the FTSE 100 firm said its financial position remained “strong”, with the board having further reduced its loan-to-value ratio to 26% while continuing to progress the attractive opportunities it had created across its development pipeline, focused on enhancing its central London campuses.
Newspaper round-up
Netflix, the streaming giant behind hits like The Crown and Stranger Things, missed its own forecasts by more than a million subscribers, sending its shares down sharply. The company second-quarter results, announced on Monday, spooked investors and suggested the company’s explosive subscriber growth may now be slowing. Netflix shares fell 14% to $346.05 in after-hours trading in New York. For the second quarter, Netflix reported a profit of $384.3m, or 85 cents a share, up from $65.6m, or 15 cents a share, a year earlier. - Guardian
Government ministers and Britain’s equalities watchdog are failing to save more than a million older workers from discrimination, bias and outdated employment practices, according to a group of MPs. In a highly critical report for the government, the women and equalities committee said the talents of older workers were going to waste because too little was being done to enforce discrimination law. – Guardian
Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to combine his British newspapers with radio stations made a slow start, accounts reveal, as audiences and profits at TalkSport declined in its first 18 months as part of News UK. The publisher of The Sun and The Times bought the broadcaster for £220m as part of the takeover of Wireless Group in 2016. It is also behind the TalkRadio, home to a show hosted by the former MP George Galloway, and a relaunched Virgin Radio music station, as well as a clutch of local brands across the country. – The Telegraph
David Davis has warned that Britain risks "giving up a real future" over Brexit in his first intervention since quitting the Cabinet over Theresa May's Chequer's compromise. The Brexit Secretary said that the EU is "slow and not very effective" and warned that Britain benefits the least from its current free trade with Brussels. – The Telegraph
Theresa May’s compromise deal on Brexit was on the brink of collapse last night after she capitulated to concessions designed by Leave-voting Conservatives to kill off the plan. The prime minister bowed to pressure from Brexiteers and accepted four amendments to a key piece of legislation, including one intended to scupper her proposal for a customs deal. No 10 disputed claims that the new amendment killed her plan, known as the facilitated customs agreement, and insisted that Mrs May was happy to make the change. – The Times
US close
Stocks on Wall Street finished mixed on Monday as investors digested earnings from Bank of America and BlackRock, and reacted to a bizarre summit between Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, in which the former blamed his own country for rigging the 2016 election which led to his presidency.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.18% at the close to 25,064.36, while the S&P 500 fell 0.1% to 2,798.43 and the Nasdaq 100 was off 0.24% to 7,357.90.
Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin met in the Finnish capital of Helsinki to discuss "everything from trade to military to missiles to China".
Putin told Trump that "the time has come to talk thoroughly about bilateral relations, as well as various hotspots in the world".
At a post-summit press conference, Trump defended Russia over ongoing claims the country was responsible for interference in the 2016 US federal election.
In a contradiction of what his own intelligence agencies have publicly said, Trump stated that Russia had “never” interfered in US affairs, adding there was no reason for Russia to do anything to the vote.