Hargreaves Lansdown gives its dividend a boost, operating profit surges at Intercontinental Hotels Group

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 18 points higher on Tuesday, having closed up 0.06% at 7,663.78 on Monday.

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Hargreaves Lansdown rewarded shareholders with a 38% hike in its dividend as the pensions and investments provider topped 1m active clients in the 12 months to 30 June. Total assets under administration grew 16% over the year to £91.6bn, up from £88.8bn in the final quarter, as a net £7.6bn of new business inflows was augmented by £5.9m of asset market growth.

Interim operating profit at Intercontinental Hotels Group rose to $406m from $370m with RevPAR up 3.7% led by Greater China, where double digit growth in both RevPAR and net system size, as well as record signings, reflected the the firm's efforts to focus on that market.

GlaxoSmithKline announced on Tuesday morning that Iain Mackay has been appointed its next chief financial officer, and as an executive director to the board, with both positions starting on 14 January next year. The FTSE 100 drugmaker said Mackay was joining it from HSBC, where he had been group finance director for the last eight years. GSK had announced in May that it existing CFO, Simon Dingemans, was retiring from the firm in May 2019.

Newspaper round-up

Donald Trump’s escalating trade war with China and the EU is poised to put an end to the nearly decade-long Bull Run in equity markets, investors were warned today as HSBC became the latest global company to admit fears over tariffs. The wealth management arm of the Swiss investment bank UBS said the East-West conflict has reached a “tipping point” and urged action by its 
clients. - Telegraph

A hard Brexit would pose a risk to public safety, police leaders have warned in a leaked letter. Police and crime commissioners called on Sajid Javid, the home secretary, to draft contingency plans for a “no-deal” Brexit immediately. - The Times

The founders of Fever-Tree are set to toast a £73m payday, after unveiling plans to sell another tranche of shares in the mixer maker. Both Charles Rolls, non-executive deputy chairman, and Tim Warrillow, chief executive, plan to sell around 1 million shares each, leaving them will stakes of 8pc and 4.7pc respectively. - Telegraph

The Insolvency Service is to start interviewing former directors of the collapsed government contractor Carillion as it steps up an investigation into one of the biggest corporate failures in recent British history. Nearly seven months after Carillion entered liquidation, the government agency said it had finished transferring 278 contracts to new suppliers as part of a painstaking process designed to ensure smooth continuity of public services. - Guardian

Food manufacturers are fighting back against Aldi, accusing it of producing knock-offs of their products. The German discounter was labelled a 'parasite' after it was found selling a range of products almost identical to those made by smaller firms. - Daily Mail

US close

Wall Street trading ended on a positive note on Monday, as investors appeared to shrug off the latest trade rhetoric between the US and China and looked instead to the release of more corporate earnings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 0.16% at 25,502.18, the S&P 500 added 0.35% to 2,850.40, and the Nasdaq 100 closed ahead 0.59% at 7,438.99.

Investors were earlier digesting the latest trade war rhetoric from Donald Trump over the weekend after he defended the use of tariffs at a rally in Ohio on Saturday and said he now has the upper hand over China.

In addition, Trump tweeted on Sunday that "tariffs are working big time".

On Friday, China unveiled plans to impose tariffs on $60bn worth of US imports in retaliation for the proposed increase in taxes to 25% from 10% on the $200bn of China goods bought by America every year.

“While this trade war appears be showing no signs of letting up, we have now seen the lion's share of all trade between the two countries targeted with tariffs,” said IG analyst Joshua Mahony.

“Soon enough, something must give, and with the Chinese exports to the US far outweighing imports, any such breakthrough is likely to come from the Chinese side.”