Smiths Group profits fall in first half, Sanne sees strong performance from core business

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 20 points lower on Friday, having closed up 0.88% at 7,355.31 on Thursday.

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Smiths Group reported a decline in first-half profits and said it aims to demerge its medical devices arm by the middle of next year. On revenue up 2% to £1.57bn in the six months to 31 January, the FTSE 100 conglomerate made £246m of operating profits, which was down 2% on an underlying basis and 1% on a reported basis.

Sanne, which provides alternative asset and corporate services, posted a rise in full-year profit and revenue thanks to strong performances from its core businesses, particularly in the EMEA and the US. In the year to the end of December 2018, underlying pre-tax profit pushed up 11.8% to £42.6m on revenue of £143m, up 26.4% from 2017.

EasyJet announced on Friday that it was standing ready to activate its Brexit contingency plan of suspending shareholders' voting rights in respect of a small number of shares, given its EU ownership had still not reached the 50% plus one share level it required. The FTSE 100 airline said its EU, excluding UK, ownership had increased in recent weeks to 49.92%. It claimed that under new EU rules it would have six months to comply with EU ownership rules after a no-deal Brexit, adding that it planned to set a permitted maximum of non-EU ownership in accordance with its articles of association.

Newspaper round-up

Indonesia’s national carrier Garuda has cancelled a multibillion-dollar order for 49 Boeing 737 Max 8 jets after two fatal crashes involving the plane, the company said, blaming passengers’ loss of trust in the aircraft. In what is thought to be the first formal cancellation for the model, Garuda spokesman Ikhsan Rosan said: “We have sent a letter to Boeing requesting that the order be cancelled. “The reason is that Garuda passengers in Indonesia have lost trust and no longer have the confidence” in the plane, he said, adding that the airline was awaiting a response from Boeing. – Guardian

ExxonMobil faces losing its lobby privileges at the European parliament after the company failed to show up for the first hearing into climate change denial. ExxonMobil would become only the second multinational – after Monsanto – to lose access to MEPs, parliamentary meetings and digital resources if it loses a high-level vote expected by the end of April. – Guardian

Rail firms will be forced to admit that three times as many trains are delayed than current figures show, as a new website will for the first time let commuters check when their train is just one minute late. At present Network Rail data shows nine in ten (89.1 per cent) of trains arrive "on time", but this will fall to two in three (66.9 per cent) under the new measure, which deems a train "late" if it arrives 60 seconds after its due time. – Telegraph

Britain’s biggest carbon-emitters are in talks with the Government over a funding plan for projects that could start stripping greenhouse gases from power plants and factories by the mid-2020s. Tata Steel will join energy giants BP, Royal Dutch Shell, National Grid, Drax Group and Cadent Gas to back fresh plans to develop a technology that can trap and storage carbon emissions to help tackle climate change. – Telegraph

Mike Ashley has picked a fight with Sir Philip Green as his battle to take control of Debenhams enters the final stages with a pre-pack administration of the department store chain looking increasingly likely. In an extraordinary attack, the billionaire owner of Sports Direct lashed out and said that he would not buy Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia empire, which owns Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Wallis and Miss Selfridge, even for £1. – The Times

US close

US stocks finished in the green on Thursday, as investors digested fresh readings on manufacturing and jobs, and continued to mull over a more dovish policy statement than expected from the Federal Reserve, which prompted concerns about the US economy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.84% at 25,962.51, the S&P 500 added 1.09% to 2,854.88, and the Nasdaq 100 was ahead 1.52% at 7,493.27.

Overnight, the US central bank sated markets expectations by standing pat on interest rates, holding steady on its target of between 2.25% and 2.5%.

The Federal Reserve also made it clear that no further increases in its interest rate targets would be delivered this year, given inflation was waning and economic growth was slowing.

Federal Open Markets Committee members continued to indicate they believed the balance sheet runoff would end by September, while also slashing their US economic growth estimate for the year to 2.1%.