Galliford Try to end year in line with forecasts, Tesco Bank quits new mortgage market

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 29 points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 0.51% at 7,310.88 on Monday.

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Construction group Galliford Try said it expected full year results to be in line with its own compiled forecasts as it added that target construction revenues would fall to £1.3bn. Galliford's forecasts for profit before tax after taking into account exceptional items for the year to June 30 is £112.7m - £123.3m based on forecasts at May 20. The restructured construction business was expected to generate annualised cost savings of up to £15m from 2021, accelerating progress towards Galliford's target operating margins of 2% by 2021.

Tesco's banking arm has quit the new mortgage market and is trying to sell its £3.7bn of existing mortgages, blaming difficult market conditions that make profitable business hard. The supermarket group's bank has sold mortgages since 2012 and has more than 23,000 customers.

Severn Trent reported a 4.2% rise in group turnover in its annual results on Tuesday, to £1.767bn, with group underlying profit before interest and tax 6.3% higher in the year ended 31 March to £574m, the company having absorbed all hot weather costs. The water utility firm said that during the year it managed to maintain the lowest bills in England for a decade, which was set to continue to at least 2025.

Newspaper round-up

The founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei, has said the US “underestimates” the telecom giant’s strength, and that conflict with America was inevitable in the quest to “stand on top of the world”. Ren, speaking after Donald Trump declared a national emergency aimed at thwarting Huawei’s global 5G ambitions, told Chinese media: “The current practice of US politicians underestimates our strength. Huawei’s 5G will absolutely not be affected. In terms of 5G technologies, others won’t be able to catch up with Huawei in two or three years." – Guardian

Investment scams involving cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and foreign currency trading have tripled in a year, with the average victim losing £14,600, according to the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority. The regulator and the police-run body Action Fraud are warning the public to be wary of these scams, which typically promise high returns and are often carried out via bogus online trading platforms. More than £27m was lost to frauds involving so-called crypto-assets and forex investments in 2018-19, said the FCA. – Guardian

The flagship fund run by one of Britain's best-known investors Neil Woodford has been downgraded due to underperformance and "persistent redemptions". Ratings agency Morningstar said it was downgrading Mr Woodford's flagship equity income fund to neutral, its second lowest rating, amid concerns about his "relentless willingness to push the portfolio to its liquidity limit". – Telegraph

Goldman Sachs is in exclusive talks to buy a chain of budget hotels in Europe in a deal that comes years after it was involved in the rescue of Travelodge. The Wall Street banking giant plans to buy French hotelier B&B Hotels, which was set up in 1990 and has 52,832 rooms across 12 countries, from French private equity giant PAI Partners by the second half of this year. - Telegraph

US close

US equities finished in the red on Monday, with market participants concerned about the potential repercussions of the White House's crackdown on Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 0.33% at 25,769.90, the S&P 500 was off 0.67% at 2,840.23, and the Nasdaq 100 lost 1.69% to 7,376.70.

At the open, the Dow was almost 109 points weaker, starting the week lower after sliding 0.7% over the previous five sessions.

That had stretched its weekly losing streak out to four, the index's longest since May 2016.

The Trump administration added Huawei to a trade blacklist last week, leading Google parent company Alphabet to stop some business with the group - including the transfer of hardware, software and key technical services.