Easyjet load slips, Smiths gets more Flexible
London open
The FTSE 100 was predicted to lose almost 37 points on Thursday morning, according to traders in the City.
Stocks to watch
Budget airline EasyJet posted a 14.2% rise in passenger numbers for September on Thursday, but the load factor ticked lower. Passenger numbers rose to 8.8m last month from 7.7m in September 2017, while the load factor – which gauges how full the planes are – declined to 92.8% from 93.6%.
Smiths Group said it was buying industrial tube maker United Flexible from Arlington Capital Partners for an enterprise value of $345m. In the 12 months to 31 December 2018, United Flexible is expected to generate sales of $157m and adjusted EBITDA of $32m, Smiths said, adding that the company would be integrated into its Flex-Tek division.
Electrocomponents, the electronics and industrial components distributor, reported stronger growth in Europe in the second quarter but this was offset by weaker sales in Asia and the Americas. Overall, like-for-like revenue growth came out at 10% in the second quarter, the same as the first. Given progress to date, the company expects half-year adjusted profit before tax to grow around 27% to £100m.
Newspaper round-up
The Japanese carmaker Nissan has warned the government that serious disruption will be caused to its huge manufacturing operation in the north-east of England if the UK fails to secure a deal with the EU that avoids a hard Brexit. Carlos Ghosn, the chair of Nissan, has described its British operations as “a European investment based in the UK”, which employs almost 8,000 people, mostly at its factory near Sunderland. A further 30,000 people are employed in UK companies supplying Nissan. - Guardian
Demand for copper will surge over the next five years thanks to China’s huge global lending programme, according to the world’s biggest miner. BHP Billiton has estimated that China’s "belt and road initiative" will generate spending of around $1.3 trillion (£1 trillion) on infrastructure projects by 2023, driving an additional 1.6m tonnes of copper demand. This is equivalent to adding another 7pc to global demand. – Telegraph
A senior official at the Financial Conduct Authority held undisclosed meetings with a Royal Bank of Scotland executive while the lender was subject to a highly sensitive regulatory investigation into its scandal-hit restructuring unit, The Times can reveal. Simone Ferreira had “social drinks” on two occasions when she was the City regulator’s head of event supervision with Jon Pain, who was chief conduct and regulatory affairs officer of RBS. – The Times
US close
US stocks managed to carve out some gains on Wednesday, boosted by the release of a much stronger-than-expected reading on the health of the US jobs market and news of a final arrangement to a trilateral agreement with Canada.
At the close, the Dow Jones had ended the session 0.20% higher at 26,828.39, while the S&P 500 finished 0.07% stronger at 2,925.51 and the Nasdaq saw a 0.32% improvement to 8,025.09.
The Dow Jones turned in another new closing high - its 15th in 2018 - and is now nearing its next milestone, the 27,000 mark. Leading sectors throughout the day were financial, energy, industrial and technology.