LondonMetric reveals £97m placing, Next warns of 'another tough year'
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open two points lower on Thursday, after closing down 0.73% at 7,324.72.
Stocks to watch
Medical technology firm ConvaTec launched its skin protectant incontinence wipes in the US. Sensi-Care wipes, which helps prevent incontinence-associated dermatitis, will allows the company to enter a $500m wipes market in the US and adds to its skin portfolio which includes Aloe Vesta cleansers and moisturisers.
LondonMetric Property unveiled a £97m placing on Thursday to fund the acquisition of “last mile assets. It also revealed a series of deals; the exchange of contracts with Michelin to build a new 137,000 sq ft distribution centre at its site in Stoke and another with Eddie Stobart to build a single new 180,000 sq ft distribution unit at its logistics centre in Dagenham. LondonMetric added that at Omega South, Warrington, all conditions relating to the new letting of 357,000 sq ft to Amazon have been satisfied and they have taken occupation. Amazon signed a new 15 year lease with rent reviews linked to CPI.
Clothes retailer Next reported underlying pre-tax profits fell 3.8% to £790.2m last year and warned 2017 will be "another tough year" due to a shift away from spending on clothing and a squeeze on UK wages. Furthermore, management admitted their focus on following fashion trends had seen them neglect their "heartland product" and so sales are expected to fall in the first half of the year before measures to resurrect the product range lead to an expected recovery from the autumn season.
Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group posted its results for the six months to 31 December on Thursday, with revenue falling 1% to £2bn. The FTSE 250 firm said the results were in line with expectations, as profit from operations improved 4% to £56.5m, with the board saying there remained a “strong pipeline” of growth opportunities. Profit before tax was 12% higher at £46.3m, and the board declared an interim dividend per share of 22.5p - up 5% on a year prior.
Newspaper round-up
Millions of people in their late 30s and early 40s look set to have to work for an extra year after an official review recommended pushing up the state pension age (SPA) more quickly than previously planned. The independent report said the SPA should rise to 68 by 2039 instead of 2046. It also recommended that the state pension “triple lock” is withdrawn in the next parliament. – Guardian
The boss of British Gas’s parent company was handed a pay increase of nearly 40% last year, a raise Labour attacked as “astronomical” and a “kick in the teeth” for millions of families living in fuel poverty. Centrica chief executive Iain Conn’s remuneration jumped from £3.02m in 2015 to £4.15m in 2016, enough to pay the heating and lighting bills for nearly 4,000 customers on the company’s standard tariff. – Guardian
The Government’s pledge to curb household energy prices risks sabotaging the retail market leaving consumers worse off in the long run, a group of former regulators has warned. The UK’s largest energy suppliers are braced for what could be the industry’s most significant political hit yet following a decade of heated debate over rising energy bills and low levels of consumer switching. – Telegraph
The largest independent challenger to the UK’s ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers has set its sights on the broadband sector in an attempt to widen its consumer appeal as retail competition heats up. First Utility, which supplies gas and electricity to about 900,000 households, plans to undercut the broadband rates offered by the four largest telecoms giants to target the 15m broadband customers who pay a higher monthly rate for "out-of-contract" rates. – Telegraph
Japanese exporters are bouncing back, but at the risk of exciting the protectionist instincts of President Trump. The country enjoyed its biggest trade surplus for seven years in February thanks to increased demand in China. After shrinking for three months, the trade surplus with the United States also rose for the first time since Mr Trump entered the White House. – The Times
The City watchdog has won a crucial legal victory after the Supreme Court ruled that it had not wrongfully identified a former senior banker at JP Morgan blamed for the American bank’s “London Whale” trading scandal. In a majority ruling, Britain’s highest court said that the Financial Conduct Authority had not identified Achilles Macris as part of a £138 million settlement in 2013 that criticised managers of the bank’s chief investment office. – The Times
US close
US stocks finished mixed on Thursday following downbeat trading in the previous session, as investors grew increasingly sceptical that President Donald Trump will be able to deliver on his promised tax cuts to boost business.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.03% lower at 20,661.30, while the S&P 500 closed up 0.19% to 2,348.45 and the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.66% to 5,367.56
The downturn in stocks came after the yield on the 10-year US Treasury note dropped to a three-week low on Tuesday as investors grew concerned whether Trump will be successful in repealing Obamacare given his intention to divert the programme's funding to his governmental spending agenda, ahead of a congressional vote this week on healthcare policy.
He had also promised to spend $1trn on infrastructure, lax financial regulation and to cut taxes.
However, Jasper Lawler - senior market analyst at London Capital Group - said it was simplistic to lay the blame for the market decline at Trump’s door as the first US rate hike 2017, a slump in oil prices, the future of quantitative easing under higher inflation and end of quarter portfolio manoeuvring have also played their part.
“Still the Trump presidency, which has played such a large role in the rise in markets since November, is not to be ignored as a factor.
“Probably the two biggest contributors to the idea that the world is reflating; a Trump-led fiscal boost and rising oil prices have come unstuck in the past fortnight.”