AstraZeneca releases promising new Lynparza results, QinetiQ to buy most of Inzpire Group
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 11 points higher on Monday, having closed up 0.32% at 7,049.80 on Friday.
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AstraZeneca, alongside its partner Merck & Co, announced detailed results from the Phase III SOLO-1 trial testing ‘Lynparza’ (olaparib) tablets as a maintenance treatment for patients with newly-diagnosed, advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer who were in complete or partial response following first-line standard platinum-based chemotherapy. The FTSE 100 drugmaker said the results of the trial confirmed the “statistically-significant and clinically-meaningful” improvement in progression-free survival for Lynparza compared to placebo, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 70%.
Defence company QinetiQ said it had agreed buy 85% of Inzpire Group, with an agreement to acquire the rest after two years, for a total of £23.5m. Inzpire, which provides operational training and mission systems for military customers in the UK and internationally, is expected to deliver £13.3m revenue and £2m of adjusted EBITDA in the financial year to 31 August 2018.
After perking up in the second half of the year, NMC Health provided an improved set of revenue and earning guidance for this year and next. The Gulf region hospital operator said it now expects revenue to grow 24% this year and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to swell 36% to $480m.
Newspaper round-up
Around a third of dual fuel energy tariffs will leave customers paying more than the government’s price cap when it takes effect at the end of the year. While ministers have promised that the cap will protect 11m households on poor-value default tariffs, the measure does not apply to fixed tariffs which are usually thought to be more competitive. – Guardian
Philip Hammond could make progress towards ending austerity in his budget on 29 October despite opposition from backbench Tory MPs to tax rises and extra borrowing, according to a leading tax and benefits thinktank. The Resolution Foundation said a freeze on income tax and inheritance tax thresholds before the end of the parliament would raise billions of pounds for public services. Cutting a string of tax reliefs for employers would also improve the chancellor’s war chest as he seeks to pay for increased NHS spending and reverse planned cuts to services. – Guardian
The chairman of Lloyd’s of London has warned of a “crippling underinsurance crisis” which could leave developing countries unable to fund recovery efforts after a natural disaster. A study by Lloyd’s and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) has found that the insurance gap has hardly closed in six years despite growing concerns surrounding climate change-related catastrophes. – Telegraph
The Serious Fraud Office has charged Andreas Hauschild with conspiracy to defraud in connection with the Euribor rate-rigging scandal. The former Deutsche Bank trader appeared before Westminster magistrates’ court on Saturday, according to an SFO statement released yesterday. No plea was entered. – Telegraph
A 163-year-old dockyard in north Devon, responsible for making parts of Britain’s new aircraft carriers, could be shut next month by its owner. Directors of Babcock International will discuss the closure of the Appledore shipyard at a board meeting next month, with about 200 jobs at risk. The FTSE 250 engineer is expected to close the shipyard amid a shortage of work, which has led to many of its staff being taken by bus to the company’s far busier and larger Devonport dockyard. – Telegraph
Debenhams is expected to accelerate its cost-cutting drive and axe its dividend as the board tries to turn around the department store chain. The City is forecasting that Debenhams will scrap its full-year dividend to save about £30 million and target a further £70 million of savings, including a cut in capital expenditure. – The Times
US close
Wall Street finished on a mixed note on the 31st anniversary of the 1987 stock-market crash, as a rebound in Chinese equity benchmarks overnight helped relieve some concerns regarding dwindling global growth, despite Beijing having reported the nation's softest rate of economic expansion in nearly a decade.
By the end of trading on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26% or 64.89 points higher at 25,444.34, while the S&P 500 had dipped 0.04% or 1.0 point to 2,767.78 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.48% or 36.11 points down to 7,449.83.
Konstantinos Anthis, head of research at ADSS, said: "Even though the political agenda in Europe and the US is filled with risks investors seem to be looking for bargains at the end of the week.
"The earnings season is progressing well and this improves risk sentiment for equity investors that view the recent losses as an opportunity to buy promising stocks at a discount and target a long-term return."
Chinese growth figures were in focus as they showed that the economy slowed more than expected in the third quarter, with annualised GDP coming in at 6.5%, its weakest quarter since the Global Financial Crisis in 2009, and below expectations of 6.6%.
Still, Chinese stocks China rallied after the regulator stepped in with fresh measures to support liquidity and investment.