Next maintains guidance for year ahead, Halma makes good progress in US and UK
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points higher on Thursday, having closed down 0.45% at 7,291.01 on Wednesday.
Stocks to watch
Clothing retailer Next confirmed full-year sales and profits in line with its pre-close statement in January and maintained its guidance for earnings to grow 3.6% for the year ahead. Total group sales of £4.2bn were generated in the year to January, up 2.5% on the previous year, while profit before tax was down 0.4% to £722.9m. Earnings Per Share increased 4.5% to 435.3p, helped by share buybacks.
Safety, health and environmental technology company Halma updated the market on its trading for the period since 1 October on Thursday, saying it had made “good progress”. The FTSE 100 firm said that, based on current trading and forecasts, it expected adjusted profit before tax for the year ending 31 March to be in line with market consensus expectations. It said there had been widespread revenue growth geographically, with the US and UK seeing the strongest growth.
Persimmon said it was set to become the first major UK housebuilder to adopt a policy of providing a homebuyer's retention on Thursday, by writing into its standard contract that 1.5% of the total home value - equating to around 6% of the build fabric costs - could be withheld by the buyer's solicitor until any faults identified at the point of key release were resolved. The FTSE 100 company said the average amount withheld, based on its current selling prices, would be around £3,600 per home. It said it had instructed its legal advisers to start work on drawing up the detail of the new standard contract, and expected the policy to be fully in place by the end of June.
Newspaper round-up
Oil rigs could soon be run on renewable energy and battery power under new plans to help the North Sea play its part in the energy transition. The industry’s regulator, the Oil and Gas Authority, is preparing to lead a new project to forge closer links between the oil producers and wind farm developers operating in UK waters. – Telegraph
A Government attempt to reboot the UK car industry after a blizzard of bad news has stalled due to the turmoil in Westminster surrounding Brexit. Greg Clark, the Business Secretary, was set to appear at a ground-breaking ceremony of a new battery facility ¬today but has cancelled as the Government becomes increasingly rudderless. – Telegraph
One of the City’s most influential investors has warned Standard Chartered that it faces scrutiny over pension arrangements for Bill Winters that will hand the bank’s chief executive £474,000 this year. Retirement benefits for the bosses of Britain’s biggest banks are emerging as a hot topic among investors as lenders prepare to put their pay schemes to shareholders at annual general meetings in coming weeks. – The Times
Financial services companies are preparing to move £1 trillion worth of assets out of Britain, a report says. EY, the professional services firm, said that 23 companies are planning to move their investments, stock and other assets out of the country to shield themselves from the consequences of a damaging Brexit. The value of assets expected to leave the UK has risen by £200 billion in the past quarter. – The Times
Music streaming services generated more than half of the income earned by record labels in the UK last year, as CD sales continue to plummet. Subscription streaming platforms operated by Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music, made revenues of £468m in the UK last year, 54% of the £865.5m total income for the recorded music industry. It is the first time that subscription streaming revenues, which grew at 35% year-on-year in 2018, have accounted for more than half of total recorded music revenues for labels. - Guardian
US close
Wall Street's main market gauges were in a mixed state - albeit mostly lower - at the close on Wednesday, after the Federal Reserve took the prospect of another rate hike off the table for 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.55% at 24,745.67 and the S&P 500 lost 0.29% to 2,824.23, while the Nasdaq Composite managed gains of 0.07% to end the day at 7,728.97.
As expected, the Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates, holding steady on its target of between 2.25% and 2.5% after its two-day meeting for March.
The central bank 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.
Its dot plot continued to show that it would end its balance sheet runoff by September, while the Fed also slashed its gross domestic product estimate for the year to 2.1%.