Cairn Energy producing within guidance, Hikma makes good start to year
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 31 points lower on Friday, having closed up 0.78% at 7,353.51 on Thursday.
Stocks to watch
Cairn Energy said group production for 2019 remains within guidance of 19,000-22,000 bopd for the first four months of the year adding that an update on production performance would be provided later in the year. “We have a very busy exploration drilling programme in the second half of 2019 targeting more than 800m barrels of gross resource and includes six wells - three in the UK and Norway, and three in Mexico,” said chief executive Simon Thomson said in a statement ahead of the company's AGM on Friday. Importantly, Cairn will operate five of these wells.”
Eatery operator The Restaurant Group reported that current trading was in line with its expectations on Friday, with group like-for-like sales for the 19 weeks ended 12 May ahead 2.8%. The FTSE 250 company, which owns brands such as Garfunkel’s and Frankie & Benny’s, said total sales were up 57% in the period, reflecting the benefit from the acquisition of Wagamama, as well as the record number of new pubs and concession sites opened during 2018.
Hikma Pharmaceuticals said it made a good start to 2019 with healthy demand across its businesses. The company said it was on track to meet its guidance for financial performance in the current year.
Newspaper round-up
British Steel has staved off the threat of collapse, despite the government refusing its request to participate in a bailout, after the firm’s owners and lenders agreed to provide fresh funds. The deal, reached after talks at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), secures the immediate future of 4,500 staff, most of whom work at the company’s Scunthorpe steelworks, one of the last two left in the UK. – Guardian
Metro Bank has raised £375m from a fundraising call that will strengthen its balance sheet. The bank hopes the move will quash rumours about its financial health that caused customers to pull cash last weekend. A Metro Bank spokeswoman confirmed the lender had closed its share placing early on Thursday evening, less than three hours after it started. – Guardian
Deliveroo said on Friday that Amazon was the lead investor of a new £450m funding round in the British online food delivery company. The firm said that it would use the money to expand the tech team at its UK headquarters and tap new customers, as well as other initiatives. – Telegraph
US close
Wall Street trading finished in the green on Thursday, extending their gains from a decent session on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.84% at 25,862.68, the S&P 500 added 0.89% to 2,876.32, and the Nasdaq 100 was 1.02% firmer at 7,580.14.
At the open, the Dow was 193 points higher as trade tensions remained in focus, after the Department of Commerce announced the addition of Huawei Technologies to the Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List.
That made it more difficult for the Chinese telecommunications giant to conduct business with American firms.
Donald Trump went as far as to declare a national emergency on Wednesday before banning Huawei and ZTE from selling their equipment in the US, claiming they posed "unacceptable risks".