Computacenter signals bumper profit growth, eOne to be bought out by Hasbro
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 51 points higher on Friday, having closed down 1.05% at 7,128.18 on Thursday.
Stocks to watch
Computacenter said it expected full year profit growth would be “the best in the company's history” as it reported a 2.7% rise in adjusted interim pre-tax profits to £53.5m. Group revenues grew 20.8% or £418.1m during the first half of the year. Excluding the impact of acquisitions Computacenter was ahead year on year, “which presented a challenging comparison with the prior period”, on an adjusted profit before tax basis, the company said on Friday.
Peppa Pig's owner Entertainment One has agreed to be bought by Hasbro in an all-cash deal valuing the UK company at £3.3bn. The US toymaker will pay £5.60 for each eOne share - 31% more than eOne's average share price over the past 30 days.
GlaxoSmithKline announced positive headline results from the pivotal ‘DREAMM-2’ open-label, randomised study of two doses of ‘belantamab mafodotin’ on Friday. The FTSE 250 pharmaceuticals group said the 196 patients in the trial had relapsed multiple myeloma, were refractory to an immunomodulatory drug, a proteasome inhibitor, and to treatment with an anti-CD38 antibody. It said the two-arm study met its primary objective, and demonstrated a clinically meaningful overall response rate with belantamab mafodotin in the patient population.
Newspaper round-up
More than 100,000 Royal Mail workers are expected to vote on whether to strike over grievances about job security, an alleged culture of bullying, and the terms and conditions of their employment. The Communication Workers Union (CWU) will begin balloting its members from 24 September unless an agreement can be reached before then, with the result expected in early October. – Guardian
Hong Kong is a free marketer’s dream. The tiny island has a GDP bigger than many industrialised countries, low tax and abundant cheap labour, and is a world-class financial centre boasting a stock market with a total value of more than £2.5tn. No wonder then that the city’s most powerful vested interests are showing signs of nerves after 11 weeks of street protests that have paralysed the city, sparking its biggest political crisis since the handover to China in 1997 and threatening to push it into recession. Even worse, some observers believe the standoff could destroy Hong Kong’s cherished entrepot status and send it on a journey of no return into China’s orbit. – Guardian
Germany is examining plans to prohibit banks from imposing negative interest rates on savers, threatening to leave lenders in an impossible position and greatly complicating the job of the European Central Bank as it prepares fresh stimulus. The outlandish move comes amid growing German irritation with the radical monetary experiments of the ECB and its policy of negative rates - currently minus 0.4pc but soon to go yet lower - deemed an assault on hard-working savers and known as “punishment rates” by the country’s media. – Telegraph
The boss of computer giant HP is to step down after four years due to family health reasons. Dion Weisler will be succeeded by company veteran Enrique Lores from November 1. Mr Lores, who has worked at the printer maker for 30 years, currently heads HP’s imaging printing and solutions unit. – Telegraph
London has stepped up its attempts to secure the flotation of Saudi Arabia’s giant state-owned oil company as the fight to work on what will be the world’s biggest initial public offering intensifies. David Schwimmer, chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, visited Saudi Arabia last month as part of efforts to encourage Saudi Aramco to choose London for its listing, which could raise $100 billion. The offering is expected to include a listing in Saudi Arabia as well as a market overseas. – The Times
The financial ombudsman has upheld four in every five complaints about guarantor loans in its latest financial quarter, showing a toughening stance towards the product. The ombudsman upheld 83 per cent of complaints about the loans, which involve a family member or friend being liable to repay a debt if the borrower cannot. This was up from 32 per cent last year. – The Times
US close
Trading finished as it started on Thursday - on a mixed note - as investors continued to digest updates from the Federal Reserve's central banking symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 0.19% at 26,252.24, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.05% to 2,922.95 and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.33% weaker at 7,707.43.
At the open, the Dow had added 72.11 points, following Wednesday’s gains as investors mulled over minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, released overnight.
Those revealed the central bank had no "pre-set course" for cutting rates.
In the minutes, the Fed indicated that policymakers considered the move to be more of a "mid-cycle adjustment" - a term Fed chair Jerome Powell used shortly before a major stock market sell-off after the central bank's meeting at the end of July.
The widely watched 2-year and 10-year US Treasury yield curve flattened and then inverted again after the release of the minutes.
As far as Thursday was concerned, Fed delivered remarks throughout the session following a period of limited public appearances.