Third quarter revenue grows healthily at Just Eat, AstraZeneca's Farxiga gets FDA thumbs-up
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open five points higher on Monday, having closed down 0.44% at 7,150.57 on Friday.
Stocks to watch
Third quarter revenue at online food delivery service Just Eat grew 25% to £248m despite as the group reaffirmed full year guidance and losses in its Latin American operations. Group orders increased 16% to 62m, with an 8% rise in the UK to 33m. The company said it still expected 2019 revenue in the range of £1bn - £1.1bn and underlying core earnings of £185m - to £205m (both excluding Brazil and Mexico). It added that it still expected losses in Brazil and Mexico to be in the range of £80m - £100m.
AstraZeneca announced that its Farxiga treatment has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to reduce the risk of hospitalisation for heart failure in adults with type-2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease. The treatment has received marketing authorisation in the European Union and is currently under regulatory review in China, with a decision anticipated in the first half of next year.
Great Portland Estates announced on Monday that its joint venture, the GHS Limited Partnership, has pre-let the first flagship store at 64 New Bond Street to the luxury Italian menswear brand Canali, which has signed a new 10-year lease on covering 5,014 square feet over three floors. The FTSE 250 company said 64 New Bond Street formed part of the “world-class” Hanover Square mixed-use development, adding that once completed, it would provide 167,200 square feet of Grade A offices, 33,500 square feet of retail predominantly fronting New Bond Street, an 8,300 square foot restaurant, and six residential apartments totalling 12,200 square feet.
Newspaper round-up
Metro Bank is debating whether to continue funding chairman Vernon Hill’s £120,000-a-year expense allowance into 2020, meaning the troubled firm could carry on paying for the multi-millionaire’s lifestyle even after he leaves. The Telegraph has learnt that the bank is choosing whether to cut off Mr Hill’s £10,000-a-month expense budget in December when he steps down as chairman and quits Metro’s board, or to hold off until March when his contract officially ends. A decision has not yet been made. - Telegraph
The American private equity giant attempting to buy Cobham is ready to commit to protect British jobs and investment as it seeks to allay concerns over its £4bn takeover of the defence and aerospace company. Amid fears that a sale to private equity runs the risk of a further sale and possible break-up of a key British industrial asset in a few years’ time, it is understood that Advent International will promise the government that it will maintain UK employment at current levels at least, invest in research and development in Britain and keep the Cobham brand. - The Times
The world is sleepwalking towards a fresh economic and financial crisis that will have devastating consequences for the democratic market system, according to the former Bank of England governor Mervyn King. Lord King, who was in charge at Threadneedle Street during the near-death of the global banking system and deep economic slump a decade ago, said the resistance to new thinking meant a repeat of the chaos of the 2008-09 period was looming. - Guardian
US close
Shares on Wall Street fell back at the end of the week, amid sharp selling in stock of Boeing and Johnson & Johnson, and amid somewhat hawkish remarks from two top US central bank officials, although a third one, the Federal Reserve's vice-chairman, appeared to leave the door open to another rate cut.
By the end of trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.95% to 26,770.20, while the S&P 500 slipped by 0.39% to 2,986.20 and the Nasdaq Composite gave back 0.83% to 8,089.54.
Despite Friday's dip, the S&P 500 ended the week higher.
Traders were also waiting on an expected key vote in the UK Parliament at the weekend and digesting mixed economic data out of China overnight.
Otherwise, the market spotlight was on a speech from Federal Reserve vice chairman, Richard Clarida, that analysts had said could push debt yields higher; but in the event the policymaker echoed his boss's, Jerome Powell's, line that rate-setters would "act as appropriate" to keep the expansion going.
"Global disinflationary pressures cloud the outlook for U.S. inflation," Clarida said, adding that "[the Federal Open Market Committee] will proceed on a meeting-by-meeting basis to assess the economic outlook as well as the risks to the outlook, and it will act as appropriate to sustain growth".