Grainger to forward-fund Canning Town development, James Fisher warns on profits
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 17 points lower on Thursday, having closed up 0.36% at 7,429.78 on Wednesday.
Stocks to watch
UK residential landlord Grainger said it had agreed to forward fund a 132-home private development in London's Canning Town for £55.5m. The scheme, which also includes 11,000 square feet of commercial space, will be developed by Linkcity, with Bouygues UK the building contractor. This is the fifth scheme Linkcity and Bouygues UK will deliver for Grainger, the company said on Thursday.
Marine services company James Fisher said it expected full year profits to be “modestly below” expectations but ahead of last year's £56.1m. The engineering company said trends seen in the first half in its offshore oil and tankships divisions had continued in the nine months to September 30, with trading well ahead of the prior year comparative. “This performance reflected improved market conditions in the oil & gas sector and the commencement of a new contract to support the Royal Navy's refueling requirements in tankships,” Fisher said in a trading update.
Ocado Group announced the location of a sixth customer fulfilment centre in the UK on Thursday, to support the growth plans of its retail division. The FTSE 100 grocery retailer and fulfilment technology company said it would be Ocado Retail's first ‘mini’ fulfilment centre, and would be located in Bristol. It said the facility would have the capacity for more than 30,000 orders per week, compared to the 85,000 orders per week expected from its fifth fulfilment centre, currently under construction at Purfleet. Ocado said that, despite its smaller size, it expected the Bristol centre to achieve productivity close to that in its standard facilities.
Virgin Money UK, formerly CYBG, reported an annual loss before tax of £232m, wider than last year's £164m loss, due to the effect of additional payment protection insurance (PPI) provisions, which were driven by an unprecedented surge in information requests in August. Consequently, the Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank owner suspended its dividend, though the company said it remained confident in its prospects despite a "highly uncertain" political and economic outlook.
Newspaper round-up
Boris Johnson’s admiration for Donald Trump will lead to workers’ rights being ripped up if the Conservatives win the general election next month, the leader of Britain’s trade unionists has warned. Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, said a lack of detail in the Tory party’s manifesto disguised a hidden agenda of US-style deregulation of the sort favoured by the US president. – Guardian
The trains, the staff and the entire management team may be staying the same, but passengers on intercity west coast mainline services will next month no longer be boarding a Virgin train but riding on a rebranded, “ready and fit for the future”, Avanti. The name Avanti, according to new operators FirstGroup and Trenitalia, “embodies progress and forward movement”, and is Italian for “forward” and “let’s go”. – Guardian
Car production in the UK has slumped again as motorists rein in spending amid political turmoil and an outcry over diesel production. British motorists bought just 21,640 domestically produced vehicles in October, down 11pc from a year earlier. Cars built for export – which represent more than eight out of 10 British-built vehicles – slipped 2.6pc to 113,112, reflecting a wider slowdown in the global automotive market. – Telegraph
The new digital bank set up by Royal Bank of Scotland to compete with rival financial technology groups has become a target for fraudsters. It is understood that about 30 percent of applications received by Bó since the app-based venture went live two weeks ago were fraudulent. – The Times
Britain’s love of peri-peri chicken has helped to push global sales at Nando’s past £1 billion for the first time. The UK is one of the South African restaurant chain’s largest markets and sales jumped by 7.9 per cent to £779.4 million for the year to February 24, according to newly released Companies House accounts. – The Times
US close
Wall Street’s indices finished in positive territory ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Wednesday, following further conversations between officials in Washington and Beijing.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session up 0.35% at 28,164.00, the S&P 500 added 0.42% to 3,153.63, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.66% firmer at 8,705.18.
At the open, the Dow was 21.40 points lower, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit record highs during the previous session.
For the bulk of the session, market participants were still largely focused on the long-running trade dispute between the US and China after Donald Trump said on Tuesday that American and Chinese negotiators were close to reaching an initial trade deal.
His comments on trade followed a phone call between officials from Washington and Beijing earlier on Tuesday, with both parties having reportedly agreed to keep working on remaining “core” issues.
However, it was still not clear as to whether or not both sides would be able to reach a compromise before new US tariffs on Chinese goods were due to come into effect on 15 December.