Grainger reports strong rental growth, Smurfit Kappa sees rise full-year core earnings
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 25 points lower on Wednesday, having closed up 1.55% at 7,439.82 on Tuesday.
Stocks to watch
Private rental sector company Grainger said the recent UK General Election result had driven improved housing market sentiment. In a trading update for the four months to January 31, the company reported strong overall rental growth of 3.5%, 3% like-for-like rental growth on its private rental sector homes and annualised rental growth of 4.5% on regulated tenancy rental reviews.
Paper and packaging group Smurfit Kappa reported a rise in full-year core earnings and revenue as it benefited from its capital spend programme and recent acquisitions. In the year to the end of December, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 7% to €1.65bn (£1.4bn) while revenue ticked up more than 1% to €9.05bn.
Vodafone reported continued organic service revenue growth in its third quarter on Wednesday, up 0.8% to €9.73bn (£8.25bn). The FTSE 100 telecoms giant said it saw a similar performance in Europe, falling 1.4%in the third quarter as it did in the second, with ongoing recovery in Spain and acceleration in the UK offset by a tougher prior year comparison in Italy. Retail revenues grew in Germany, which the company said was supported by strong cable broadband net adds, and it saw “good growth” in its rest of world geography of 9.1%, with continued recovery in South Africa partially offset by lower growth in Turkey.
Newspaper round-up
The government must act fast to prevent the French government from scuppering a deal to save British Steel, Labour has urged, amid opposition in Paris to a sale that would put a key national asset in Chinese hands. The Chinese industrial firm Jingye, run by a former Communist party official, is in the final stages of negotiations to buy British Steel, including the Hayange plant in northern France. – Guardian
A “sustainability charge” on meat to cover its environmental damage could raise billions to help farmers and consumers produce and eat better food, according to a report. The levy, which would increase the price of a steak by about 25%, would be phased in over the next decade. The report focuses on EU countries and was produced for the Tapp Coalition of health, environment and animal welfare organisations. It says “fair pricing” for meat should be included in the forthcoming European “green new deal” and so-called farm to fork strategy. – Guardian
Metro Bank has hired a top law firm to probe claims it breached sanctions against Cuba and Iran in the latest scandal to hit the embattled lender. The bank has appointed investigators from DLA Piper to review its compliance rules, after discovering that a payment had been made to one of its customer's accounts from Iran last year. It came after the bank notified US officials about a Cuba breach in 2017. The investigation, first reported by the Evening Standard, is a fresh problem as the lender fights to rebuild confidence following an accounting scandal which stunned investors last January and has since sent shares crashing 90pc. – Telegraph
Shares in Ebay rose sharply on Wall Street last night after a report that the owner of the New York Stock Exchange has made an offer that would value the online marketplace at more than $30 billion. Intercontinental Exchange, known as ICE, has approached Ebay with an offer to buy its core business, according to The Wall Street Journal. While ICE has approached Ebay before, the two parties are not in formal talks and there is no certainty that any deal will be accepted. – The Times
Flybe assured European watchdogs that it was financially viable only months before it asked the government for a bailout. The troubled airline had to persuade the European Commission that it was a vibrant business when it applied to change the terms of some of its landing slots at Heathrow airport, industry sources told The Times. - The Times
US close
Stocks closed sharply higher on Monday as US stocks attempted to regain some of the heavy losses recorded on Friday after China's fast-spreading coronavirus sparked a sell-off on the Street.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.44% at 28,807.63, while the S&P 500 was 1.50% stronger at 3,297.59 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.10% firmer at 9,467.97.
The Dow closed 407.82 points higher on Tuesday after recording some solid gains in the previous session as stocks attempted to bounce back from the heavy selling seen at the end of the previous week, despite ongoing fears regarding the global spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq was the first of the major indices to completely bounce back from the coronavirus-related fears and ended the session at yet another all-time high, while Microsoft and Caterpillar both rose roughly 3% to contribute to Tuesday's gains on the S&P 500.