SSE earnings hit by capacity standstill, Shaftesbury bullish
London open
The FTSE 100 is seen starting eight points lower after dropping to 7,093.58 the day before.
Stocks to watch
SSE said full year adjusted EPS would be 6p lower as a result of the capacity market “standstill”, taking the forecast to 64p to 69p a share. The EU General Court ruled last November that Britain must halt payments under the scheme pending an investigation by European Union regulators. SSE said it was due £60m.
Ahead of what could be a quarrelsome annual shareholder meeting later in the day, property developer Shaftesbury said it had made some progress with its larger schemes at the start of its new financial year. The group, which owns a swathe of shopping streets in London's West End, reported the total portfolio valuation increased 3.8% to £3.95bn with estimated rental value up £9.5m to £154m.
Newspaper round-up
The UK’s planning system is in need of urgent reform if ministers want to hit their target of building more than 300,000 new homes a year, the public spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office attacked the Government’s “flawed” approach to assessing where homes need to be built and said house builders were not contributing enough towards local roads, schools and other public services. - Telegraph
New tram networks could be rolled out in towns and cities across England under government plans to cut congestion and pollution. The Department for Transport said that so-called light rail systems could help “reduce dependence on private cars”. A report published yesterday said that trams could carry 20,000 passengers an hour in each direction — about four times more than buses. - The Times
Fighting has broken out over the future of Libya’s largest oil field, as forces loyal to the UN-recognised Tripoli-based government battle Libyan National Army (LNA) forces led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the leading figure in fractured Libya’s east. Al-Sharara field, 560 miles south of Tripoli, is capable of producing 315,000 barrels of crude a day – about a third of Libya’s total current output. - Guardian
US close
Wall Street trading ended with all major indexes recording losses on Thursday as investors sifted through more company earnings releases, with Sears staging a late rally after a bankruptcy judge approved billionaire Eddie Lampert's takeover bid.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.87% at 25,169.53, while the S&P 500 had fallen 0.94% to 2,706.05 and the Nasdaq traded 1.18% lower at 7,288.35.
The Dow closed 220 points lower on Thursday as signs that global growth was slowing down continued to pile-up.
Discussing global equities' solid performance so far this year, Konstantinos Anthis, head of research at ADSS, said: "Global stocks have run an impressive rally during the first month of the year but questions now emerge on whether some profit-taking will kick in and drive prices to the downside."