London pre-open: Stocks to rise as pound slips ahead of meaningful vote
London stocks were set for a positive open on Monday as sterling slipped ahead of this week's 'meaningful' vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal.
The FTSE 100 was called to open 42 points higher at 7,146.
CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "It’s all set up to be a big week for sterling with little indication that Theresa May’s Brexit deal will get anywhere close to getting through Parliament this week, with the pound slipping back in Asia trading this morning, as it becomes clear that there hasn’t been any progress on changing the withdrawal agreement, with neither the EU or UK government being willing to modify their current position.
"With a 'no deal' scenario still the current default position MPs will find themselves under increasing pressure to try and prevent such an outcome, however for all the hot air about 'taking no deal off the table', or warnings that Brexit might not happen, the fact is in the absence of any new legislation the UK will leave without a deal on 29th March."
Hewson said the only way that can change is if MPs actually do something, like agreeing to pass legislation to make sure that a no deal Brexit doesn’t happen.
"That would mean taking steps to change what is currently on the statue book. Given the current divisions in Parliament this still remains a high bar, and something that currency markets only now appear to be waking up to."
In corporate news, challenger banks Charter Court Financial Services and OneSavings Bank confirmed that they are in advanced talks about a potential merger to create a “leading specialist mortgage lender in the UK”.
The deal would be structured so that OSB would acquire Charter Court and its shareholders would end up with 55% of the enlarged group, with OSB chief executive Andy Golding continuing in that role.
Clarkson, which provides integrated shipping services, posted a drop in full-year profit but a rise in revenue as it hiked its dividend and hailed a "robust" performance.
Underlying pre-tax profit edged down to £45.3m from £50.2m, but revenue rose to £337.6m from £324m in 2017 and the dividend per share was lifted 3% to 75p.
Polymetal International reported a 4% improvement in revenue year-on-year in its preliminary results to $1.88bn, which it sadi was primarily driven by gold equivalent production growth of 9%.
The company said group total cash costs for the year ended 31 December were $649 per gold equivalent ounce, down 1% and just below the bottom of the range of its initial cost guidance. Adjusted EBITDA was ahead 5% over 2017 at $780m, which the board said was mostly driven by higher production volumes and stable cost performance.