(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Associated British Foods opted against a final dividend as its Primark fast-fashion chain braced for a second round of enforced closures, and profit dropped sharply during the pandemic. AB Foods said group revenue fell 12% in the year ended September 12 to GBP13.94 billion from USD15.82 billion. Pretax profit plunged 42% to GBP686 million from GBP1.17 billion during a year hit by Covid-19 lockdowns. Primark revenue alone was 24% lower.
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US company Allied Universal has fired what could be a starting shot in a bidding war for UK security service provider G4S, but failed to convince the company's board. The directors of G4S on Tuesday rejected a GBP3.25 billion bid for the London-listed company, saying it "significantly undervalues" the business. The "at least" 210p per share bid gives Allied Universal the edge over its Canadian rival suitor GardaWorld, whose 190p bid has previously been rejected by G4S. The company's stock was up 4.4% at 213.50p.
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Packing firm DS Smith warned its profit for the first six months of its financial year would be lower on a year-on-year basis, but noted a significant improvement in the second quarter compared to the first. Looking ahead, due to the improved performance in the second quarter, DS Smith said it remains its intention to declare a dividend for the six-month period.
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Housebuilder Crest Nicholson said that for the year ended October, it expects adjusted pretax profit to be significantly ahead of consensus expectations of GBP37.9 million, and at the upper end of the previously guided range of GBP35 million to GBP45 million. As at October 31, forward sales were 2,289 units with a gross development value of GBP480.5 million, compared to 2,013 units and GBP378.0 million the same date the year before. Looking ahead, Crest Nicholson said it expects to reinstate a dividend with effect from its interim results for the 2021 financial year.
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MARKETS
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Markets in Europe posted strong gains as polling stations opened in the US, IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp noted that a boost to quantitative easing by Australia's central bank has raised hopes of similar measures from the Bank of England, "giving a further boost to bullish sentiment".
US futures are higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is called up 1.6%, the S&P 500 up 1.4% and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.0%. Polling stations opened at 5 am on the East Coast. Results won't start coming until well after midnight London time.
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FTSE 100: up 1.7% at 5,748.88
FTSE 250: up 1.2% at 17,385.45
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.0% at 956.60
GBP: up at USD1.2992 (USD1.2894)
EUR: up at USD1.1697 (USD1.1630)
Gold: up at USD1,897.16 per ounce (USD1,891.20)
Oil (Brent): up at USD39.87 a barrel (USD37.94)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The final rally in US President Donald Trump's gruelling re-election battle came to an end early Tuesday morning with the president promising he would once again defy the polls and political wisdom. His final appearance after a marathon 17 public appearances saw Trump take the stage in Grand Rapids, an industrial city in the midwestern state of Michigan. It was the same place he ended his campaign exactly four years earlier, ahead of the shock victory that propelled him to the highest office in the country despite trailing opponent Hillary Clinton through the last presidential contest. Despite an often startlingly laid-back campaign, Biden, 77, leads in almost every opinion poll, buoyed by his consistent message that America needs to restore its "soul" and get new leadership in the midst of a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 231,000 people.
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Some half a million people are to be offered regular coronavirus testing in a pilot scheme hailed as having the potential to be a "powerful new weapon" in the fight against the disease, PA reports. All residents and workers in Liverpool will be offered repeat testing whether or not they have symptoms, the UK Department of Health said. The approach will see the city, which has a population of 498,042, become the first place to trial a wider testing scheme in England from Friday. The mass testing pilot, which will see 2,000 military personnel deployed to help with the logistics, will come into effect a day after new national lockdown measures are due to take hold across England. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, depending on the success of rapid turnaround tests in the pilot, the aim is to distribute millions of them between now and Christmas to "empower local communities to use them to drive down transmission in their areas".
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Johnson insisted Tuesday a second lockdown was necessary as he came under pressure from Tory MPs and business chiefs about the "truly devastating" measure. The prime minister guaranteed "without a shred of doubt" that the restrictions would expire on December 2, amid concerns on the Conservative benches that England's lockdown could be extended. He said technological advances will "defeat this virus by the spring" as he tries to ward off a rebellion over the stay-at-home order which is due to come into effect on Thursday. But a growing number of senior MPs on the Conservative backbenches have indicated they will oppose the new lockdown during a vote on Wednesday, a day before it is set to come into force.
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The eurozone's finance and economy ministers are set to meet online to discuss the impact of the coronavirus on the economy. Ministers of the 19 euro countries are to meet with Andrea Ammon, head of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to discuss the development of the pandemic. Due to the spike in cases, many EU countries imposed new restrictions limiting public life with a harsh impact on the economy and countries' budgets. Earlier this year, the Eurogroup - as the informal group governing the eurozone's financial and economic policies is known - together with the other EU member states agreed to a crisis package worth EUR540 billion, which is now due for review. Other topics on the agenda include the possible future introduction of a digital euro currency and the situation of the banks faced with the coronavirus crisis, Brexit and climate risks.
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