ARM stays strong, Hikma halves deal dues

London open

City traders expect not much change from the FTSE 100 when it opens on Wednesday, after the falls in Europe the day before and an almost flat session in the US.

Stocks to watch

ARM Holdings posted a strong set of full year results and said it was confident of meeting forecasts for 2016 as demand for its microchip technology continues to grow. Despite the profit warning from smaller peer Imagination Technologies earlier this week, ARM's fourth quarter saw a 19% increase in revenue to £269.1m, helping to lift profits 17% to £138.7m.

Hikma Pharmaceutical's takeover of Roxane Laboratories took on a new shape on Wednesday, with the cash consideration being almost halved to $647m off the back of significantly lower revenue projections. The company had published a prospectus on 22 January in relation to the acquisition, but said it had now received new information on the financial performance of Roxane in 2015, with revenue now expected to be in the realm of $650m (£449.1m).

Greene King has posted a strong third quarter book, boosted by strong Christmas sales. The FTSE 250 pub operator and brewer said on Wednesday that for the 40 weeks to 7 February 2016, retail like-for-like sales were up 2.2%, with a 5% increase in sales over the two Christmas weeks, while newly acquired Spirit lifted like-for-like sales 1.1% for the period, with Christmas sales up 5.2%.

Newspaper round-up

Deutsche Bank is considering buying back several billion euros of its debt, as Germany’s biggest bank steps up efforts to shore up the tumbling value of its securities against the backdrop of a broader rout of financial stocks. After European banks suffered a second consecutive day of sharp falls, Deutsche Bank is expected to focus its emergency buyback plan on senior bonds, of which it has about €50bn in issue, according to the bank. – Financial Times

Fears the government could privatise Network Rail have been heightened after a report from an influential thinktank called for its abolition and endorsed closing lines and deregulating fares. The free-market Institute of Economic Affairs said full privatisation of the UK’s railways would improve services and ease the burden on the taxpayer. – Guardian

Neil Woodford, the respected investor, has sold his entire holding in Royal Mail. He announced that he held shares in the privatised firm in August 2014, a few months after he launched his eponymous fund company. He held the stake in his Woodford Equity Income fund. – Telegraph

US close

After a choppy session, US stocks finished in the red on Tuesday, as oil prices continued to slide and traders waited to hear from Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.08% to 16,014.38, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite slowed 0.07% and 0.35% respectively.

Job openings rocketed from 5.4m in November to 5.61m in December according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, following several months' worth of data that appeared to be pointing to a levelling-off in job openings.