Barratt profits rise as completions outside London surge, Lloyds Bank profit more than doubles

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open two points higher on Wednesday, after closing down 0.34% at 7,274.83 on Tuesday.

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Housebuilder Barratt Developments posted its half-year results for the six months to 31 December on Wednesday, reporting completions outside London were at their highest level for nine years. The FTSE 100 company said London completions were in line with its planned build programme, with a significant uplift expected on wholly owned sites in the second half. Half-year profit before tax for the period was £321.0m, an improvement of 8.8%.

Medical technology company ConvaTec launched GentleCath Glide, an intermittent catheter developed to provide more options for hydrophilic catheterisation, and extended the Me+ direct to consumer programme in the US. The FTSE 100 firm said GentleCath Glide is a low friction hydrophilic intermittent catheter made with ConvaTec's FeelClean technology that activates when in contact with water and was developed for markets such as the US where healthcare insurance may limit users to certain categories of intermittent catheters and reduce their hydrophilic choices.

Lloyds Bank more than doubled full year pre-tax profits to £4.2bn from £1.6bn in 2015 as it announced a special 0.5p-a-share dividend. Underlying profits came in at £7.9bn, slightly lower than £8.1bn in the previous year. Total income was £17.5bn compared with £17.6 bn in 2016. A final ordinary dividend of 1.7p a share was declared making a total ordinary dividend of 2.55p a share, up 13% on 2015.

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The City of London has warned that the loss of banking jobs to EU countries due to Brexit could threaten British and European financial stability. Interviews with more than half a dozen senior bankers and business leaders reveal growing certainty that the threat of losing single market access will force a wave of relocations this year and may cause an “unwinding” of a cluster of related businesses. – Guardian

Beleaguered cabinet ministers are expected to take steps to ameliorate the impact on the companies hit hardest by a shake-up in business rates that has fuelled a backlash among Conservative MPs. Communities secretary Sajid Javid is likely to join the chancellor, Philip Hammond, in adopting a more empathetic tone about the anger triggered by the decision to revaluate the rates based on updated property prices. – Guardian

Britain’s businesses should start planning their post-Brexit trading operations now, instead of waiting for the government to negotiate with Brussels and to strike trade deals, according to the Institute of Directors. “Companies rarely wait for states to negotiate trade agreementsbefore venturing into cross-border trade,” said Allie Renison, the IoD’s head of Europe and trade policy. – Telegraph

Peugeot could be offered incentives including cut-price rates and training for staff to maintain the Vauxhall plants in Britain if it buys GM’s loss-making European arm. A highly-placed source with knowledge of sweeteners Nissan secured to maintain its giant Sunderland said new incentives could be put on the table in the hope of protecting the jobs of 4,500 staff at Vauxhall’s plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton. – Telegraph

A multi-millionaire shipping heir and a former Bank of England heavyweight are among a minority of investment trust leaders who have failed to invest a penny in the companies they chair. Ten per cent of UK investment trust chairmen still have no money invested in the companies they head, down from 14 per cent in 2014, according to a study by the broker Cannacord Genuity. Investors like to see the directors of trusts having skin in the game, according to analyst Alan Brierley. – The Times

US close

US stocks closed at all-time highs on Tuesday, with retailers providing some cheer after well-received earnings, as investors digested the latest comments by Federal Reserve officials.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to end at 20,737.83 and 2,365.12, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.5% to 5,865.95.

Oil prices ticked higher and the dollar gained ground on the back of hawkish Fed speak.

West Texas Intermediate was up 0.6% to $54.37 a barrel and Brent crude was 0.9% firmer at $56.68.

Philadelphia Fed president Patrick Harker said he would support an interest hike in March if there was evidence of price pressures on inflation and in the employment costs index.

However, Minneapolis Fed president Neel Kashkari said that the labour market has “more to run”, suggesting that interest rates should not be raised quickly.