Bellway lifts pricing guidance; C&C CEO McMahon to step down

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The FTSE 100 was called to open around 14 points higher.

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Housebuilder Bellway kept its guidance for housing completions this fiscal year but lifted its forecast for pricing. The company now expects selling prices to average £305,000 for the 12 months to 31 July, down from £310,306 last year but ahead of previous guidance of £295,000 due to changes in product mix. The company said it has seen stronger trading through the spring selling seasons, with improved affordability supporting an increase in customer confidence and reservation rates compared to the first half of the financial year.

Drinks maker C&C Group chief executive Patrick McMahon is stepping down after accounting errors in the last three years when he was chief finance director. The company, which makes brands such as Magners cider and Tennents beer, said corrections to the accounts would result in an aggregate underlying operating profit adjustment charge of €5m. Chair of the board Ralph Findlay has been appointed group CEO with immediate effect “to ensure continuity of executive leadership” and is expected to remain in post as for between 12 and 18 months. C&C released unaudited results for the year to February 29 revealing a loss before tax of €111m compared with a profit of €52m a year earlier.

Newspaper round-up

A group of investors in Boohoo are seeking more than £100m in compensation from the online fashion specialist after reports in 2020 alleging its suppliers in Leicester were mistreating workers caused its share price to plummet. Shares in Boohoo dived more than 40% over several days, wiping more than £1.5bn off its valuation, after a 2020 Sunday Times report of labour rights violations at the group’s suppliers’ factories in Leicester suggested some workers were paid as little as £3.50 an hour, well below the legal minimum wage. – Guardian

UK government officials expressed serious doubts about Paula Vennells’ suitability as the chief executive of the Post Office and considered sacking her in 2014, five years before she resigned, the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal has heard. According to internal government documents shown at the inquiry on Thursday, officials and other Post Office board members had concerns about Vennells’ leadership a decade ago. – Guardian

Mike Lynch, the British technology tycoon, has been cleared of fraud over the multibillion-dollar sale of his software company Autonomy. A San Francisco jury acquitted Mr Lynch on Thursday in a remarkable redemption for the entrepreneur, who has been plagued by legal problems since the company’s sale 13 years ago. – Telegraph

Weak economic growth could send the national debt climbing by £28bn and blow both Labour and the Tories’ fiscal targets, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned. Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer have been urged to set out plans for how they would deal with a downturn in the economy, amid warnings that public finances are on a knife edge. Both Labour and the Conservatives have made it their target to have the UK’s mountain of debt shrinking within five years, a key fiscal rule. – Telegraph

Labour will promise to get more young people on the housing ladder as it announces its "freedom to buy" scheme on Friday. The party will pledge to make the existing mortgage guarantee scheme - which sees the government act as a guarantor for people unable to save big deposits - into a permanent fixture if it wins the election on 4 July. – Sky News

US close

US stocks finished mixed on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq pausing just under the record highs reached the previous session as investors refrained from taking on too much risk ahead of Friday's all-important employment report.

Wall Street gave a relatively muted reaction to an interest-rate cut across the Pond, as the European Central Bank reduced rates for the first time in five years, sending stocks across Europe higher.

Instead, US investors were digesting a barrage of mixed domestic economic data, with jobless claims rising strongly while national productivity rose more than forecast and labour cost growth slowed.

"New data theoretically increases the chances of the Fed cutting rates. Weekly jobless claims are up more than expected, implying the labour market isn’t as tight as previously thought, thus giving the Fed less of a reason to sit on its hands," said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

The S&P 500 closed just 0.02% lower after hitting a new all-time closing high of 5,354.03 on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq fell just 0.09% from the previous peak of 17,187.90. The Dow however rose 0.20% to 38,886.17.