BG gets Federal approval for LNG facility

London’s FTSE 100 is seen starting 20 points lower than Thursday’s close at 6,082.

Stocks to watch

BG Group said it had received approval from the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate a natural gas liquefaction and export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

FERC approval is the key remaining regulatory consent for the Lake Charles LNG project, which BG Group is developing with Energy Transfer Equity LP and Energy Transfer Partners.

Intertek Group took a big bite of Italian on Friday, as it reached agreement to purchase Food International Trust (FIT-Italia).

FIT-Italia specialised in providing food quality assurance services to the retail and agricultural sectors, Intertek said in a market announcement. It was founded in 2007, remained privately owned and generated revenues of €2m in 2014.

The sale price was not immediately clear on Friday morning.

"To date, FIT-Italia is the only Italian company accredited to deliver the IFS Food Store Inspection program, an initiative developed by retailers and recognised by the Global Food Safety Initiative", a company spokesperson said in the announcement.

Intertek chief executive Andre Lacroix said the acquisition would strengthen the group's position on the food sector.

GlaxoSmithKline’s HIV business has reached a couple of deals with Bristol-Myers Squibb to acquire its late-stage HIV research and development assets as well as its portfolio of preclinical and discovery stage HIV research assets.

GSK will pay $350m (£234m) upfront as well as development and first commercial sale milestones of up to $518M and $587m on each deal.

The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2016.

In the press

Google has hit out at proposed new rules for allowing autonomous vehicles on to California’s roads, accusing one of the most forward-looking transport regulators in the US of limiting progress. In a post on Thursday, Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving car unit, called the new rules “perplexing” and said they risked “putting a ceiling on the potential of self-driving cars”. – Financial Times

Energy supplier nPower has been fined £26m for failing to treat its customers fairly. Watchdog Ofgem said more than 500,000 customers had been affected and has ordered the group to pay £26m as a consumer redress package. The money will be divided between some of the worst affected customers and charity. - Guardian

Landlords could face extra restrictions on lending next year, as the Treasury launches a consultation on giving the Bank of England more powers over the market. Officials could limit the proportion of high loan-to-value mortgages given out in the buy-to-let sector, or cut the number of loans given to landlords who expect the rental income will only just cover their mortgage repayments. – Telegraph

US close

US stocks dropped on Thursday as traders processed the Federal Reserve's decision to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade alongside the latest current account figures.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.43%, the Nasdaq closed down 1.35% and the S&P 500 ended 1.5% lower.

The Fed on Wednesday evening decided to raise interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.50%, as expected by analysts.