CRH sees green shoots in Europe, Playtech profits fall

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to drop 10 points upon opening on Thursday, following its lower close at 6,835.78 the day before.

Stocks to watch

Building materials group CRH winched its half-year dividend a touch higher after making more progress with its deleveraging and reporting the early stages of an economic recovery in Europe. Having been flat in the first quarter, European sale rose 3% in the six months to 30 June, which coupled with a slight slowing in the Americas and Asia, saw interim group revenue grow 35% to €12.7bn and feed through to reported earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) more than double to €1.12bn.

Gambling software developer Playtech reported a drop in first-half profit as it took a hit from fluctuations in sterling, but the company declared a special dividend. Chairman Alan Jackson said: “Playtech has made significant progress in 2016 as we have delivered on our strategic objectives. The gaming division continues to deliver strong growth, driven by our industry-leading Casino offering."

Events and publishing group Ascential has acquired US-based OneClickRetail.com for an intial $44m in cash plus earn-out payments based on future profits that could take the total to $225m. The addition of One Click, which was founded in 2013 by former Amazon and Walmart executive Spencer Millerberg, is expected to be enhancing to adjusted earnings per share in the first full year of ownership.

Newspaper round-up

The US has launched a stinging attack on Brussels’ tax investigations into Apple and other companies in an escalation of the transatlantic battle over alleged EU targeting of US multinationals. In a last-ditch shot before Brussels announces the results of its lengthy investigation into Apple’s Irish tax affairs, the US Treasury accused the European Commission of trying to become a “supranational tax authority”. - Telegraph

The Treasury is proposing new rules to punish offshore tax evaders who fail to come clean about their finances before September 2018, with fines of up to 200% of the amount owed. The measures represent the second government consultation in two weeks on sanctions against tax cheats. – Guardian

Sports Direct will open its doors to the public on the day of the retailer’s annual general meeting, giving people an opportunity to speak to board directors following months of criticism over the treatment of workers. A timetable for the event said non-shareholders are welcome to attend the Sports Direct AGM on 7 September, which is being held as usual at the company’s headquarters in Shirebrook, Derbyshire. – Guardian

Iran has expressed interest in joining forces with a Chinese company that plans to build a $50 billion canal across Nicaragua that links the Atlantic and Pacific and rivals the Panama Canal. Mohammed Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, said that business leaders who went with him to the Central American state this week had discussed teaming up with HKND, a private Hong Kong company that has broken ground on the project but made little progress in the past two years. – The Times

US close

The Dow Jones on Wednesday dropped to its lowest close since the first week of August as oil prices retreated and housing market data missed estimates.

The Dow closed down 0.4% to 18,479.50 points, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 2,175.44 and the Nasdaq gave up two weeks of gains as it slid 0.8% to 5,217.69 by the finish.

Oil prices were also under the cosh after official data from the Energy Information Administration showed US weekly crude increased by 2.5m barrels last week to 523.6m barrels.