Dixons Carphone unveils record profits, Bunzl growth remains consistent

London open

The FTSE 100 is predicted to continue its rise this week with a 90-point gain on Tuesday, according to pre-market trading.

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Profits rose 17% in the year to April at Dixons Carphone, which delivered an optimistic appraisal of its chances post-Brexit as the largest player in the UK market. Revenue was down 0.1% to £9.74bn due to a continued slimming down of the UK store estate since the 2014 merger, while like-for-like revenues grew 5% thanks to strong growth in the UK & Ireland, Nordic and Greek businesses.

Distribution company Bunzl said group revenue for the half year is expected to have increased by 9% at actual exchange rates and 6% at constant rates, largely due to the impact of acquisitions. “Consistent with the trends seen during the second half of 2015, underlying revenue in the first half of 2016 is expected to be at a similar level to the prior year,” Bunzl said.

Passenger transport operator Stagecoach gave a 3.7% lift to adjusted earnings per share for the year to 30 April and confirmed an 8.6% rise in dividends to 11.4p per share. The FTSE 250 firm saw revenue of £3.87bn during the period, up from £3.2bn, with profit before tax rising marginally to £187.4m from £185m.

Newspaper round-up

Six months ago, most City of London bankers had a long list of regulations they wanted to scrap. But the Brexit vote has changed all that. As the banks recover from the shock of the referendum, they are drawing up plans to lobby politicians to keep financial regulation intact and to ensure the sector suffers as little disruption as possible from leaving the EU. – Financial Times

Vodafone, one of Britain’s biggest companies, has warned that it could relocate its head office outside the UK if the negotiations for a post-Brexit Britain do not give it freedom of movement across the EU for people, capital and goods. The telecoms company, which employs nearly 110,000 people around the world and some 13,000 in the UK, said it would take “whatever decisions are appropriate” once the outcome of the negotiations was known. – Guardian

Edmund Truell, the pension scheme rescuer and private equity investor, has emerged as the latest potential saviour of the British steel industry. The outspoken City figure has opened talks with Tata Steel, the Pensions Regulator and the Treasury over a plan aimed at saving the Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales and a dozen other steel processing facilities around the UK. – The Times

US close

US equities closed higher on Tuesday as oil prices jumped and first quarter economic growth data came in better than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.57%, the S&P 500 edged up 1.78% and the Nasdaq grew 2.12%.

Oil prices rose on bargain hunting after a two-day slide triggered by Britain’s vote to leave the European Union last Friday. The threat of strikes by Norwegian oil and gas workers also helped to ease the global supply glut. West Texas Intermediate crude increased 3.2% to $47.89 per barrel and Brent climbed 3.2% to $47.89 per barrel.

In economic data, the Commerce Department said first quarter US gross domestic product increased 1.1%, beating consensus expectations of 1% growth and higher than the previously-estimated 0.8% increase. In the final quarter of 2015, real GDP rose 1.4%.