Glencore profits crunch, Barclays confirms Africa exit

London open

The FTSE 100 is forecast to make a 14-point retreat when it opens on Tuesday, after the tentative one-point gain the previous session.

Stocks to watch

Glencore's numbers were down sizeably in its preliminary 2015 results on Tuesday, with adjusted EBITDA falling 32% to $8.7bn (£6.25bn), with the company blaming substantially weaker commodity prices, partially offset by cost efficiencies and favourable currency conditions in producer countries. Adjusted EBIT slipped 68% to $2.17bn, and basic earnings per share, pre-significant items, dropped 69% to 10c. The company described its results as robust, however, pointing to its total assets of $128.5bn, down 16%, and net debt of $25.89bn, down 15%.

Along with confirmation of rumours that it would sell its African business, Barclays announced annual pre-tax profits fell 2% to £5.4bn and halved its dividend. Barclays said it would sell 62% of Barclays Africa, which along with the dividend reduction will help boost its capital buffers at least 1% over the next two-three years.

Rio Tinto has sold its 40% interest in the Bengalla coal joint venture in Australia for US$616.7m (£443m). The sale was enabled after Rio took its stake in Coal & Allied from 80% to 100% on 3 February as part of the restructuring of the coal group, which means it will receive the entire consideration from its interest in the Bengalla JV and from its recent sale of the Mount Pleasant project for $224m plus royalties.

United Utilities and Severn Trent have formed a joint venture of their business-focused water operations, cutting costs of the billing, sales and customer services functions. With both companies sharing the development costs, and Severn Trent paying £3.5m a 50/50 JV will be created and profits shared using equity accounting.

Newspaper round-up

London Stock Exchange’s £20bn merger with Deutsche Boerse could be gatecrashed by the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, according to reports. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which operates global exchanges, clearing houses and data services, has appointed Morgan Stanley to advise on a higher offer for the British group, it is claimed. – Telegraph

Apple has defeated a US government attempt to force it to unlock an iPhone as part of a criminal investigation into a drugs case, handing it an important victory in the first test case on the issue. The decision, by a federal judge in New York, comes two weeks after Apple sought a showdown with the FBI over a separate demand in California requiring it to break into an iPhone that had belonged to one of the shooters in the San Bernardino massacre. – Financial Times

One of Google’s driverless cars has been involved in an accident for the first time in a situation where human drivers rely on the normal social etiquette of the road to avoid scrapes, according to an accident report filed in California. The incident highlights the challenges of programming machines to deal with the sort of social situations that humans encounter every day on the roads, but which are beyond robots to resolve, experts said. – Financial Times

US close

US stocks closed lower on Monday after investors were left disappointed by worse-than-expected economic data and the China government's lack of concrete stimulus plans at the G20 meetings.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.74%, the Nasdaq dropped 0.71% and the S&P 500 dipped 0.82%.

An index measuring US pending home sales fell 2.5% month-on-month in January to a seasonally adjusted reading of 106 in January, the National Association of Realtors revealed. The drop was much worse than the 0.6% decline expected by analysts and reflected lower inventory and rising prices.