HL assets rise in third quarter, Informa confident for full year
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to fall 54 points on Thursday morning, extending the tiny decline from the prior day that closed at 6,165.8.
Stocks to watch
Financial services firm Hargreaves Landsdown (HL) said assets under administration rose 9% to £60.3bn in the four months to 30 April, despite a quarter of investors saying uncertainty over Britain's EU membership was “reducing their propensity to invest”. Net inflows were down to £2.30bn from £2.75bn in the same period last year, with cumulative total net inflows of £5.07bn in the ten months to April 30 compared with £5.00bn year on year.
Informa confirmed its confidence in meeting full-year expectations as investors mustered for the company’s annual general meeting in London. The business intelligence, exhibitions, events and academic publishing group said it had already traded more than 45% of anual revenue across its portfolio of exhibitions, and reported a strong performance from the top 20 shows on exhibitor revenue, visitor numbers and rebooking rates.
Theme park operator Merlin Entertainment said market conditions in London remain challenging but that trading in 2016 has been "broadly" in line with expectations. The operator of Alton Towers and the Legoland, Madame Tussauds and London Dungeon chains said the trading pattern was "reflecting the continuation of the key trends underlying the 2015 result".
Newspaper round-up
Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley is understood to have been outbid by rivals including the owners of Matalan and Edinburgh Woollen Mill as administrators try to secure the future of BHS. Sources said Ashley had put in a “low-ball offer” for the business, which collapsed into administration at the end of last month, putting 11,000 high street jobs at risk. – Guardian
The Bank of England’s chief economist has admitted that the British pensions system is so complicated, even he fails to understand it, warning of the “damaging” consequences this presents for consumers as they approach retirement. Andy Haldane said he considered himself to be “moderately financially literate” yet confessed to “not being able to make the remotest sense of pensions”. – Financial Times
A UK probe into suspected bribery at Rolls-Royce, the engineering group, has spread to Nigeria in the latest blow to a company already facing investigations in multiple countries. Britain’s Serious Fraud Office is examining Rolls-Royce’s former energy operations in the oil-rich west African state, as part of a wider inquiry that also covers Brazil, Indonesia and China, the Financial Times has learnt. – Financial Times
Rent bills are likely to fall if Britain exits the EU and property will become more affordable to first-time buyers, according to the bodies that represent the UK’s estate agents and landlords. The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) said that Brexit would cut levels of immigration and depress future price rises, leaving the average UK house worth £2,300 less in 2018, and £7,500 less in London. – Guardian
US close
US stocks had the wind taken out of their sales by a surprisingly hawkish set of meeting minutes from the Federal Reserve's rate setters.
Having risen early doors on Wednesday, by the close the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.02% lower at 17,526.62, though the S&P 500 climbed 0.02% to 2,047.63 and the Nasdaq added 0.5% to 4,739.12.
Minutes from the FOMC committee meeting last month showed a hike in short-term interest rates would be on the table when they reconvene in mid-June, with a few participants already wanted to hike at the April meeting.