Home Retail's Argos achieves 2.6% increase in first quarter sales

London’s FTSE 100 is expected to open 23 points lower at 6,278.

Stocks to watch

Total first quarter sales at Home Retails Group's Argos chain grew by 2.6% to £868m, the company said, adding that net new space contributed 2.5%, mainly as a result of store openings in the previous financial year.

The company also warned that it would have to increase redress provisions by £30m for the full year after charging excess fees to late paying customers.

It added that it was on track to complete its merger with Sainsbury's in the third quarter.

Like for like sales grew by 0.1%, although the company said the “cannibalisation impact from the new space added in the previous financial year was around 1% and therefore Argos' underlying like-for-like sales increased by approximately 1%”.

Astrazeneca has entered into a commercialisation agreement with Aspen Global Incorporated (AGI), part of the Aspen Group, for rights to its global anaesthetics portfolio outside the US. Under the terms of the agreement, AGI will acquire the commercialisation rights, outside the US, to AstraZeneca's portfolio of anaesthetic medicines for an upfront consideration of $520m.

Vodafone confirmed local rumours surrounding its New Zealand operation, announcing it was merging with local subscription television provider Sky to create an integrated telecommunications and media group.

The FTSE 100 firm said once combined with Sky - which is unrelated to the British subscription television firm of the same name - Vodafone will be a 51% shareholder of the combined group as a result of a consideration comprising an issue of nre Sky shares and NZD 1.25bn in cash, equivalent to an enterprise value of NZD 3.44bn.

New Sky shares will be issued at NZD 5.40 per share, representing a 21% premium to Sky’s last close of NZD 4.47.

The combination is subject to the approval of at least 75% Sky shareholders, at a meeting on the proposed transaction in July.

In the press

One of Britain’s leading businessmen has told his 6,000 employees in the UK that there is “very little to fear” from leaving the European Union and he is confident that the country can “stand on its own two feet”. In the first such letter from a Brexit supporter to his workforce, Lord Bamford, chairman of JCB, set out the case for leaving the bloc, saying that it was of “diminishing economic importance”. – The Times

Amazon is stepping up its battle against British supermarkets with the launch of fresh food deliveries on Thursday. The online specialist’s Amazon Fresh service will offer more than 130,000 groceries to homes in north and east London, including thousands of fresh produce, dairy and bakery items that the company has not previously sold in the UK. – The Guardian

House prices are heading for a short-term dip amid uncertainty over the EU referendum outcome, according to surveyors. For the first time since 2012, more surveyors expect prices to fall in the next three months than those predicting an increase, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said. – The Mirror

Tesco Mobile is offering customers a discount on their bills if they are willing to view an advertisement on their phones, as the company looks to find new ways to help marketers avoid ad-blocking software. – Financial Times

US close

US markets closed higher on Wednesday, led by industrial and materials stocks, with the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 edging close to their 52-week intraday highs seen last summer.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.37% to 18,005.05, the S&P 500 closed up 0.33% at 2,119.12, and the Nasdaq Composite finished 0.26% higher at 4,974.64.

The Dow’s close was its first above the psychologically important 18,000 point level since 27 April, with UnitedHealth the largest contributor to the gains.