Bunzl H1 revenues rise, WPP to acquire Bower House Digital

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 108.5 points lower ahead of the bell on Thursday after closing out the previous session 0.15% weaker at 7,312.32.

Stocks to watch

Distribution and services group Bunzl said on Thursday that first-half operating margins were expected to be slightly higher than historic levels as inflation and acquisitions drove underlying growth.

Group revenue in the first half was expected to increase by approximately 16% year-on-year at actual exchange rates and by 12-13% on a constant currency basis.

Communications giant WPP has agreed to acquire Australian marketing technology services agency Bower House Digital for an undisclosed sum.

WPP said on Thursday that the acquisition was aligned with its accelerated growth strategy and focused M&A approach to build on existing digital experience capabilities. Bower House will join WPP's Ogilvy subsidiary's global network, further strengthening its ability to deliver technology-driven marketing solutions for clients.

Newspaper round-up

Ministers' plans for reforming Britain's gambling laws were in disarray on Wednesday as a rift emerged at the top of the Conservative party over whether to ban football shirt sponsorship and impose a levy to fund addiction services. Multiple sources said the process of putting the finishing touches to a white paper on gambling reform had driven a wedge between departments and senior MPs, with the publication deadline just weeks away. - Guardian

The government's failure to tackle Russian kleptocrats laundering "dirty money" through the UK has led millions of pounds used to finance Putin's invasion of Ukraine to flow through London, a powerful committee of MPs has warned. The commons foreign affairs committee said ministers' complacency over "morally bankrupt billionaires using the UK as a safe deposit box" had led to "assets laundered through the UK […] financing President Putin's war in Ukraine". – Guardian

Criminals are using deepfake video technology and stolen personal data to impersonate real people and apply for remote working jobs in the tech industry, the FBI has warned. The US law enforcement agency said it had received complaints about "voice spoofing" taking place during video interviews for remote workers, with the jobs being used to steal private information from corporate databases. - Telegraph

A cryptocurrency hedge fund set up by two former investment bankers has collapsed owing more than half a billion dollars. Three Arrows Capital entered liquidation on Wednesday after a British Virgin Islands court ruled in favour of creditors seeking repayment of debts. Shortly before its demise, the hedge fund had defaulted on a $674.0m loan, triggering creditors to seek its liquidation. – Telegraph

A City lawyer with 25 years experience, who ordered a client to "burn" a secure messaging system, told a judge he was unaware of the need to preserve evidence. Raymond McKeeve, formerly a partner at the law firm Jones Day, faces jail for contempt of court for advising an IT manager at a company set up by Jonathan Faiman, one of the founders of Ocado, to destroy messages to avoid them being handed over as part of a corporate espionage investigation. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks turned in a mixed performance on Wednesday as market participants digested comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell at the European Central Bank forum.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.27% at 31,029.31, while the S&P 500 closed 0.07% weaker at 3,818.83 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.03% softer at 11,177.89.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com