Bellway to see growth next year, Hargreaves Lansdown to be bought out

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 18 points higher on Friday, having closed down 0.27% on Thursday at 8,144.97.

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UK house builder Bellway on Friday said it expected to return to growth in fiscal 2025 if market conditions remain stable, with signs of an upturn in the market after the recent cut in interest rates. The company said total housing completions fell to 7,654 homes in the year to July 31 from 10,945 a year ago at an overall average selling price of around £308,000 compared with £310,306 in 2023 - both slightly ahead of previous guidance. Housing revenue came in at £2.35bn, down from £3.4bn and the underlying operating margin is expected to be around 10% against 16.0% last year.

CVC Private equity funds and Nordic Capital XI Delta GP and Platinum Ivy agreed a deal to purchase Hargreaves Lansdown for a cash consideration of 1,140p per share. That amount would be comprised of 1,110p per share of Hargreaves together with a 30p per share dividend for the year ending on 30 June. The acquisition price valued the firm's share capital at about £5.4bn, for a 54.1% premium to the share price on 11 April, the day before the initial buyout approach.

Newspaper round-up

The Drax power station was responsible for four times more carbon emissions than the UK’s last remaining coal-fired plant last year, despite taking more than £0.5bn in clean-energy subsidies in 2023, according to a report. The North Yorkshire power plant, which burns wood pellets imported from North America to generate electricity, was revealed as Britain’s single largest carbon emitter in 2023 by a report from the climate think tank Ember. – Guardian

A global advertiser alliance has discontinued its corporate responsibility program after a lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X accused the group of orchestrating a “massive advertiser boycott”. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) told members on Thursday that it would shut down the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (Garm) following legal attacks from X, formerly Twitter, according to Business Insider, which first reported the news. Garm is a not-for-profit initiative within the WFA that helps brands avoid advertising alongside or monetizing harmful content. – Guardian

Advertising tycoon Lord Saatchi’s bid for The Telegraph has been rejected after the Abu Dhabi fund selling the newspaper said it was not a serious offer. Lord Saatchi tabled an indicative £350m bid alongside Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a former director of The Economist Group. However, his approach has not made it through to the second round of an auction, which is being overseen by bankers at Robey Warshaw and Raine Group. – Telegraph

The Universities Superannuation Scheme sold its entire £80 million holding of Israeli bonds between February and July this year. Britain’s biggest private sector pension scheme said the decision to sell all its Israeli government bonds had been taken on financial grounds alone and was not the result of a move to completely divest from the country. – The Times

News Corporation beat Wall Street expectations for fourth-quarter revenue after growth in subscriptions at Dow Jones and a rise in sales generated from digital real estate services. Revenue at the media company, which owns publications including The Times and The Sunday Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Sun and The Australian, increased by 6 per cent to $2.58 billion in the three months to the end of June, ahead of analysts’ estimates. – The Times

US close

US stocks bounced back strongly on Thursday as better-than-expected data from the labour market eased investors' concerns about an impending recession.

Nevertheless, markets still remain well below levels seen last week following the dramatic three-day sell-off between last Thursday and Monday that saw more than 2,000 points (-5.2%) wiped off the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Dow finished Thursday's session up 1.8% at 39,446.49, with just three of its 30 constituents registering losses.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 surged 2.3% to 5,319.31 and the Nasdaq jumped 2.9% to 16,660.02. For the S&P 500 in particular, this was the index's best daily gain since November 2022.

Thursday's primary focus was on this week's jobless claims report, which revealed Americans lined up for unemployment benefits at a decelerated pace in the week ended 3 August.