JD Wetherspoon revenue rises, Watches of Switzerland buys enthusiast platform

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open flat on Friday, having closed down 0.1% on Thursday at 8,282.52.

Stocks to watch

Watches of Switzerland said it had bought Hodinkee, a specialist website for luxury watch enthusiasts, for an undisclosed sum. The company on Friday said the deal was part of its plan to leverage growth opportunities and grab market share, “particularly in the fast growing US market”. Headquartered in New York and founded in 2008, Hodinkee offers digital print and video content, limited edition watch collaborations alongside watch and jewellery insurance services. It has an audience of 22.2 million annual unique visitors to its website with more than one million social media followers, WoS said.

JD Wetherspoon reported a 5.7% increase in full-year revenue on Friday, to £2.04bn, with a 73.5% rise in profit before tax to £73.9m before separately disclosed items. Despite strong growth in operating profit and like-for-like sales, the FTSE 250 pub operator said free cash inflow per share fell by 87.5%, and after separately disclosed items, profit before tax dropped by 33%. Chairman Tim Martin said he was still concerned about potential future lockdowns, despite the last one being lifted in 2021, and questioned the effectiveness of the UK government’s ongoing Covid-19 inquiry, but said sales continued to improve in the new financial year.

Newspaper round-up

Rachel Reeves is paving the way for a multibillion-pound increase in public-sector investment at the budget after the government announced plans to commit almost £22bn over 25 years to fund carbon capture and storage projects. In what is expected to be one of the biggest green spending promises of the parliament, the chancellor, prime minister and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, will unveil the details on a visit to the Liverpool city region on Friday declaring a “new era” for clean energy jobs. – Guardian

UK electric car sales hit a record high in September, even as bosses from big carmakers told the chancellor that government targets were putting too much pressure on the industry. The British industry sold 56,300 electric cars during the month, the highest on record, according to preliminary data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. – Guardian

Sadiq Khan has called opponents of more taxpayer spending on London “unpatriotic” as he pressed the Government to support as much as £10bn of new investment into the capital’s railways. The Mayor said London was locked in a competition with cities such as Paris, New York, Hong Kong and Singapore, and must not be held back by squabbles over whether cash would be better directed elsewhere in the UK. – Telegraph

The first phase of a project to build one of the world’s largest wind farms in British waters has been pushed back to the second half of next year. Dogger Bank A, which together with its two sister wind farms will have a combined installed capacity of 3.6 gigawatts, was due for completion during the six months to the end of September. SSE, the FTSE 100 energy group, has blamed stormy weather for further delays to the development, which had initially been expected to be finished this year. However, “project returns are not expected to be materially impacted”, the company said. – The Times

Britain has lost half a million small businesses since its withdrawal from the European Union and the onset of the pandemic, official figures show. The total number of private sector businesses fell by 56,000 to 5.5 million in the year to the start of 2024, the Department for Business and Trade said in its annual official estimate. It takes the total decline to about 500,000 since the stock of businesses peaked at six million at the start of 2020. – The Times

US close

Major indices closed lower on Thursday amid heightened tensions in the Middle East and a looming September payrolls report.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.44% at 42,011.59, while the S&P 500 lost 0.17% to 5,699.94 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.04% weaker at 17,918.48.

The Dow closed 184.93 points lower on Thursday, easily reversing gains recorded yesterday in what was a rollercoaster session for major indices.

Escalating tensions in the Middle East continued to remain in focus on Thursday after Iran launched a missile attack on Israel after the latter launched a ground invasion into neighbouring Lebanon.

Both market participants and the Federal Reserve were also looking ahead to new jobs data, with the release of September's all-important payrolls report set for Friday morning.