Ibstock sells US brickmaking business, Indivior gets good news from Canadian regulator

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 14 points lower on Friday, having closed down 1.28% at 6,960.32 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Ibstock said it had sold its US brick making unit Glen-Gery to Brickworks Limited for an enterprise value of $110m and use the proceeds to pay off debt. Ibstock added that it still expected to deliver adjusted EBITDA of £121m - £125m for the year to end-December (which assumed a full year 2018 contribution from Glen-Gery of £11m). Ibstock said it had made £3.7m from a sale of surplus land which, when combined with previously announced sales, resulted in a total EBITDA impact of £9.5m for the year and was excluded from the earlier guidance.

Marine services company James Fisher backed its outlook for the year on Friday as it posted a 14% jump in revenue for the 10 months to the end of October. The group said its marine support division continues to show good growth from its services to the renewables sector and from global ship to ship services.

As it battles a legal headache in the US, Indivior had some good news north of the border on Friday, where regulators approved its new long-lasting treatment for opioid addiction. Health Canada gave the green light to Sublocade, an extended-release buprenorphine injection, for the management of moderate to severe opioid use disorder in adults.

HICL Infrastructure Company announced on Friday that Diamond Transmission Partners, a consortium comprising itself and Mitsubishi subsidiary Diamond Transmission Corporation, has been selected by Ofgem as the preferred bidder to own and operate the offshore transmission link to the Galloper Offshore Wind Farm project. The FTSE 250 company said the offshore transmission owner regime covered regulated assets where the operator took ownership of an operational transmission asset and received contractual, availability-based revenues over a 20-year period. It said the Galloper OFTO represented the third successful bid by the partnership of HICL and Diamond Transmission Corporation.

Newspaper round-up

Theresa May warned MPs that the public wanted Brexit “settled” as she faced bitter opposition from her own party to her EU exit deal yesterday. The prime minister presented the draft agreement on a future relationship with Europe to a largely hostile Commons after closing a 17-month negotiation earlier than expected. - The Times

Virgin Atlantic has opened talks with the ailing regional airline Flybe, which recently put itself up for sale amid mounting losses, according to reports last night. The transatlantic airline backed by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group is interested in Britain’s biggest regional airline in an attempt to better connect long-haul operations with smaller UK airports. - Telegraph

Consumers face paying half a billion pounds more than expected for the rollout of smart meters and the programme has no chance of hitting its deadline, the UK’s spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office said that with 39m old-fashioned meters yet to be replaced, there is “no realistic prospect” of meeting a goal of all homes and businesses being offered one by the end of 2020 as planned. - Guardian

US close

Markets in the United States were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday.

On Wednesday, the major indices ended on a mixed note, trying to bounce back from heavy losses earlier in the week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.004% at 24,464.69 on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 2,649.93 and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.75% higher at 6,576.66.