Mondi earnings grow comfortably, Rolls-Royce free cash flow more than doubles
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 11 points lower on Thursday, having closed down 0.61% at 7,107.20 on Wednesday.
Stocks to watch
Mondi reported “strong” financial performance in its final results on Thursday, with revenue rising 5% year-on-year to €7.481bn. The FTSE 100 paper and packaging group said underlying EBITDA for the year ended 31 December was €1.764bn, up 19%, while basic underlying earnings per share were ahead 27% at 189.1 euro cents. Its board recommended a full year ordinary dividend of 76.0 euro cents per share - a 23% increase over last year’s distribution.
British American Tobacco grew underlying earnings above its target range last year despite cigarette volumes declining 3.5% as predicted. BAT finance director Ben Stevens also announced his retirement after 30 years with the company.
Rolls-Royce reported free cash flow more than doubled to £641m last year and it is aiming to generate at least £1bn by 2020. The engine maker said it has decided to withdraw from the current competition to power Boeing's proposed new midsize aeroplane.
Newspaper round-up
British car production declined for the eighth month in a row in January as output bound for China plunged by more than 70%. The car industry is struggling with multiple headwinds, including falling demand in China, a regulatory backlash against diesel vehicles in Europe and continued uncertainty over Brexit, which has put the brakes on investment in the UK. – Guardian
More than 1 million public sector workers in Britain are paid less than the amount required to make ends meet, trapping them in in-work poverty, according to a report. The Living Wage Foundation said as many as 1.2 million people working for the NHS, councils and other public sector employers receive unsustainably low wages of less than £9 an hour, or £10.55 in London. – Guardian
British businesses will not be blocked from bidding for most foreign government contracts under a "no deal" Brexit. The World Trade Organization has agreed the UK can join its Government Procurement Agreement as a non-EU member, protecting access to a market worth as much as £1.3 trillion. – Telegraph
The Spanish giant that owns UK government contractor Amey has been forced to slash the value of the business by almost 90pc in the latest blow to the outsourcing sector. Ferrovial said the book value of Amey, whose 20,000 employees maintain train tracks, escort prisoners and house armed forces personnel, was now just €103m (£88m) after a €774m write-off. – Telegraph
Consumer confidence is holding firm, despite growing uncertainty about the terms on which Britain will leave the European Union, according to a survey. GFK’s consumer confidence index, followed by the Bank of England and other policymakers, came in at -13 in February. This was an improvement from -14 in January, but lower than after the EU referendum in 2016. It has been lower only twice in the past five and a half years, in December and January. – The Times
US close
US stocks finished in the red on Wednesday, as investors kept an eye on the summit taking place between Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day down 0.28% at 25,985.16, the S&P 500 lost 0.05% to 2,792.38, and the Nasdaq 100 was off 0.09% at 7,117.00
At the open, the Dow dropped 85 points to trade below the 26,000 mark one more, as Trump and Kim kicked-off a second round of talks in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the pair were discussing the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
The US president also took some time to fire shots at his former lawyer Michael Cohen, whom he branded as a "con man," a "cheat" and a "racist".
Trump said Cohen was "lying in order to reduce his prison time" and that "he did bad things unrelated to Trump."