Bodycote maintains full-year guidance, Stagecoach launches court action against DfT

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 18 points higher on Friday, having closed down 1.41% at 7,231.04 on Thursday.

Stocks to watch

Thermal processing specialist Bodycote maintained full year guidance as group revenue for the four months of to April 30 rose 1% to £245m. The company said it had seen “excellent” growth in civil aerospace revenues, offset by anticipated weakness in automotive and general industrial revenues against strong comparatives from the same period last year.

Informa said it traded well in the first four months of 2019 and was confident about meeting expectations for annual results. The publishing and events company reported steady trading across its business.

Stagecoach Group confirmed on Friday that, along with its partners SNCF and Virgin, it has formally started legal action against the Department for Transport after its bid was disqualified from the next West Coast Partnership rail franchise. The FTSE 250 passenger transport operator said a claim has been issued at the High Court in London under Part 7 of the Civil Procedure Rules, together with a judicial review claim, alleging that the DfT breached its statutory duties.

Spectris reported that trading for the first four months of 2019 has fallen in line with expectations, with like-for-like sales up by 3% at the instrumentation and controls company as growth was driven by demand from the energy and metals, minerals and mining industries. Sales in Asia were particularly strong but US-China tariffs and slowing US industrial production caused lower sales in North America.

Newspaper round-up

The wealthy investors who controlled British Steel when it collapsed into insolvency are to face a grilling from MPs, as government officials race to find a buyer for the stricken company. The government’s official receiver took control of British Steel on Wednesday and is funding its operations, including the company’s Scunthorpe steelworks, which is one of the last two blast-furnace operations left in the UK. – Guardian

Uber is to launch its electric bike hire scheme in the UK, trialling Jump bikes in London through its app. The global ride-hailing firm will be battling with Lime for the e-bike market, after the retreat of dockless bicycle firms from the UK. Uber will place 350 bright red e-bikes in Islington and hopes to expand to other London boroughs in the coming months. – Guardian

Deliveroo is on track to create 70,000 jobs in UK restaurant sector by next year, providing some relief to a market racked with uncertainty as a flurry high street chains battle to stay afloat. A report from Capital Economics claimed the food delivery company, founded in 2013, had created around 25,000 roles in the UK restaurant industry in the past six years. – Telegraph

An independent panel set up by Facebook to scrutinise its own behaviour has said it should consider creating an elected "parliament" of users with the power to rewrite its rules. In a report released on Thursday, the group of academics said Facebook was suffering from a "crisis of public trust" created by its "top-down" approach to moderating and censoring what its users post on its service. – Telegraph

Investors in Marks & Spencer have raised concerns about the £30 million in fees and expenses the retailer is spending on its cash call to finance its food delivery venture with Ocado. M&S is tapping shareholders for £601.3 million in a deeply discounted one-for-five rights issue. However, under the terms of the share sale, unveiled this week, the retailer disclosed that the proceeds would actually amount to £570.7 million once fees and expenses were paid. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks finished well into the red on Thursday, with fears that trade tensions between Washington and Beijing were set to get worse, rather than better.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the session down 1.11% at 25,490.47, the S&P 500 lost 1.19% to 2,822.24, and the Nasdaq 100 was off 1.52% at 7,307.93.

At the open, the Dow had lost 361 points after another bruising session for US tech stocks the day before, with Asian-listed equities caught in their downdraft on Thursday.

A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce remarked overnight that trade talks between the two could only continue if the US was to adjust its "wrong actions".

He added that the US crackdown on Chinese firms was threatening the "global industrial and supply chain".