Johnson Matthey posts decent rise in profits, Inmarsat picks Airbus as manufacturing partner

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 15 points higher on Thursday, having closed down 1.15% at 7,185.30 on Wednesday.

Stocks to watch

Speciality chemicals company Johnson Matthey posted a 53% rise in pre-tax profits as tighter regulation in Europe and China helped its clean air division. Profits came it at £523m on revenues of £10.7bn, up 5% as the company said it expected current year growth in operating performance at constant rates to be within medium term guidance of mid to high single digit growth.

Satellite communications giant Inmarsat announced on Thursday that Airbus Defence & Space had been selected as its satellite manufacturing partner, as part of the development of its ‘Global Xpress’ (GX) network. The FTSE 250 company said the partnership would provide a “step-change” in GX's capabilities, capacity and agility for the benefit of existing and future Inmarsat customers, partners and investors.

TR Property Investment Trust reported a 5.8% improvement in its net asset value per share in its full-year results on Thursday, to 418.54p. The FTSE 250 firm said shareholders’ funds were also ahead 5.8% at £1.33bn in the year ended 31 March, with shares in issue at year-end totalling 317.4 million, in line with the prior year. Its net debt ratio stood at 10%, narrowing from 14.6% year-on-year.

Newspaper round-up

Aveva looks set to break into the FTSE 100 after the industrial software developer’s combination with a French rival helped to boost annual earnings by a fifth. The Cambridge-based software-maker is on course to replace Easyjet in the index of Britain’s biggest publicly listed companies after its union with Schneider Electric in March last year. It would become the third software company in the top 100 after Sage and Micro Focus. - The Times

British tech pioneer Trainline is powering ahead with a blockbuster £1.5bn float on the London stock market next month. The travel bookings company said it would seek to raise £75m within weeks by selling new shares to investors to fund expansion. Existing shareholders, bosses and staff are also set to sell shares, with at least one quarter of the firm due to be listed on the stock market. - Daily Mail

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will tell Tory leadership hopefuls that they cannot hope to rebuild the party simply by cutting taxes and slashing red tape. He will also warn against "reckless" solutions offered by “populists” and defend government intervention on issues such as the national living wage. Hammond will argue that a “regulated market model” rather than total liberalisation is the best way to raise living standards. - The Guardian

UK car production plunged by almost half in April as factory shutdowns took their toll on the industry. Many car makers imposed production shutdown which had been scheduled to follow the UK’s expected departure from the EU on 29 March. Several brought forward or extended shutdowns that normally take place in the summer, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). - Daily Telegraph

Supporters of a second referendum are “left-wing intellectuals” who seem to be sneering at "ordinary people", the Labour Party’s chairman has said. As the party’s splits over Brexit widened, Ian Lavery, an influential ally of Jeremy Corbyn, attacked the sections of the party who believed they could take power "by fighting for the biggest share of the 48 per cent". - The Times

US close

Wall Street equities closed lower on Wednesday, as ongoing trade tensions fuelled worries about growth concerns, leading to increased purchases of government bonds.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.87% at 25,126.41, while the S&P 500 closed 0.69% lower at 2,783.02 and the Nasdaq Composite ended the session 0.79% weaker at 7,547.31.

The Dow closed 221 points lower on Wednesday, following on from its 237 point decline during the previous session.

With the world's two largest economies locked in a bitter trade dispute and disappointing economic data from other major economies, investors were in risk aversion mode as fears of another global recession reared their ugly head again.

In regards to China, the US Treasury Department declined to label the Asian power as a currency manipulator on Tuesday in their semi-annual foreign-exchange report to Congress.