Marston's secures breach of loan waiver, Rank suspends next dividend

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 58 points higher on Monday, having closed up 2.82% at 5,786.96 on Friday.

Stocks to watch

Pub group Marston's said it had secured a waiver against any breach of its loan agreements that might arise as a result of the government coronavirus lockdown that has closed bars and restaurants. The waiver has been granted until 29 May with an automatic extension to 15 June 2020 in certain circumstances, the company said on Monday, adding that it was also reviewing whether it needed to consult with bondholders about further covenant waivers.

Rank said it would not pay its next dividend as the casino operator said about 7,000 of its UK workers had been furloughed under the government's Covid-19 job retention programme. The FTSE 250 company said it would not recommend a dividend to be paid in October unless all creditors affected by its actions to mitigate Covid-19 had been resolved and it had a clear view of its cash flow after reopening venues.

Newspaper round-up

Crucial publicly owned transport services could face the axe because of lost revenues due to passengers staying away, cities around England have warned, as Metro light rail systems losing tens of millions of pounds a month are not covered by the Treasury’s support for bus and rail operators during the coronavirus lockdown. While private rail franchises have been replaced by guaranteed income, and bus operators’ revenue topped up, the government has yet to bail out major urban networks including Manchester’s Metrolink, the Tyne and Wear Metro and Liverpool’s Merseyrail, as well as the London Underground. – Guardian

Landlords are this week ratcheting up the pressure on businesses to pay rent during the lockdown by issuing winding up orders even against the likes of Poundstretcher and Matalan, who between them employ 14,000. Matalan, the clothes retailer run by billionaire John Hargreaves that has more than 8,000 staff across 230 stores, has been blindsided by the writ from landlord Sheet Anchor Evolve. – Telegraph

More than 11m Britons will be out of work by summer as the furlough scheme expands far beyond initial official estimates, according to new forecasts. The Government’s job retention scheme, which allows employees to lay off workers temporarily while the state covers 80pc of their wages, launches on Monday, but is expected to overshoot early Treasury predictions as more businesses rush to cut their payroll costs. According to the Resolution Foundation, a think tank, as many as 8.3m employees could be furloughed under the Job Retention Scheme, compared to 3m in the Treasury’s initial assumptions. – Telegraph

Some of the most senior figures in the City are calling for listed companies seeking equity capital in the weeks to come to try to accommodate private investors, amid mounting anger that their rights are being flouted. In an open letter to plc chiefs, to be published today, the owners of investment platforms, small investor groups and mainstream fund managers have united to express deep concern that private investors are being disadvantaged and short-changed. – The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks finished their last session of the week higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 2.99% at 24,242.49.

At the same time, the S&P 500 was ahead 2.68% at 2,874.56, and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.38% to 8,650.14.