Biffa revenues recover to 90pc of full-year levels, Computacenter sees first-half profit improve

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 33 points lower on Wednesday, having closed down 0.12% at 5,930.30 on Tuesday.

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Waste management firm Biffa said revenues had recovered to 90% of full year levels with underlying profits improving monthly as it maintained annual guidance. The company on Wednesday said industrial and commercial (I&C) revenues were at 87% and industrial 86% last month, adding that it expected to stop furloughing staff at the end of September. Ongoing pressure on plastic prices will impact trading at Biffa’s Seaham plant until it starts to produce food grade recycled materials in April 2021, the firm said in a trading update.

Computacenter said it expected annual adjusted pretax profit to be at least £180m as it reported a 39.4% increase in first-half profit to £74.6m. The company has agreed to buy Canada's Pivot Technology for CAD 105.8m (£62m) to expand in the US and Canada.

Sanne reported net revenue growth of 9.5% in its first half on Wednesday, to £83.9m, with organic growth of 8.9%, as the company confirmed a second quarter Covid-19-related slowdown in new fund activity. The FTSE 250 firm said underlying operating profit grew 14.0% for the six months ended 30 June, to £23m, as its underlying operating profit margin improved 210 basis points to 27.4% in the first half. That, its board said, was the result of actions it took in the second half of 2019.

Newspaper round-up

Amazon’s key UK business paid just 3% more tax last year when profits rose by more than a third as the online retailer benefited from the switch to home shopping. The group’s warehouse and logistics operation, which employs more than two-thirds of its 30,000-plus UK workforce, Amazon UK Services, said its corporation tax contribution was £14.46m in 2019, up from £14.03m the year before. Pretax profits at the division soared 35% to nearly £102m as revenues rose by 29% to nearly £3bn, according to accounts about to be published by Companies House. - Guardian

Supermarket Iceland has created 3,000 new jobs to cope with the huge extra demand for online groceries since the lockdown in March, the company said. Online orders surged by more than 300% since April as shoppers rushed to book delivery slots and as all non-essential retailers were forced to shut their doors. - Guardian

Britain needs a new furlough programme to avoid a “cliff edge” surge in unemployment when the Job Retention Scheme ends next month, according to business groups and unions. Government support for the pay of employees who are staying off work is being cut back gradually in September and October, but comes to an end beyond that point. - Telegraph

Lloyds Banking Group has been censured by the competition watchdog for forcing small companies damaged by the pandemic to open paid-for business current accounts to access emergency state-backed loans. The Competition and Markets Authority said the bank, one of the largest in the small business market, had unfairly limited choice by requiring companies seeking credit during the crisis to open an account so they could access the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. - The Times

A clash between retailers and landlords has escalated as Britain’s biggest property owners call on the government to end a ban on aggressive collection of rent. The British Property Federation has written to Alok Sharma, the business secretary, urging him to end a moratorium introduced at the start of the pandemic. It said the ban was “undermining the UK’s attractiveness” as a place to invest in property and development, which could undermine the recovery. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks were sharply lower after the bell on Tuesday as tech stocks continued on with their worst performance since March.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.25% at 27,500.89, the S&P 500 lost 2.78% to 3,331.84, and the Nasdaq Composite slid 4.11% to 10,847.69.

The Dow closed 632.42 points lower on Tuesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session when technology shares suffered their worst sell-off in more than five months.

Besides the ongoing tech rout, geopolitical developments were also weighing on sentiment on Tuesday after China accused the US of "bullying" following the launch of Beijing's global data security initiative.

China's new programme comes as a result of Washington's continued crackdown on the Asian nation's largest tech firms and pressuring other countries around the world to block access to them.