Mitie profits surge; Bridgepoint chair William Jackson to step down
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The FTSE 100 was called to open around 28 points higher.
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Annual profits at outsourcing giant Mitie surged as revenues hit a record £4.5bn - in line with company expectations. Pre-tax profit for the year to March 31 came in at £156m from £105m a year earlier. Revenues were up from £4bn as Mitie’s order book rose to $11.4bn from £90.7bn. Shareholders were rewarded with a 38% dividend increase to 4p a share.
Asset manager Bridgepoint Group announced that founder and chair William Jackson is to step down from the board this summer. Jackson, who will continue to chair Bridgepoint’s Private Equity business, said it was a “good time” to transition to an independent non-executive chair after three years as a listed company. The board has unanimously agreed to appoint Tim Score, currently chair of British Land, as Jackson’s replacement, with the succession happening on 1 July.
Newspaper round-up
Shares of Nvidia rallied to record highs on Wednesday, with the artificial-intelligence chipmaker’s stock market valuation hitting the $3tn mark and overtaking Apple to become the world’s second most valuable company. The chipmaker’s stock was up 5.16% at $1,224.40, giving Nvidia a market value of $3.01tn at market close. Apple’s market capitalization was at $3.00tn at market close as its stock climbed 0.78%. – Guardian
The UK’s statistics watchdog has opened an investigation into remarks made by Rishi Sunak about the economy “going gangbusters” amid concerns that politicians could misuse economic data in the run-up to the election. Sir Robert Chote, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, will examine whether the prime minister repeated comments that were “taken out of context” and exaggerated the Conservative party’s economic record. – Guardian
Germany has announced €23bn (£20bn) in income tax cuts to help struggling households with inflation. Christian Lindner, the German finance minister, on Wednesday laid out plans to raise income tax thresholds. The move will be worth €430 for every working adult in Germany over the next two years. – Telegraph
A decision to award the contract to run the National Lottery was “unfairly favourable” to Czech bidder Allwyn, lawyers for former Daily Express owner Richard Desmond have claimed. In the High Court on Wednesday, lawyers for the media mogul’s Northern & Shell alleged there were conflicts of interest during the bidding process to run the prize for the next decade and that the competition was “seriously flawed”. – Telegraph
US close
US stocks rose strongly on Wednesday with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both finishing at new record highs on the back a big surge in the share price of chipmaker Nvidia, which topped a new market cap $3 trillion.
The S&P 500 rose 1.2% to a new high of 5,354.03, while the Nasdaq jumped 2.0% to 17,187.90, with Nvidia rising more than 5% to set a new record high, while stocks across tech sector performed well. The Dow, however, only gained 0.3% to 38,807.33.
Markets were bolstered by a less-than-expected rise in private-sector payrolls in May. According to ADP, job creation was 152,000, down from April's revised 188,000 increase and versus expectations for a 173,000 jump.