Mitie warns on profits, Diploma drives up dividend

London open

According to sources in the City, the FTSE 100 index was expected to rise 11 points on Monday.

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As well as reporting worse profits for the first half and cutting its dividend, facilities management group Mitie said the second half should see an improvement but the full year turnout will fall short of expectations. As chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith steps down in December, the company has already taken the decision to withdraw from the domiciliary healthcare market and has placed this business under strategic review.

GlaxoSmithKline has filed a US regulatory submission for a new three-drug inhaler treatment for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases such as chronic bronchitis and emphysema. The filing was achieved around 18 months earlier than originally planned, with a regulatory submission in the EU also planned in the coming weeks, the company said.

Technical products supplier Diploma said full year pre-tax profits rose 4% to £54m on the back of a rise in revenue to £382.6m from £333.8m. The total dividend jumped 10% to 20p a share.

US science and technology developer Allied Minds has created a new subsidiary Vatic Materials, which has agreed to license certain technologies from Pennsylvania State University. Vatic Materials will focus on developing materials and fabrication processes for transparent conducting thin films, such as on touch screens, lighting and photovoltaics, which will allow conductive surfaces to be potentially thinner and more cost effective.

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Theresa May has set out the terms of a new grand bargain with business, where the government invests to boost productivity and cuts corporation tax, in exchange for help tackling the worst excesses of capitalism. Setting out her business strategy, the UK prime minister proposes a pact with corporate Britain to work together to defend capitalism, free markets and free trade from populist attacks. - Financial Times

China will not "shut the door" on globalisation, despite Donald Trump's threats to abandon free trade deals and slap tariffs on the world's second largest economy, president Xi Jinping has vowed. Mr Xi described Mr Trump's surprise victory in the US presidential election as a "hinge moment" in US-China relations but insisted the country would play an even bigger role in the process of economic integration and pledged to open up the country to foreign investment. - Telegraph

One of the biggest auctions of mobile-phone spectrum could be launched this week in a deal that could rake in at least £1 billion for the Treasury and is likely to attract intense interest. BT, O2, Vodafone and Three are among likely bidders in the auction for 190 MHz of capacity being put up for sale by Ofcom, the telecoms regulator. - The Times

US close

Wall Street finished slightly lower as traders took profits ahead of the Thanksgiving Day Holiday-shortened week ahead and after two top US central bank officials indicated their support for an interest rate hike, likely in December.

The Dow Jones Industrials finished down b y 0.19% or 35.89 points at 18,867.93, alongside the S&P 500 which slipped 0.24% or 5.22 points to 2,181.90 and a decline for the Nasdaq Composite of 0.23% or 12.46 points to end at 5,321.51.