Old Mutual to separate businesses, JD Wetherspoon sales fizz

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to enjoy a strong start on Friday, rising around 68 points to reverse some of the prior day's declines.

Stocks to watch

Old Mutual Group will separate its four underlying businesses - Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM), Nedbank, Old Mutual Wealth (OMW) and OM Asset Management (OMAM) - and wind itself up. Apart from confirming that it will reduce its stake in Johannesburg-listed Nedbank, the FTSE 100 group said it had a range of options available to complete the route to a final separation it anticipated by the end of 2018.

FTSE 250 pubco JD Wetherspoon took more cash come across its bars in the first half of its financial year, with revenue up 6.2% to £790.3m from £744.4m, and like-for-like sales up 2.9%. The company's operating profit was down by 10.8% in the 26 weeks to 24 January, however, to £49.4m, with profit before tax dipping 3.9% to £36m.

Landscape products group Marshalls has posted a 57% rise in pre-tax profits to £35.3m on the back of an 8% jump in revenue to £386.2m. Martyn Coffey, chief executive, said, trading conditions remained positive and the group continued to experience positive order intake and sales growth across the business.

Newspaper round-up

The US has been handed a proposal that would end the last vestiges of its control over the internet, touching off a potentially contentious political debate in Washington over the future of cyber space. The proposal was put forward on Thursday by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann), the international body that oversees the internet’s addressing system. It would lead to the US handing over its role as the ultimate authority for internet naming, in return for an overhaul of Icann’s governance arrangements intended to protect it from government meddling in future. – Financial Times

Lloyds Bank has launched a new £1bn fund to help owners of commercial real estate improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. The bank claims that over the life of the fund, the amount of energy saved could be as much as 110,000 tonnes of carbon – equivalent to the output of more than 22,000 homes. Property owners will be able to access the fund, which is the first of its kind, after undergoing a test to assess how much energy efficiency a borrower can achieve. – Telegraph

Two British citizens were sentenced to prison in New York last night after being convicted in the first US trial arising from a global investigation into manipulation of Libor, the leading benchmark for pricing financial transactions. Anthony Allen, Rabobank’s former global head of liquidity and finance, was sentenced to two years in jail. Anthony Conti, a former senior trader, was sentenced to one year in prison. – The Times

US close

Wall Street was all mouth and no trousers on Thursday, ending the day back where it started despite bustling hither and thither against a backdrop of falling oil and bold action from the European Central Bank.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrials was just on the wrong side of flat back at five points below the 17,000 level, down 0.02%, while the S&P 500 was marginally in the green, up 0.31 point or 0.02% to close at 1,989.57. The Nasdaq composite lost 12.2 points, or 0.26% to end the session at 4,662.16.

Earlier the indices had all moved higher after the ECB surprised strategists and economists with a barrage of stimulus measures, slashing its main 'refi' rate by five basis points (bps) to 0.00%, increasing quantitative easing (QE) by €20bn to €80bn until at least March 2017.

Meanwhile, oil futures shed their spectacular overnight gains as US crude inventory data weighed on trading sentiment, with West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures down 0.9% to $37.95 a barrel and Brent crude 2.2% lower at $40.17.