Persimmon enjoys strong first half, Ryanair traffic up despite strikes

London open

The FTSE 100 is predicted to dip by around four points on Tuesday morning, after its fall to 6,522.26 the day before.

Stocks to watch

Housebuilder Persimmon said it was still too soon to judge the effect of Brexit on the new homes market, adding that trading through the first half had been “strong”, with legal completion volumes up 6% to 7,238 and the average selling price up 6% to around £205,500. “We believe that market fundamentals remain strong, supported by long term unfulfilled demand, and that the UK housing market will continue to provide good opportunities for those companies with the right strategic focus and the balance sheet strength to navigate future changes in trading conditions.”

Budget airline Ryanair reported an 11% increase in traffic in June to 10.6m customers. Load factor, which gauges how many seats were taken up on the flights, nudged up to 94% from 93% and rolling annual traffic grew 16% to 109.6m despite the repeated disruptions caused by French air traffic control strikes.

Balfour Beatty has won a £170m contract to upgrade baggage screening and handling systems for Heathrow Airport. The project was awarded through the Heathrow Airport Limited Delivery Integrator Framework to which Balfour Beatty was appointed in 2014, and will involve upgrading and installing baggage screening and handling systems at Heathrow's eastern baggage facility.

Newspaper round-up

Britain is turning to the private sector to prepare for Brexit, seeking to second consultants to boost a civil service with almost no experience of complex trade negotiations. Sir Jeremy Heywood, the country’s top civil servant, has held talks with companies including accountants EY and KPMG, and the consultants McKinsey, as he prepares for a negotiation with Brussels described by outgoing prime minister David Cameron as “the most important task the British civil service has undertaken in decades”. - Financial Times

Senior rail executives responsible for troubled Southern commuter services are to be grilled by MPs on Tuesday as the controversy over the chaos suffered by passengers travelling into London continues to mount. Charles Horton, the chief executive of Go-Ahead Group's Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which runs the Southern rail franchise, and Dyan Crowther, its chief operating officer, are to be questioned by the Transport Select Committee. It comes as GTR prepares to publish a revised timetable for Southern tomorrow, which the RMT says could result in 350 services being cancelled each day. - Telegraph

Activist investors are calling for John Menzies to split in two and hire a chairman. The distribution firm, which started as a bookshop in 1833 but now focuses on airport logistics, is facing mounting pressure from German-based Shareholder Value Management (SVM). - Daily Mail

US close

Wall Street was closed on Monday due to the Independence Day national holiday in the US.