Persimmon H1 profit up, Rank Group FY profit and revenue tick higher

London’s FTSE 100 was set to open 24 points higher than Monday’s close at 6,852.

Stocks to watch

Persimmon reported a better-than-expected jump in first half pre-tax profit on Tuesday as the housebuilder shrugged off Brexit uncertainty.

Pre-tax profit rose 29% to £352.3m in the six months to 30 June on a 12% increase in revenue to £1.49bn. Analysts at Deutsche Bank had anticipated a 26% increase in pre-tax profits to £345m.

Rank Group, which operates Grosvenor Casinos and Mecca bingo halls, reported an increase in full-year pre-tax profit and revenues.

Adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to the end of June ticked up 4% to £77.4m while group revenue nudged up 2% to £753m.

Chief executive Henry Birch said: “I am pleased to report a solid set of results with group revenue up 2%, again recording like-for-like growth across all brands and channels in the year.

“This year we have focussed on delivering significant projects to ensure we have the right platform in place for future growth. This included the migration of our digital business onto a new platform, the rollout of an improved retail casino management system and investments into new generation machines in both our casino and bingo venues."

Hansteen Holdings posted a drop in earnings in the first half on Tuesday, blaming tough comparatives in the same period a year earlier.

The investor in UK and continental European industrial property said pre-tax profit fell to £54.8m in the six months to 30 June from £103.7m the previous year. The company said the decrease in profits was “largely due to the high property revaluation in the first half of 2015 that was not repeated in the first half of 2016”.

In the press

Britain is facing a debt time bomb with more than 1.5 million households barely able to cover the interest payments on their personal loans, according to the TUC. The problem has ballooned in the past three years as families have taken on £48 billion more non-mortgage debt while disposable incomes fell. – The Times

Women earn 18% less than men on average, according to new research that highlights the challenge facing Theresa May in closing Britain’s stubbornly wide gender pay gap. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) also found that the gap balloons after women have children, raising the prospect that mothers are missing out on pay rises and promotions. That is echoed by a separate report on Tuesday suggesting that male managers are 40% more likely than female managers to be promoted. – The Guardian

China is at mounting risk of a Japanese-style "liquidity trap" as monetary policy loses traction and the economy approaches credit exhaustion, forcing a shift towards Keynesian fiscal stimulus. Officials at the Chinese People’s Bank (PBOC) have begun to call for a fundamental change in strategy, warning that interest rate cuts have become an increasingly blunt tool. – The Telegraph

BHS's 88-year run on the High Street will come to an end this week when the final stores close their doors. The last 35 BHS shops are expected to close after the firm went into administration in April. - Daily Mail

US close

US stocks ended little changed on Monday amid declining oil prices, as investors mulled over hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve policymakers ahead of a speech by chair Janet Yellen later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 closed down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq eked out a 0.1% gain.

Meanwhile, oil prices settled sharply lower following seven straight sessions of gains amid news that Iraq – OPEC’s second-biggest oil producer – will boost its oil exports by 5%. A stronger dollar and a jump in the Baker Hughes US oil-rig count also weighed on prices.