Randgold posts another record quarter, Waterman trades in line
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 31 points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.32% at 7,184.49 on Friday.
Stocks to watch
Randgold Resources said it was confident of topping production guidance of 670,000 oz of gold for 2016 from its Loulo-Gounkoto mining complex in Mali, with another record quarter at the end of the year. Chief executive Mark Bristow said Loulo-Gounkoto should maintain an annual production of at least 600,000 oz for at least the next 10 years.
Engineering and environmental consultancy Waterman Group released a trading update on Monday, for its half-year to 31 December, with the board describing the period as “positive”. The London-listed firm said revenue, profit and operating margin percentage were generally in line with the prior year comparable period, and it expected to report net funds at period end of £6.7m - up from £5.5m at 30 June.
Market research firm YouGov anticipates that trading in the first half of the year is will be ahead of expectations, partly due to weak sterling and because of growth in the data products and services divisions. The AIM-listed company said that the revenue from the data products and services divisions continued to grow “strongly” in line with expectations, while its syndicated data products, YouGov BrandIndex and YouGov Profiles, expanded their client bases with YouGov Profiles in particular gaining traction in the market.
Newspaper round-up
The vote to leave the European Union appears to have unshackled UK public spending, with data from government procurement revealing a sharp rise in the value of work put out to tender to nearly £100 billion in the last three months of 2016. According to Tussell, an analytics consultancy which runs a database of UK public sector tenders and contracts, the data could explain why official statistics have shown the economy to be more benign than the feared. - The Times
The American consulting engineer playing a key role in Britain’s new High Speed Two rail route has approached its UK competitor WS Atkins about a possible $4 billion merger. CH2M is believed to have contacted its listed British rival, with whom it often partners on projects, at the end of last year to explore whether a tie-up could work. - The Times
British business leaders have spoken out against US president Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. The Institute of Directors (IoD) and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) both agreed the ban would be bad for business while Sir Martin Sorrell, the head of advertising group WPP, expressed concerns about the effect on his workers and their families and said he had an “instinctive dislike” of such measures. - Guardian
Sir Philip Green is understood to be close to a deal that will see him stump up more than £350m to fund the pensions of former BHS staff who have been left in limbo since the retail chain's collapse last year. Seven months ago the retail tycoon promised MPs that he would "sort" the BHS £571m deficit but talks between Sir Philip and the Pensions Regulator have been complicated by the watchdog's investigations into the former BHS owner. - Telegraph
US close
Markets in New York finished the week mixed on Friday, with the Dow and the S&P both in the red, while the Nasdaq made modest gains.
At close on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.04% at 20,09.78 and the S&P 500 was off 0.09% at 2,294.69.
The Nasdaq 100 managed a 0.22% climb to 5,168.06.