Sky posts solid quarterly growth, Unilever slumps on weak consumer demand

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 20 points lower on Thursday, after closing down 0.66% at 7,024.01 on Wednesday.

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Subscription broadcaster and broadband provider Sky posted an update to its first quarter trading on Thursday, with group revenue up 7% to £3.1bn and like-for-like revenue up 5%. The FTSE 100 firm reported positive growth in all markets, with revenue in the UK and Ireland up £101m to £2.1bn, or 5% at constant currencies. In Germany and Austria, revenue was up £98m to £434m, or 9% at constant currencies, while in Italy revenue totalled £610m - an increase of £156m, or 13% growth at constant currencies.

Hargreaves Lansdown’s first quarter revenue increased but the financial services company was affected by low investor confidence in the wake of the Brexit result from the EU referendum as new business flows fell. For the three months ended 12 October, the company reported a record net quarterly revenue of £90.6m, a 15% increase from the first quarter in 2015. New business inflows fell 22% to £1.11bn

As a storm broke over a supermarket pricing dispute over Marmite and several other of its brands, Unilever reported solid underlying sales amid tough third-quarter conditions though volumes were down. Underlying sales grew 3.2% but turnover declined 0.1% in the three months to 30 September against a strong comparator last year as the company faced a deterioration of trading conditions in a number of countries, with consumer demand remaining widely weak.

Newspaper round-up

Britain is facing a divorce bill from the EU for as much as €20bn, according to a Financial Times analysis that shows the bloc’s shared budget is emerging as one of the biggest political obstacles to a Brexit deal. More than €300bn of shared payment liabilities will need to be settled in the divorce reckoning, according to EU accounts. It is a legacy of joint financial obligations stretching back decades — from pension pledges and multi-annual contracts to commitments to fund infrastructure projects — that Brussels will insist the UK must honour. – Financial Times

The plummeting pound is threatening UK households’ supplies of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Marmite spread, as Tesco, the country’s biggest supermarket, pulled dozens of products from sale online in a row over who should bear the cost of the weakening currency. Unilever has demanded steep price increases to offset the higher cost of imported commodities, which are priced in euros and dollars, according to executives at multiple supermarket groups. – Financial Times

Two coal power plants will be paid a combined £77m to be on standby this winter as part of National Grid’s plan to minimise the risk of electricity blackouts. The size of the UK’s capacity margin – the buffer zone between available power supply and predicted peak demand – will be revealed on Friday when National Grid publishes its winter outlook. – Guardian

Rail passengers will be able to claim compensation when trains are more than 15 minutes late, under new plans revealed by the Department for Transport (DfT). The policy, Delay Repay 15, will be launched first on Southern trains, which have suffered months of disruption over disputes about the role of conductors. It will then feature on other Govia Thameslink Railway services in the coming months before being rolled out across the country. - Guardian

John Stumpf, the embattled chief executive of Wells Fargo, has resigned with immediate effect after the US bank admitted that staff opened unauthorised accounts for several years to meet sales targets. Mr Stumpf, who led Wells Fargo since 2007 and steered the bank through the financial crisis, will also step down as the bank's chairman, the company said last night. – Telegraph

British businesses should stop hiding and instead travel the world promoting “Brand Britain” as “cheerleaders of open markets”, according to former Sainsbury’s boss Justin King. The self-confessed "remoaner" - a nickname reflecting his vote to remain in the EU and his subsequent grumbling - said the economy was performing well, but that should not be taken for granted. – Telegraph

The Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority have denied an accusation of insider dealing after it emerged that they exchanged confidential information about a regulatory investigation into Royal Bank of Scotland. Before the partial sale of the government’s stake in RBS, John Kingman, one of the Treasury’s top civil servants, sought and was provided with secret details about the timing of an FCA report into the activities of the bank’s global restructuring group (GRG). – The Times

Europe would shoot itself in the foot if it tried to dismantle the City of London in Brexit negotiations, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has warned. Sir Jon Cunliffe, formerly Britain’s permanent representative to the European Union, admitted that the nation would suffer if Brussels tried to attract business to the Continent, but he said that Europe also would be harmed because the costs of finance would rise. – The Times

US close

Wall Street ended on a mixed note amid sharp falls in basic materials and biotechnology issues and as minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed rate-setters had moved closer to another interest rate hike.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 15.54 points or 0.09% to 18,144.20 points, the S&P 500 increased 0.11% or 2.45 points to close at 2,139.18 points and the Nasdaq lost 0.15% or 7.77 points to finish at 5,239.02 points.

At the same time, West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures slipped 1.2% to $50.18 per barrel in NYMEX trading.

Minutes of the US Federal Open Market Committee's last meeting on 21 September revealed a still divided group of policymakers, although several of those who opted to stay put believed it had been a "close call" while "some" believed it would be appropriate to tighten "relatively soon" if the jobs market and the economy continued to strengthen.

The release of the minutes saw the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note finish up by one basis point at 1.77%.

Ahead of the minutes, New York Fed President Bill Dudley said since US inflation remains low and economic expansion could last at least five years, the Fed can be "gentle" in removing monetary stimulus.

"We're at a point where the economic expansion has plenty of room to run," he said.