UBM acquires US fashion trade shows, Hammerson refinances

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to drop 22 points on Friday morning, extending losses from the previous day.

Stocks to watch

Property development and investment company Hammerson shored up its finances on Friday, successfully syndicating and signing a £420m unsecured revolving credit facility with eight international banks, at an initial margin of 90 basis points. The FTSE 100 firm replaced an existing £150m facility, which would have matured in April 2017 and featured a margin of 150 basis points.

UBM has acquired Business Journals Inc (BJI), a producer of fashion trade shows in New York and Las Vegas, for $69m in cash. As part of UBM's focus on events since it agreed to sell its PR Newswire arm in December, it said the addition of BJI was highly complementary to its existing fashion trade show portfolio and was expected to make a modest post tax contribution this financial year.

Newspaper round-up

The competition watchdog has warned estate agents that they risk breaking the law by colluding over decisions to list on the property portal OnTheMarket and remove their business from the market leaders Rightmove and Zoopla. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which threatened them with potential fines and even jail sentences, said that it was aware that rival estate agents may be making joint decisions on where they list properties. - The Times

The over-50s group Saga is preparing for life after private equity ownership after Acromas sold off the remainder of its shares. Saga initially struggled on the stock market following its debut in May 2014, but the price has stabilised in recent months and was boosted by a dividend increase alongside encouraging annual results this week. Acromas placed the last of its 31.5% stake with institutional investors in a sale on Thursday night. - The Daily Telegraph

Barack Obama will appeal to voters today to ensure that Britain continues its “outsize influence” by remaining inside a European Union that “enhances its global leadership”. The US president flew to the UK last night to make what David Cameron hopes will be one of the referendum campaign’s most powerful interventions. - The Times

US close

US stocks took a back step on Thursday for the first time in the week amid softer oil prices and mixed earnings and economic data.

By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.63% lower at 17,982.52, the S&P 500 down by 0.52% to 2,091.48, but the Nasdaq composite was almost flat at 4,945.89, losing only 0.05%.

In Europe, major indices apart from those of London and France recovered from earlier weakness after the European Central Bank left interest rates and monetary policy unchanged, as widely expected, with chief Mario Draghi reiterating his commitment to using all the instruments available to get inflation back to target.

Oil prices were lower in choppy trade, with front-month West Texas Intermediate down 1.7% to $43.43 a barrel and Brent crude down 1.04% to $44.76.