Wetherspoons narrows losses, PureTech in talks with Nektar Therapeutics

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 15 points at 6,982.

Stocks to watch

Pub group Wetherspoons narrowed annual losses and said like-for-like sales in the first 9 weeks of the current financial year were up 10%.

The company posted a loss of £30.4m before tax and exceptional items compared with a £167m loss in 2021 when Covid lockdowns were in place. Total sales excluding VAT more than doubled to £1.74bn.

PureTech Health said on Friday that it has exchanged indicative, non-binding proposals with US biopharmaceutical company Nektar Therapeutics regarding a possible combination.

Responding to press speculation a day earlier, PureTech said that it remains in discussions with Nektar about the proposal.

There can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made, nor as to the terms of any such offer, it said, adding that a further announcement will be made as and when appropriate.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s economy is expected to take until 2024 to recover to pre-Covid levels amid a slowdown for hiring and business investment, as households and businesses struggle with soaring costs. Business leaders have said that there has been a significant decline of key economic indicators in recent weeks, with confidence among company bosses over the growth outlook collapsing to the lowest level since the depths of the Covid crisis. – Guardian

The dairy co-operative Arla Foods has announced it will pay its farmers more money for the milk they produce if they meet new environmental sustainability targets. Arla is introducing the “sustainability incentive” with the aim of promoting and funding the reduction of emissions on the farms of its 8,900 members, based in the UK and six other European countries including Denmark, Sweden and Germany. – Guardian

Royal Mail rushed forward the monthly payment into its pension scheme to help prevent a cash crunch, The Telegraph can reveal, after the mini-Budget sent crucial money markets into a tailspin. The company responded to a request from the trustees of the Royal Mail Pension Plan to provide emergency liquidity, amid fears across the City that a run on pension funds driven by products known as Liability-Driven Investments (LDIs) would leave major funds insolvent. The Royal Mail scheme has 124,000 members and liabilities of £11bn. – Telegraph

Households will be offered £20 a month to cut their energy usage during peak hours in a trial scheme from one of the country’s biggest suppliers to help avert rolling blackouts this winter. Ovo Energy, which has 4.5m customers, will offer families money if they are able to cut their energy usage by a third between 4-7pm when demand on the grid is highest, amid concern of electricity shortages. – Telegraph

The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned that it will downgrade its growth outlook for the world economy as a third of countries are due to fall imminently into recession. Kristalina Georgieva, the managing director, said the global recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic had suffered a “massive setback” that would wipe $4 trillion off global output until 2026. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed in the red on Thursday, as investors digested a surprisingly big production cut from OPEC+, and looked ahead to the nonfarm payrolls report on Friday.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.15% at 29,926.94, as the S&P 500 lost 1.02% to 3,744.52, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 0.68% to 11,073.31.