London pre-open: Stocks seen firmer as earnings keep coming

London stocks were set to open in the black on Tuesday on what is looking set to be a fairly quiet day on the macroeconomic front ahead of Wednesday’s budget and the US non-farm payrolls at the end of the week.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 18 points higher than Monday’s close at 7,268.

Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said: “Chancellor of the Exchequer Hammond is expected to deliver a cautious statement, which would include higher taxes to finance extra social spending instead of higher government debt. This means that the Bank of England has not much to worry about a fiscal expansion, hence could remain seated on its accommodative monetary policy.”

In corporate news, third-quarter results from Ashtead revealed it remained en route to a strong year of growth, with gross capital expenditure expected towards the upper end of its our previous guidance

Underlying rental revenue from US-based Sunbelt and UK-based A-Plant for the third quarter ended 31 January grew 14%, the same as the second quarter, operating profits also remained at 9%, although earning per share slowed moderately to 8% growth from 9% in the second quarter.

Newly merged bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair said the new financial year has started in line with expectations as it reported a 35% rise in underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to £400m.

The company said group sportsbook stakes in the year to date were up 22%, with online up 13%, Australia 47% and retail up 15%.

Intertek saw full-year 2016 sales rocket 18.5% to £2,567.0m as weakness in the pound continued to bolster its top-line. The testing, inspection and certification specialist also reported an 8.9% organic sales increase to £2,321.0m, although at constant exchange rates that was reduced to a rise of just 0.1%.

Just Eat’s 2016 revenue and earnings surged as it seeks to capture further share of the online food delivery market.

Revenues surged 52% in 2016 to £375.7m, compared to last year, and were up 46% on a like for like basis, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) jumped 93% to £115.3m.

Electronic payments processor Worldpay posted its final results for the 2016 calendar year, with the company seeing a 14% rise in transactions to 14.9 billion, as total transaction value rose 12% to £451.1bn.

Both revenue and underlying EBITDA were up 15% at £4.54bn and £467.6m respectively, with the FTSE 100 firm swinging to 6.6p earnings per share from 1.8p losses per share in 2015.

Investors will be digesting the latest figures from the British Retail Consortium, which showed UK retail sales softened in February as consumers adopted a more cautious approach, with non-food sales bearing the brunt of the reduction in spending.

Total retail sales rose by 0.4% year-on-year in February, down from a 1.1% rise in the same month one year ago and below the three-month average of 0.8% and the 12-month average increase of 0.9%.

On a like-for-like basis, retail sales slipped 0.4% during the same month, down from a 0.1% rise in the preceding year.

Still to come on the data front, Halifax house prices are at 0830 GMT.