Weekly Review

The FTSE 100 finished up by 78.44 points on the week at 6,388.73.

Equity view

AIM-listed telecoms company Daisy Group reached an agreement on a recommended £494m offer from a consortium of investors including its boss Matthew Riley.

Royal Mail will recruit just 19,000 temporary workers this year to handle its busy holiday season, 2,000 fewer people than last year.

Pub group Spirit received a fresh takeover offer from rival Greene King on Monday at about 109.5p per share. However, Irish drinks group C&C said it had also made an initial approach to Spirit and was in talks about a possible offer.

Consumer-goods giant Reckitt Benckiser missed analysts' estimates slightly in its third quarter on the back of continuing currency headwinds and "tougher markets".

Aerospace and automotive engineer GKN reported higher third-quarter profit but forecast lower growth for the rest of the year, particularly in automotive markets, and said the strong pound would hit results.

Microprocessor group ARM Holdings said it remains on track to hit full-year forecasts but reported third-quarter revenues just short of the consensus forecast.

Continuing strong momentum in the US market helped Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza owner Intercontinental Hotels Group deliver a pick-up in revenue per available room growth in the third quarter.

Whitbread grew first-half sales and profit strongly in the face of a highly competitive trading environment, but said that beating comparative numbers in the second half will be difficult.

Mining giant BHP Billiton said production growth remained steady in the first quarter, driven by increases in iron ore and petroleum, as it maintained its two-year guidance to grow output by an average 16% to June 2015.

Revenue growth slowed in the third quarter at British American Tobacco as depressed consumer income met large tax-driven price rises.

Drug giant Glaxosmithkline announced lower third-quarter sales and profits as weak trading in the US and Europe overshadowed a strong performance in emerging markets.

First-half trading profits for Tesco dropped sharply but beat analyst forecasts while chairman Sir Richard Broadbent announced his own succession process had begun. However, the ‘black hole’ relating to an accounting scandal was worse than predicted while the company did not give profit guidance for the full year, leading to a sharp drop in the shares on Thursday.

Consumer goods group Unilever reported weaker third-quarter sales growth but said it was a creditable performance in markets where economic conditions were putting consumers under pressure.

Foxtons said a sharp slowing of volume in London property sales markets in the last few months had knocked its third-quarter performance, prompting the company to warn on annual profits.

Publishing and education group Pearson revealed that its CFO is to step down after 10 years of service, as the Financial Times owner reiterated its profit guidance for the full year.

Shire Pharmaceuticals posted higher third-quarter profit that beat forecast and said it was confident of prospering as an independent company after US group Abbvie dropped its takeover bid.

Economic news

UK gross mortgage lending dropped 1% to £17.8bn last month amid global economic woe and uncertainty over interest rate hikes.

UK shopper numbers fell 0.9% last month against a year ago as the unusually warm autumn weather kept people out of shopping centres, said the British Retail Consortium and Springboard.

Minutes from the latest MPC meeting showed another 7-to-2 split in favour of keeping interest rates on hold, as the committee emphasised a lack of inflationary pressures.

UK home loan approvals sank for the third month in a row to a 14-month low in September, falling 10% against last year to 39,271, according to the British Bankers Association.

UK public-sector net borrowing was 15.3% year-on-year to £11.8bn in September, surprising analysts who had expected it to remain more or less steady at £10.5bn.

UK retail sales fell 0.3% last month against August, although they still racked up their 18th month in a row of year-on-year growth,

UK GDP growth slowed to 0.7% in the third quarter from 0.9% in the second, according to preliminary estimates, in line with the consensus forecast.

International events

IBM said adjusted earnings fell 10% to $3.68 a share in the third quarter, well below the $4.31 forecast. It also said it would be selling its semiconductor technology business.

French oil major Total's chairman and chief executive officer, Christophe de Margerie, died this week in a plane crash in Moscow.

Apple said its quarterly profit rose 13%, as sluggish iPad sales were offset by strong demand for its new larger-screen iPhones. Apple said net income in its fourth quarter ended 27 September rose to $8.47bn from $7.51bn in the corresponding period in 2013, ahead of forecasts.

The number of international air passengers improved by 4.5% in August, up from a 2.6% increase in July, the International Air Transport Association said.

Fast-food chain McDonald's said that third-quarter revenues fell to $6.99bn from $7.32bn a year earlier, well below the $7.19bn consensus estimate, as global same-store sales fell 3.3%. It said global comparable sales for October are "expected to be negative".

Coca-Cola disappointed after the beverages giant reported flat soda volumes and declining revenues and profits in the third quarter. The company also launched a new cost-cutting programme which aims to lower costs by $3bn a year by 2019.

Channel Tunnel operator Groupe Eurotunnel saw a 7% increase in turnover in the third quarter, helped by a recovering UK economy and strong traffic figures.

Heineken unveiled a worse-than-expected 1.5% fall in third-quarter sales to €5.1bn as rain kept drinkers out of Europe's beer gardens.