BP's Bob Dudley to step down, Meggitt wins $48m contract
London open
The FTSE 100 was called to open 48 points higher at 7,125.
Stocks to watch
BP chief executive Bob Dudley said he would step down next February after nine years at the helm and be replaced by Bernard Looney, who heads up the oil giant's upstream operations.
Dudley said he would retire on March 31, ending a 40-year career with the company.
Aerospace parts maker Meggitt said it had won a $48m US army contract to supply aerial weapons scoring systems (AWSS).
The gunnery training contract includes product development, training, installation, field and cyber support, maintenance and repairs.
Workspace Group said it was selling a property in London's Farringdon district for £14.75m. at a premium of 47.5% (£4.75m) to a March 31 valuation, a net initial yield of 1.3% and a capital value of £1,000 per sq ft.
In June 2018 planning consent was obtained for a refurbishment project to deliver 23,000 sq. ft. of new and upgraded space. The premium to book value achieved on the sale exceeds the return anticipated from the planned upgrade.
Newspaper round-up
Housebuilding across England has fallen to the slowest quarterly rate for three years, according to official figures, despite a promise by the government of a homebuilding revolution. Figures published by the housing ministry showed construction began on 37,220 homes in England in the three months to June – 8% down on the same period a year ago, and the lowest quarterly number of new home starts since 2016. – Guardian
Ryanair has saved millions of pounds in compensation payouts after quitting an industry-wide arbitration body and leaving travellers with an uphill battle to obtain any redress, according to the consumer group Which? The budget airline cut ties with Aviation ADR, one of two schemes that airlines use to arbitrate serious complaints, at the end of November last year. In the first 11 months of 2018 before Ryanair left the scheme, Aviation ADR received more than 14,000 complaints involving the airline and told it to pay out more than £2.6m to passengers, plus an administration fee of £75 for each complaint. – Guardian
Metro Bank's crucial £350m fundraising “comes at a price” as it means the troubled lender is unlikely to return to profit until 2021, City analysts have warned. The bank, which is searching for a new chairman to replace founder Vernon Hill, successfully relaunched a bond issue this week that offered extremely high returns. - TelegraphThe energy regulator has warned companies it will not write “blank cheques” for green projects despite the need to boost decarbonisation to meet Britain’s climate targets. Ofgem said that helping to deliver net-zero emissions by 2050 was one of its top priorities and warned that “progress may be stalling” with emissions falling last year at their slowest since 2012. However, it said it was not prepared to authorise “unnecessary investment, and cost, in options that turn out to be dead ends”. – The Times
US close
US markets reversed their earlier losses to finish higher on Thursday, as investors digested the Institute for Supply Management's closely-followed services sector gauge, which hit a three-year low.
Mounting evidence that the economy was hitting a rough patch was leading investors to bet on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its meeting later in the month.