SSP holds annual guidance, Wetherspoons set to hit profit expectations

Stocks to watch

Food outlet operator SSP Group on Wednesday held annual guidance after third quarter sales rose 16%, driven by increasing demand for leisure travel. Like-for-like revenue was up 6%. The company, which owns the Upper Crust and Ritazza coffee chains, said it still expects revenue of £3.4-£3.5bn, underlying EBITDA of £345-£375m and underlying operating profit in a range of £210-£235m.

Wetherspoons has said it expects profits to hit market expectations as it closes out its financial year with strong sales momentum. The pubs group reported like-for-like sales growth of 5.8% in the 10 weeks to 7 July, picking up slightly from the 5.3% LFL increase reported in the third quarter. Total sales are said to be at record levels despite the group operating fewer locations, having opened two sites but sold or surrendered to the landlord 26 pubs during the financial year.

Travis Perkins has appointed Pete Redfern as its new chief executive officer, it announced on Wednesday, effective from 16 September, succeeding Nick Roberts. The FTSE 250 company said Redfern would bring over 20 years of leadership experience in the construction sector, and had previously served on the board as a non-executive director. Additionally, Geoff Drabble would join as a non-executive director and chair designate from 1 October, bringing extensive experience from various leadership roles in publicly listed companies in the building materials and equipment hire sectors.

Newspaper round-up

Campaigners for a four-day working week are preparing a new pilot project on flexible working in the hope that the Labour government will be more receptive to changes in how people work. The pilot project has opened to companies to sign up for a November start, with findings to be presented to the government in the summer of 2025. – Guardian

The former chair of a Whitehall agency responsible for taxpayers’ interest in the Post Office has blamed the Horizon IT scandal on a mixture of “incomplete curiosity” and “a toxic culture” at the state-owned company. Robert Swannell, a veteran City businessman and former Marks & Spencer chair, was speaking on Tuesday before the judge-led public inquiry investigating why post office operators were wrongly prosecuted for theft and false accounting over financial discrepancies linked to bugs within the Horizon IT system. – Guardian

Top partners at magic circle law firm Linklaters have taken home almost £2m each after a bounce back in deal-making. Average payouts for equity partners increased 8pc to £1.9m in the year to April, as revenues at the firm surpassed £2bn for the first time. Paul Lewis, managing partner at Linklaters, said the firm had benefited from an “exceptional year” as pre-tax profits jumped 10pc to £942m and revenue increased to £2.1bn. – Telegraph

A growing number of FTSE chief executives are being impersonated by fraudsters who are using artificial intelligence to create convincing deep fake clones, The Times can reveal. A number of these sophisticated “CEO scams” have received publicity in recent months but many more are going unreported, according to cybersecurity experts. – The Times

Business confidence climbed to its highest point in two years over the last three months, helped by falling inflation and forecasts for better sales, a survey showed. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales business confidence index jumped to 16.7 in the second quarter of this year, up from 14.4 in the previous three months and the highest reading since the first quarter of 2022. – The Times

US close

Major indices delivered a mixed performance on Tuesday as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell headed to Washington DC to testify before the Senate Banking Committee.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.13% at 39,291.97, while the S&P 500 advanced 0.07% to 5,576.98 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.14% stronger at 18,429.29.

The Dow opened 52.82 points lower on Tuesday, extending losses recorded in the previous session.

The head of the US central bank told lawmakers again on Tuesday that policymakers needed "greater confidence" that inflation was headed permanently lower before they could raise interest rates.

In remarks prepared for his semi-annual testimony before Congress, Jerome Powell also said that the risks towards the Fed's two goals of full employment and stable inflation were "coming into better balance". His testimony will continue on Wednesday.