Ascential agrees to buy Effie, Beazley posts record first-half profit

Stocks to watch

Events organiser Ascential said it had signed a deal to buy the commercial assets of advertising awards owner Effie for an undisclosed sum. Effie will join Ascential's Lions Division, which runs the Cannes Lions event - known as the Oscars of the ad business.

Beazley reported a record profit of $728.9m for the first half on Thursday, nearly doubling from $366.4m in the same period last year. The FTSE 100 insurer said it saw an increase in insurance written premiums to $3.12bn and achieved a discounted combined ratio of 77%, down from 84% in 2023. It also confirmed that its $325m share buyback programme was on track for completion by the end of the year, with a full-year premium growth forecast in the high single digits.

Housebuilder Persimmon reported a decline in first-half pre-tax profit but said it was on track to deliver full-year completions at the top end of guidance. In the six months to the end of June, reported pre-tax profit fell to £146.3m from £151m in the same period a year earlier. Total group revenue rose to £1.3bn from £1.2bn and completions came in at 4,445, up 5%. Persimmon said it was on course for around 10,500 completions for the full year, at the top end of previous guidance.

Newspaper round-up

The UK’s largest employers have warned the jobs market is cooling amid a slowdown in wage growth in July and a fall in vacancies, extending an almost two-year downturn in hiring demand for permanent staff. Figures from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and the accountancy firm KPMG showed a fall in permanent staff placements in July as large employers made more redundancies and hired fewer new starters. – Guardian

Ocado is testing offering everyday products such as pasta, rice and washing liquid in refillable packaging in a first by an online supermarket. The scheme will trial a reusable vessel that can take food or laundry products with no extra costs for customers. The first phase of the trial, starting this month, will include 2kg packs of basmati rice and 1kg of penne pasta, both under the Ocado Reuse brand. Phase 2 coming later this year, will add 3 litre containers of Ocado Reuse non-bio liquid detergent and Skies fabric conditioner. – Guardian

Fast fashion retailer Boohoo is seeking to offload its office in London’s Soho as it battles to shore up its balance sheet. The troubled retailer has been looking for offers of around £60m for its base in the capital, according to market sources, just three years after splashing £72m on the building. It is understood that any deal will include a sale-and-leaseback agreement in which Boohoo will occupy the premises at 10 Great Pulteney Street for up to five years. – Telegraph

The former boss of Credit Suisse has lost a blackmail case against an ex-housekeeper who had a nervous breakdown after working at his luxury villa. Tidjane Thiam accused the domestic worker of extortion when she demanded almost 600,000 Swiss francs (£547,000) in compensation for alleged abusive working conditions. However, a judge in Zurich rejected the claims, ruling that the former staff member had acted within her contractual rights. – Telegraph

Regulators are pushing ahead with reforms which they say will help millions of savers to get better value for money from their pension schemes, including a new scoring system to identify the best and worst performing plans. A reformed system would shift the emphasis from lowest cost to highest value for money, potentially enabling schemes to invest in higher-returning illiquid assets including private equity and infrastructure. – The Times

US close

Early gains for US stocks were wiped out by the close on Wednesday, with all three Wall Street benchmarks closing firmly in the red, as the rebound following Monday's sell-off came to an abrupt end.

The Dow partially bounced back on Tuesday following a rapid three-day sell-off which saw 5.2% of its value wiped out on the back of fears about a US recession.

However, the index was in the red once again on Wednesday, finishing down 0.6% at 38,763.45.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 declined 0.8% to 5,199.50 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.1% to 16,195.81.

Mortgage applications were the only major release of the day. Applications surged by 6.9% in the week ended 2 August, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, the sharpest increase in almost two months, erasing the prior two week's declines.