Mobico holds annual guidance, CMA warms to Barratt-Redrow combination

Stocks to watch

Public bus operator Mobico on Wednesday held annual guidance after a jump in adjusted interim operating profit driven by positive demand and cost cuts. Profit for the six months to June 30 rose 23.8% to £71.2m while on a pre-tax basis the company narrowed losses to £1.5m from £52m a year earlier. No dividend was declared as the group, formerly known as National Express, continues to deleverage. It still expects adjusted operating profit for 2024 to be within the range of £185m to £205m.

Molten Ventures said on Wednesday that the recent secondary share sale by Revolut at a $45bn valuation could increase the gross value of its holding in Revolut to around £160m, representing a £95m uplift from March. The FTSE 259 firm said the exact impact on its net asset value would be determined after accounting for carried interest, potential valuation adjustments, and corporation tax on capital gains. It said it would update the market with a trading announcement ahead of its interim results to 30 September.

The competition authority has announced that the allowances made by Barratt Developments and Redrow in order to pave the way for regulatory approval may just be enough to get the green light. The initial phase of a Competition and Markets Authority investigation revealed issues in one of the 400 local areas where the two companies overlap, prompting the housebuilders to agree on “suitable undertaking” to address these concerns. The CMA said on Wednesday it “considers that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the undertakings offered by the parties or a modified version of them, might be accepted by the CMA under the Enterprise Act 2002.”

Newspaper round-up

Waitrose is planning to open 100 convenience stores over the next five years as part of a £1bn-plus investment in new outlets and shop refurbishments. The upmarket grocery chain is planning to unveil a revamped outlet in Finchley Road, north London, on Wednesday. This will kick off a new phase of expansion with its first new store in six years in Hampton Hill, west London, by the end of this year. – Guardian

Two former bosses of the collapsed department store chain BHS have been ordered to pay £110m to creditors in relation to breaching their corporate duties. The ruling against Dominic Chappell, the former chief executive of BHS whose Retail Acquisitions team bought the chain for £1 from Philip Green in 2015, and his former colleague Lennart Henningson comes eight years after the retailer collapsed into administration owing creditors, including its pension fund, more than £1bn. – Guardian

Union chiefs who have called three months of rail strikes on London North Eastern Railway (LNER) are lobbying to have Royal Mail train drivers they also represent hired on the East Coast main line. Train drivers’ union Aslef said LNER could make strides toward avoiding industrial action by hiring experienced crews, including those currently being let go by Royal Mail. – Telegraph

McDonald’s plans to create 24,000 jobs in the UK and the Republic of Ireland over the next four years as it opens more than 200 restaurants in a sign of faith in the high street. The expansion, its biggest since 2002, is part of a £1 billion investment by the chain and its franchisees, which already have 1,435 outlets in the UK employing 171,415 people. Four fifths of its restaurants are owned and operated by franchisees. – The Times

The 191-year-old Crown Agents survived existential crises, including the demise of the British empire and one of the biggest financial scandals of the 1970s, but cuts in government funding and the strains of a pension liability mean that it will not reach its 200th anniversary. The not-for-profit organisation, founded in 1833 to conduct financial transactions with British colonies, was placed into liquidation this month. Directors of Crown Agents, which had become an international development agency, filed a winding-up petition after concluding that they would not be able to attract the funding required to keep it trading. Its 150 staff have been made redundant. – The Times

US close

US stocks inched lower on Tuesday, bringing Wall Street's longest winning streak of 2024 to a close with investors taking profits after eight straight days of gains for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.

The Dow and S&P 500 both finished the session down 0.2% while the Nasdaq slipped 0.3%.

After a stellar run over the past two weeks – which saw the S&P 500 surge 7.9% and the Nasdaq jump 10.4% on the back of improving economic data and rising rate-cut expectations – risk appetite was dampened ahead of two major events for financial markets in the coming days: the release of minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting on Wednesday and the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.

Jackson Hole, which will see central bankers from across the world gather to discuss policy matters, will feature a hotly anticipated speech from Fed chair Jerome Powell, with investors eagerly awaiting any hint at how the Fed will alter interest rates over the rest of the year.