Kingfisher like-for-like sales fall in Q3, Compass performs ahead of guidance

Stocks to watch

DIY retail group Kingfisher said third quarter like-for-like (LFL) sales to September 18 were down 0.6% year-on-year as it reported a surge in interim profits and revenue along with a £300m share buyback. The company posted a 70.6% rise in pre-tax profits to £677m for the six months to July 31. Sales rose 20% to £7.1bn. LFL sales in the second quarter fell 0.8% due to unseasonal weather in the UK and France. It lifted second-half LFL sales expectations to -7% to -3% from -15% to -5% and guided for annual profits of £910m to £950m.

Compass said fourth-quarter performance was ahead of guidance as diners returned to sports and leisure venues and schools and colleges reopened. Revenue in the three months to the end of September is expected to be about 86% of the same period in 2019 and annual revenue will be about 76% of that year's, the FTSE 100 caterer said. Compass had previously said fourth-quarter revenue would be 80-85% of the 2019 level.

Workspace Group announced the exchange of contracts for the disposal of 13-17 Fitzroy Street in Fitzrovia on Tuesday, for a total of £92m. The FTSE 250 company said the sale of the vacant property was at a discount of 3.2% to the 31 March valuation, and a capital value of £993 per square foot. It acquired the property in 2017, adding that it was fully let to Arup until June this year, providing £4.9m of net rental income a year.

Newspaper round-up

The chief executive of Universal Music has said the hotly anticipated €40bn flotation of the world’s largest record company this week does not mark the peak of the streaming-led recovery of the music industry, with billions of dollars of growth yet to come from a new wave of digital listening on devices such a smart speakers, connected cars and services such as TikTok. Sir Lucian Grainge, who stands to make a transaction bonus of at least $170m when the label behind artists such as Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber goes public in Amsterdam on Tuesday, said the listing provided the opportunity to build Universal into the “next generation music company”. - Guardian

Hundreds of thousands of Britons face a “very, very difficult” winter thanks to rising household costs, No 10 has been warned, as firms said the energy price shock could trigger a three-day week for factories and further gaps on supermarket shelves. Senior Tories were among those urging Downing Street to wake up to the threat of food shortages and households being plunged into hardship because of rising energy bills combined with the universal credit cut and next year’s rise in national insurance. - Guardian

Charlie Mullins has sold Pimlico Plumbers to a US company in a deal thought to value his stake at as much as £130m. Pimlico is understood to have been sold for between £125m and £145m. Mr Mullins has a 90pc stake in the business he founded in 1979, with the remainder belonging to his son Scott. - Telegraph

National Express is mulling a bid for rival Stagecoach that could join up two of the UK’s biggest transport operators. The FTSE 250 coach operator has been discussing an audacious takeover of Perth-based Stagecoach, sources told Bloomberg. - Telegraph

One of America’s largest investment companies is planning to invest £850 million to create a new life sciences laboratory and office space in Cambridge, supporting up to 2,700 new jobs. Blackstone is acquiring two sites in the university city, one of Britain’s industry hubs, to create about 800,000 sq ft of space and to address a lack of available capacity in the booming sector. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed sharply lower on Monday as an already rough month for major indices got even rougher.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.78% at 33,970.47, while the S&P 500 was 1.70% weaker at 4,357.73 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.19% softer at 14,713.90.

The Dow closed 614.41 points lower on Monday, extending losses recorded on Friday as all three major indices ended last week in the red.

Markets participants were in a selling mood amid concerns regarding the potential domino effect of Chinese property giant Evergrande's massive plunge on the nation's property market and fears that the Federal Reserve will signal that it was prepared to start pulling away monetary stimulus at its two-day policy meeting starting on Tuesday as a result of surging inflation and an improving job market.

Heightened Covid-19 cases due to the Delta variant were also firmly in focus, with cases remaining at January levels ahead of the onset of colder weather in North America, while traders were also concerned about brinkmanship in Washington, with Congress returning to DC as the deadline to raise the US' debt ceiling approaches.