Profits fall in first half at Worldpay

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 36 points lower on Wednesday, after closing up 0.14% at 7,542.73 on Tuesday.

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First half pre-tax profits at payments processing firm Worldpay fell to £128.9m from £168.6m as the company said it had agreed a deal to merge with US rival Vantiv.

Unilever announced that it has agreed terms with NN Investment Partners and ASR Nederland for the acquisition of all their 6% and 7% cumulative preference shares in Unilever N.V., which represents about 97% of all the outstanding 6% and 7% cumulative preference shares. The FTSE 100 consumer goods company said the shares would be acquired by means of a public offer which Unilever intended to launch so as to enable all holders of the 6% and 7% cumulative preference shares to access the same terms as have been agreed with NN and ASR. It said the offer would value all of the outstanding 6% and 7% cumulative preference shares at €450m.

Outsourcing group G4S reported slower growth in the second quarter and held its first-half dividend steady, as management declared their increased confidence in prospects thanks to the "substantial progress" being made with restructuring. Revenue of ongoing business rosae 6.2% to £3.7bn and earning per share up 7.8% 8.3p.

Newspaper round-up

President Zuma was left humiliated and enfeebled last night by a major revolt within his own party after at least 30 stalwart MPs were believed to have turned against him in a vote of no confidence in his leadership. The South African leader survived the overall motion with 198 votes supporting him in parliament against 177 who wanted him to step down. Nine MPs abstained in the secret ballot. - The Guardian

North Korea has said it is considering a missile strike on the US Pacific territory of Guam, just hours after Donald Trump warned the regime that any threat to the United States would be met with "fire and fury". The threat, carried by the state-run KCNA news agency, marked a dramatic rise in tensions and prompted warnings to Washington not to become embroiled in a bellicose slanging match with North Korea. Pyongyang said it was “carefully examining” a plan to strike Guam, located 3,400km (2,100 miles) away, and threatened to create an “enveloping fire” around the territory. - The Guardian

Retired households have tripled their incomes in the past 40 years, substantially narrowing the gap in earnings with working-age households. Back in 1977 the average pensioner household’s income was £10,500 (in 2016 prices, which account for inflation), just 52pc of the £20,200 earned by non-retired households. But by the financial year ending in 2016 those pensioners’ incomes had risen to £29,500, according to the Office for National Statistics. By contrast, non-retired households’ incomes had only doubled, rising to £41,900 on average. - The Daily Telegraph

Disney is to end a deal with Netflix and launch a standalone ESPN sports streaming service next year with a service for its films to follow in 2019. It will pay $1.6bn for majority ownership of Bamtech, a video technology group. Disney reported yesterday that net income was $2.4bn compared with $2.6bn previously. Bob Iger, chief executive, told CNBC: "The media landscape is increasingly defined by relationships between content creators and consumers. Control of Bamtech will give us the power to forge those connections." - The Times

Aluminium was pushed above $2,000 a tonne for the first time in three years yesterday after the Chinese authorities cut production as part of an environmental crackdown. Benchmark prices hit $2,007 at the London Metal Exchange, the highest since December 2014. It was the latest indication of real intent behind Beijing’s pledge to improve China’s air quality and will be a boon to smelters outside China, which is the world’s largest aluminium producer. - The Times

US close

Wall Street's main averages finished in the red on Tuesday, having earlier pushed higher on the back of data which revealed that the number of job openings hit a two-year high in June, with investors having largely brushed off weak trade numbers out of China overnight.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 0.15% at 22,085.34, as the S&P 500 lost 0.24% to 2,474.92 and the Nasdaq 100 was 0.14% softer at 5,926.35.

"The quiet summer period is very much upon us and markets are currently trading relatively flat as a result on Tuesday,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.

“Oil continues to be a little lively though as we await [American Petroleum Institute] inventory numbers later in the session and the conclusion of a two day meeting in Abu Dhabi.”

Job openings in the States experienced their largest increase in almost two years in June, the results of the US Department of Labor's JOLTS survey revealed.

The number of openings jumped by 461,000 in June to reach 6.163m from an upwardly revised 5.702m for May.