London pre-open: Stocks seen lower on negative Asian cues
Stocks in London are expected to open lower on Monday, taking their cue from a downbeat session in Asia after the G20 meeting in Shanghai failed to result in coordinated action to bolster growth.
London’s FTSE 100 is expected to open 41 points lower than Friday’s close at 6,055.
On the data front, UK net consumer credit, money supply and mortgage approvals are all due at 0930 GMT. In the US, Chicago PMI is at 1445 GMT while pending home sales are at 1500 GMT.
Barclays evaluating options regarding Africa business
Barclays noted recent media speculation regarding a potential sale of its shareholding in Barclays Africa Group Limited and said it was evaluating its strategic options.
The bank said it expects to update the market on Tuesday with its full year results for 2015.
WPP’s operating network Millward Brown, which specialises in brand, media and communications research, has agreed to acquire the business operations of marketing analytics company Analytics Quotient (AQ) for an undisclosed sum.
India-based AQ extracts insights from data to help clients define their marketing strategies and builds data visualisation tools and custom analytics solutions to help clients slice, dice, simulate and monitor business data.
A strategy of growth by acquisition paid off for Bunzl last year, with the company reporting positive numbers in the 2015 calendar year on Monday.
The FTSE 100 distribution and outsourcing firm saw revenue grow 5% in both reported and constant currency terms, to £6.49bn. Adjusted operating profit rose 6% to £455m, adjusted profit before income tax 6% to £411.2m, and adjusted earnings per share rose 6% as well, to 91p.
Bunzl's board recommended a final dividend of 26.25p.
The company also announced it had completed the acquisition of Brazilian firm Dental Sorria and US business Earthwise Bag Company, and had entered into an agreement to acquire Turkish packaging and foodservice group Bursa Pazari İnşaat Sanayi ve Ticaret AS.