Weekly review

Equity view

International sales, marketing and support services group DCC said first quarter trading was in line with expectations and expected the full year to produce “profit and growth”.

Emerging markets asset manager Ashmore reported a 5% jump in fourth-quarter assets on Friday thanks to a positive investment performance and net inflows.

Electrical and telecoms retailer Dixons Carphone has agreed to sell it entire holdings in The Phone House Spain, along with its related companies Connected World Services Europe and Smarthouse, to Bilbao-based technological services firm Global Dominion Access, it announced on Friday.

Recruitment outfit Hays said full-year operating profit was expected to be marginally ahead of consensus expectations of £209.5m and was considering increasing shareholder returns.

LondonMetric Property has acquired two Marks & Spencer stores in Newport, Isle of Wight and Kendal, Lancashire for £24.6m.

Babcock, the marine and aerospace engineer, said its new financial year has begun well, with 82% of revenues for the full year already booked.

Investors in global specialist healthcare company BTG were preparing for the firm’s annual general meeting on Thursday morning, with chief executive Louise Makin confirming the group’s strong performance in the 2017 financial year had carried over into the start of the 2018 year.

Online fashion retailer ASOS said on Thursday that sales in the four months to the end of June rose 32% as international revenue increased 44%, and it expects sales growth for the current financial year to be at the upper end of its 30-35% range.

The Serious Fraud Office has launched an investigation into Amec Foster Wheeler over the engineer's work with consultant Unaoil and possible related bribery and corruption offences.

International healthcare services provider UDG Healthcare confirmed the acquisition of US-based healthcare industry management consulting firm Vynamic on Wednesday, for a total consideration of up to $32m.

One of Riverstone Energy’s portfolio companies, Sierra Oil & Gas, said it had discovered “significant quantities” of oil in its primary target formation at the Zama 1 well on Wednesday.

Like-for-like sales at pub chain JD Wetherspoon rose 5.3% in the 11 weeks to 9 July, it said in its pre-close trading update on Wednesday, with total sales in the period rising 3.6%.

Publishing house Pearson said it was selling a 22% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH) to Bertelsmann for $1bn (£776m) to strengthen its balance sheet, with £300m ($386m) being returned to shareholders.

Builders' merchant Grafton Group posted a rise in first-half revenue on Tuesday but sounded a cautious note on the short-term prospects for the UK business.

Recruitment firm PageGroup saw record gross profit in its second quarter, it reported on Tuesday, with the figure rising by 7.7% after the period was impacted by the timing of Easter.

Travel operator TUI has raised €244.4m (£216m) from selling off its last stake in container shipping business Hapag-Lloyd.

Wood Group has been awarded a new three-year contract by Maersk to deliver mechanical and management services for the hook-up and commissioning of the Culzean gas condensate field in the UK central North Sea.

TalkTalk Telecom Group has appointed Dixons Carphone's corporate affairs director Kate Ferry as its new chief finance officer after Iain Torrens decided to step down from the role later this year.

Centamin posted its preliminary production results for the quarter to 30 June on Monday, from its Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt, with total gold production of 124,641 ounces.

AIM-listed Michelmersh Brick has won a contract to supply Battersea Power Station with 440,000 purpose-made, wire-cut bricks, which are being produced at its Blockleys plant in Shropshire.

Economic news

British house price inflation slowed to its weakest in June since the aftermath of the Brexit vote as political and economic worries continue to weigh, with flat sales expected for months to come.

UK chancellor Philip Hammond would have to find an extra £33bn in public funds in order to keep the national deficit at its current level of 2. 4% and avoid austerity, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.

Pub and restaurant sales bubbled higher in June after squeaking lower the month before, with data indicating an evening's boozing remains a priority for consumers amid the squeeze on household income and wider uncertainty.

Ratings agency Moody’s has joined the chorus warning of a slowdown in the UK economy and said things could get a lot worse as the government was unlikely to secure a Brexit deal that was not damaging.

English football’s top clubs took in a record £3.6bn in revenues during the 2015/16 season, according to research from accountancy firm Deloitte.

The UK unemployment rate has shrunk to the lowest since 1975, it was confirmed on Wednesday, though this failed to boost wages and relieve the squeeze on households.

The UK financial services sector saw a booming second quarter of the year, but falling optimism about future prospects was reported in a survey of 94 of the country’s top firms.

UK economic growth is likely to slow over the next two years, economists at major credit rating agency S&P warned as household spending is squeezed.

Theresa May’s offer to give European Union citizens a special status in the UK post-Brexit has been rebuffed by the bloc’s chief negotiator.

Spending by UK households has fallen for the second month in a row to its lowest quarterly level for three and a half years.

International events

Ireland's economy hit the skids at the start of the year but even then the rate of growth dwarfed that of its neighbours, although recent slowing meant it was now expanding less quickly than the People's Republic of China.

The European Central Bank is wary of setting a predetermined end-date for its asset purchase programme, preferring to keep it open-ended and dependent on the incoming economic data.

Chinese exports kept up a solid pace of growth last month as did imports, which depend on domestic demand, but the improved tone in the latter was not likely to last, some analysts said.

US factory gate prices help up slightly better than expected despite another weak month in terms of energy costs.

Industrial production in the single currency bloc jumped in May, led by increased manufacturing of capital goods.

The Bank of Canada on Wednesday raised their headline interest rate for the first time in seven years, though it had been widely expected.

Industrial production in Italy raced past forecasts in May with output of capital goods strongest.

Donald Trump Jr was reportedly informed that his meeting with a Russian lawyer was part of a Kremlin attempt to support his father’s presidential campaign.

Price pressures in Asia's largest economy steadied last month but economists appeared to be in broad agreement that inflation was set to slow further.

France's central bank governor said the European Central Bank would continue adapting the intensity of its monetary policy in the autumn.