B2B business drives Experian growth, Primark success offsets sugar woes at AB Foods
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open up 12 points on Thursday, having closed down 0.39% at 7,725.43 on Wednesday.
Stocks to watch
Information services giant Experian reported an 8% improvement in revenue for the three months to 31 December in a trading update on Thursday. The FTSE 100 company said its revenue growth at constant currencies was 6%, while organic revenue growth was 5%. Looking at its business units, revenue growth for its business-to-business segments was 8%, while it fell 4% in consumer services.
Associated British Foods reported a 3% increase in revenues in recent weeks, as strong growth from its Primark clothing retail arm helped offset a big decline in sugar. For the first 16 weeks of its financial year to 6 January saw Primark increase sales 9% or 7% at constant currencies, while sugar revenues fell 12%.
Mining giant BHP said it was looking at offloading its US shale oil business either a trade sale, demerger or public offering. In a quarterly update the company reported a 20% rise in copper production to 429,000 tonnes, iron ore output rose 3% to 62m tonnes, 6% percent to 48m barrels.
Newspaper round-up
Taxpayers will be forced to hand over nearly £200bn to contractors under private finance deals for at least 25 years, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog. In the wake of the collapse of public service provider Carillion, the National Audit Office found little evidence that government investment in more than 700 existing public-private projects has delivered financial benefits. – Guardian
Bitcoin has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble and even after almost halving in value in a matter of weeks it still has further to fall, according to a leading team of economists. As regulators in South Korea again signalled on Thursday that they were considering a ban on cryptocurrency exchanges, Capital Economics also dismissed claims that bitcoin and its imitators could replace established currencies as “rubbish”. – Guardian
Topshop owner Arcadia has told suppliers it is imposing a 2pc discount on future orders and orders it has already placed, blaming the changing retail environment. Arcadia's chief executive Ian Grabiner said, in a letter to suppliers, that the group had "absorbed significant costs in technology, distribution and people". – Telegraph
There is little evidence that handing public contracts to private organisations offers value for money for taxpayers, according a National Audit Office report published days after major government partner Carillion collapsed. There are currently 716 private finance initiative (PFI) projects either under construction or in operation, with a total value of £59.4bn. Repayment for these projects cost the taxpayer £10.3bn last year, the report found. – Telegraph
US close
Wall Street finished in the green on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 1.25% to settle at 26,115.65.
The S&P 500 was ahead 0.94% at 2,802.56, and the Nasdaq 100 added 1.09% to 6,810.28.