← Go back Aug 08, 2023
he FTSE 100 index is within sight of its lowest close of the year after a grim week for global stock markets. London’s top flight fell again today, leaving it down by 3% since Monday as worries mount globally over higher-for-longer interest rates. Rising borrowing costs have added to pressure on the retail sector, resulting in . The future of Irish companies in the City was in focus today, as building materials firm Kingspan officially delisted from the London Stock Exchange. Kingspan was one of three Irish companies to deliver a blow to London in the space of two months, joining rival building supplies firm CRH and betting giant Flutter when it announced plans to delist in April. The business faced widespread criticism for supplying 5% of the insulation used at Grenfell Tower. The public inquiry into the Grenfell fire heard Kingspan’s K15 product became a “raging inferno” in internal tests. Kingspan says K15 was “misused” in an unsafe manner at the tower, and noted that the inquiry said the exterior cladding provided by other firms was “the principal reason” the fire spread. Today, Kingspan also revealed its profits ticked up in the first half of the year, to €435.5 million £372.2 million) despite high interest rates deterring construction. It said it expects to see deflation in the costs of building materials during this quarter. The shares continue to trade in Dublin, where they are down 3.5%. The GMB union, which represents around a third of Wilko’s 12,000 staff, reassured staff and confirmed that administrators were weighing multiple bids to save the retailer, Andy Prendergast, GMB national secretary, said: “GMB has met with administrators and the company as part of the formal consultation process. “We can confirm there have been expressions of interest from organisations who are considering taking over at least some parts of the business. “These are still at an early stage, but means there are genuine grounds for hope. “Whilst this process continues staff will continue to be paid and kept on. All stores are continuing to trade, and deliveries of new stock will continue.” It is not expected that any firm will by the entirety of Wilko, but there is hope that a number of the more profitable stores can be saved. One in three London homeowners say they will struggle to meet their mortgage payments in the next six months, new polling reveals. The survey, conducted by YouGov and commissioned by City Hall, showed that 11 per cent of the capital’s mortgage payers think they will “definitely” struggle to keep up with payments and a further 23 per cent will “probably” struggle. The combined total of 34 percent saying they expect to struggle is up from 21 per cent in January. The London market’s run of losses rolled into a sixth session today as the FTSE 100 index fell another 28.10 points to 7,282.11, taking the deficit for this week to 244 points. Stocks in the red included Rolls-Royce, which fell 2.45p to 199.95p, and the luxury goods group Burberry after a decline of 26p to 2159p. BAE Systems rose 4.6p to 960.4p after shares fell heavily yesterday on jitters over the scale of the £4.4 billion acquisition of Colorado-based Ball Aerospace. The FTSE 250 index fell 0.5% or 97.05 points to 18,259.02, with cyber security firm Darktrace and National Express owner Mobico among the stocks 2% lower. Bad retail sales in July were mostly driven by bad weather, but also represent weakening appetite for consumer spending, Capital Economics deputy chief UK economist Ruth Gregory said. “The 1.2% m/m fall in retail sales volumes in July probably had more to do with the unusually wet weather than the impact of higher interest rates on consumer spending,” she said. “But with the Bank of England’s interest rate hikes still feeding through and consumer confidence falling, we remain downbeat on the outlook for overall spending this year. “Overall, the figures were a bit worse than we had expected. And our view is still that the growing drag on activity from higher interest rates will eventually generate a 0.5% peak to trough fall in real consumer spending.” A few minutes into the day’s trading session in London, the FTSE has opened lower, while Bitcoin has fallen 5% since yesterday. Here’s a look at your key market data: Loading.... High-end cinema chain Everyman’s revenue and profits fell in the first half of the year, but it said the joint releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer on 21 July boosted sales and shows “cinema remains as relevant as ever”. The cinema - known for its comfortable seats and food options like pizza and hot honey halloumi - brought in revenue of £38.3 million in the six months to 30 June, down slightly from 2022. Profit, meanwhile, fell by 22.7% to £5.8 million. But things pickwed up in July, which the business put down to ‘Barbenheimer’, which drove a record week for admissions. Revenue for the month came to £10.6 million, while profit doubled July 2022’s total at £2.6 million. Property group Great Portland Estates has acquired land in London’s Soho Square in a £70 million deal. The company has bought the freehold interests at 16/19 Soho Square, 29/43 Oxford Street and 7 Falconberg Mews from Belgravia & Chelsea Property Services. The deal values the properties at £772 per square foot and includes planning permission to demolish some buildings and construct up to 90,000 square foot of office and retail space. Alexa Baden-Powell, Senior Investment Manager, said, "This acquisition represents a fantastic opportunity for us to develop a strategic West End freehold site into a best-in-class headquarters building with excellent sustainability credentials." People and businesses should be no more than three miles away from the ability to withdraw or deposit cash under plans set out by the Treasury. The financial services watchdog will be given the power to fine banks and building societies which fail to maintain standards on protecting access to cash. Treasury Economic Secretary Andrew Griffith said cash had “an important and continuing role to play” despite the shift away from reliance on coins and notes. The FTSE 100 index is set for another session in the red after Wall Street closed sharply lower last night and selling pressure continued during Asia trading hours. Sentiment has been hit by concerns over China’s property sector and the prospect that interest rates are likely to stay higher for longer in the US and elsewhere. Wall Street declined for the third consecutive session as the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite fell by 1.2%. The declines came as the US 10-year Treasury yield, which is used as a benchmark for global borrowing costs, posted its highest daily close since 2008. In Asia, the Hang Seng index is 1.4% lower after it emerged that developer Evergrande had filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States. The FTSE 100 index closed 0.6% lower last night and is down by around 5% in August, the majority of this decline coming in the past week. CMC Markets expects the top flight to open another 25 points lower at 7285.
Read more: standarduk
