Ashtead to beat FY expectations, Games Workshop trading in line

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The FTSE 100 was called to open 22 points higher at 7,038.

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Ashtead said annual performance would beat its previous expectations as the equipment hire company reported a 53% increase in operating profit for the first quarter. Operating profit for the three months to the end of July rose to $477m from $311m a year earlier at constant currency as revenue increased 21% to $1.85bn. Statutory pre-tax profit rose 74% to $416m. Revenue rose 13% at constant currency from the first quarter two years earlier when trading was unaffected by the pandemic. Ashtead said it expected annual rental revenue to increase by 13-16% - up from earlier guidance of 6-9%.

Games Workshop said trading for the three months to 29 August was in line with the board’s expectations. The miniature wargames manufacture said sales continue to grow but, as with other businesses, there has been pressure on freight costs and currency exchange rates.

Newspaper round-up

The digital bank Monzo is muscling in on the UK’s booming “buy now, pay later” market and will be offering its customers credit limits of up to £3,000. Monzo is one of the first UK banks to launch into the fast-growing but controversial BNPL sector, which is dominated by financial technology companies such as the industry leader Klarna and PayPal. Monzo, which has more than 5 million customers, said it had taken the “best bits” of BNPL, credit cards, loans and overdrafts to create its Monzo Flex product, which it is introducing from Thursday. – Guardian

Britain is at risk of a winter energy blackout after a fire cut off a subsea cable that supplies power from France, experts have warned. The blaze at a National Grid substation in Kent shut down an "interconnector" capable of transmitting enough electricity for 1.4m homes. – Telegraph

PwC has revealed that fewer than a fifth of its staff come from a working-class background — and they are typically paid 12 per cent less than colleagues. The accounting firm, disclosing the figures for the first time, said that 14 per cent of its 21,000 employees in Britain come from a lower socioeconomic background, which was defined as having the parent who earned the most working in a routine, manual, craft or service occupation. - The Times

US Close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Wednesday as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 clawed back some of yesterday's losses.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.68% at 34,814.39.52 and the S&P 500 was 0.85% firmer at 4,480.70, while the Nasdaq Composite came out the gate 0.82% stronger at 15,161.53.