Dunelm CFO to stand down, Purplebricks delays interim results

London open

Stocks in London were being called to start the session higher despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning that the UK was facing a "tidal wave" of Covid-19 infections due to the new Omicron variant.

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 8.7 points higher, having closed 0.40% lower at 7,291.78 on Friday.

Stocks to watch

Home repairs and improvement business HomeServe said it had sold policies shared with Piedmont Natural Gas Company to the same affinity partner for around $22.0m.

The deal between Homeserve and US-based Piedmont was due to expire next April, leading Homeserve to move to sell the policy book rather than continue managing it in a run-down to the end of the arrangement.

Online estate agency Purplebricks Group has delayed its results after it said it thought it "prudent" to prepare for somewhere between £2.0m and £9.0m in claims under the Housing Act due to a "process issue".

The AIM-listed firm, which was due to publish interim numbers on Tuesday, said its results would now be delayed after an internal review discovered a the issue in how it had been communicating with tenants on behalf its landlords in relation to deposit registrations. Purplebricks, which said enquiries into the matter were ongoing, had previous warned that its interim results were likely to be worse-than-expected but to challenging trading conditions.

Homewares retailer Dunelm revealed on Monday that chief financial officer Laura Carr will leave the group in June 2022 to take up a new position elsewhere.

Dunelm also stated that it had continued to see "strong trading momentum" since its first-quarter trading update back in October.

Infrastructure investment company International Public Partnerships has committed to invest AUD $17.0m (£9.19m) in to the Flinders University Health and Medical Research Building in South Australia.

International PPL, which was awarded the project as part of a consortium that includes Amber Infrastructure and Tetris Capital, will enter into a 25-year lease arrangement with the University, with the facility reverting to the University at the expiry of the lease term.

Newspaper round-up

Every adult in Britain will be offered a Covid booster jab by the end of this month, Boris Johnson pledged tonight, as he warned there was "a tidal wave of Omicron coming". Under plans for an unprecedented acceleration of the country’s vaccination campaign, from today anyone over the age of 18 will be eligible for a third Covid vaccination with plans to set up seven day a week mass walk-in vaccination centres around the country. - The Times

A third of UK small businesses are planning to make staff redundant over the next few months, rising to more than four in 10 in London, according to a new survey. In a clear sign of the financial stress felt by many owner-run businesses as they head into a potentially difficult new year period, many also said they would be forced to raise prices, with Britain's supply chain meltdown being cited as the main reason – adding further to inflationary pressures. - Guardian

Scientists are discovering that industrial bottom-trawling of coastal waters is an even greater ecological catastrophe than previously supposed. Emmanuel Macron and his Dutch and Danish allies seem determined to make it worse. The British concession of 23 extra licences to French fishermen on Friday - under coercive pressure, and on the false claim that the UK is violating the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement - hardly matters in the greater of things. The commercial sums are trivial. - Daily Telegraph

A record number of manufacturers are raising prices, with factory-gate inflation of up to 10% becoming "built-in" to customers' expectations, a survey has revealed. Companies have increased their prices for a fourth quarter in a row and buyers must brace themselves for further rises in the first three months of next year, according to the survey by the trade body Make UK. - The Times

The UK's housing market is likely to return to more normal levels of activity in 2022 but will still be busy, with strong buyer demand carrying forward into next year and a rebound in the number of homeowners apparently getting ready to sell, according to Rightmove. The property website said that following a "frenzied" 18 months, the market was heading for a "less frenetic" period, with a more even balance between buyers and sellers as more homes are put up for sale and higher interest rates take some of the heat out of buyer demand. - Guardian

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Friday as investors digested key inflation data.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.60% at 35,970.99, while the S&P 500 was 0.95% stronger at 4,712.02 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.73% firmer at 15,630.60.

The Dow closed 216.30 points higher on Friday as US inflation surged to a 39-year high in November amid supply constraints, according to the Labor Department. Consumer prices rose 0.8% on the month, down from 0.9% growth in October and taking the annual rate to 6.8%, up from 6.2% the month before. This marked the biggest annual jump since 1982.