Ferguson doubles share buyback, TI Fluid Systems FY operating profits improve

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 94.8 points lower ahead of the bell on Tuesday after closing the previous session 37.83 points higher at 7,193.47.

Stocks to watch

Plumbing and heating products supplier Ferguson said on Tuesday that it was doubling its share buyback to $2.0bn after interim profits rose by two-thirds.

The company reported adjusted core profits of $1.46bn, up 59.8% year-on-year, as net sales rose 29.1% to $13.1bn in the six months ended 31 January. As a result, the firm's interim dividend was lifted by 15% to $0.84 per share.

Automotive fluid systems manufacturer TI Fluid Systems said on Tuesday that full-year revenues and operating profits had improved year-on-year in 2021 as it managed to successfully navigate yet another "volatile year".

TI Fluid Systems said full-year revenues were up 5.6% at constant currency rates to €2.95bn, which, when coupled with a more than percentage point improvement in its margin from -6.3% to 4.3%, helped raise adjusted underlying earnings from a reported loss of €176.3m to a profit of €126.8m.

Newspaper round-up

Petrol could soar to £2.50 a litre, while diesel could hit £3 and may even be rationed, experts told MPs on Monday, as they warned that Russia's invasion of Ukraine spells worsening pain for consumers. In testimony to the Treasury select committee, leading economics and energy analysts also called on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to subsidise lower-income households to cope with soaring home energy bills, amid a broader cost of living crisis. - Guardian

Roman Abramovich, the billionaire owner of Chelsea FC who was subjected to sanctions by the UK government last week, has been spotted at a VIP lounge at an airport in Israel. One of seven Russians who had their assets frozen last Thursday in an attempt to ratchet up the pressure on Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine, Abramovich was seen in Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Monday shortly before a jet linked to him took off for Istanbul. - Guardian

Arm, one of Britain's biggest technology companies, is cutting hundreds of staff weeks after a $40.0bn (£31.0bn) deal to sell the company to Nvidia fell apart. Rene Haas, Arm's newly-installed chief executive, told staff on Monday that the redundancies would affect 12% to 15% of its global workforce. The Cambridge-based business has 4,400 staff and around 1,747 in the UK, meaning the cuts could affect more than 600 employees. - Telegraph

Fears are growing that lockdowns to tackle a sharp rise coronavirus cases in China will disrupt shipping from one of the world's biggest ports and cause shortages to ripple through global supply chains. Chinese markets tumbled today as authorities imposed a one-week lockdown imposed a one-week lockdown on Shenzhen, a city of 17.5m people in the southeast of the country, to tackle rising infection rates. - The Times

The number of reports to the City regulator of alleged cryptocurrency scams more than doubled last year. The Financial Conduct Authority received 6,372 alerts about suspected crypto frauds last year, up from 3,143 the year before, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed mostly in the red on Monday as the Russia-Ukraine conflict continued to heat up and investors prepared for the Fed to raise its target fed funds rate for the first time in almost four years.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 32,945.24, while the S&P 500 was 0.74% softer at 4,173.11 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 2.04% weaker at 12,581.22.