James Fisher and Sons cuts interim dividend, AstraZeneca doses patients in phase I trial

London open

The FTSE 100 was being called to start the session 20 points higher at 6,124.

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James Fisher & Sons cut its interim dividend by 29% as first-half profit fell but the company said it expected trading to improve. Pretax profit for the six months to the end of June fell 59% to £7.1m as revenue dropped 10% to £258.1m and the company wrote down £4.8m of assets. Underlying pretax profit fell 28% to £15.1m. The FTSE 250 marine services company reduced its interim dividend to 8p a share from 11.3p a year earlier. The company suspended its final dividend for 2019 in March and has now scrapped that payout.

AstraZeneca said the UK first participants have been dosed in a Phase I trial of a combination of two monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to prevent and treat Covid-19. The trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of the drug, called AZD7442, and will include up to 48 healthy participants aged 18 - 55 years.

APAX Global Alpha posted a net asset value return of -0.5% for the first half despite the -11.9% recorded over the first quarter on the back of market weakness. Over the second quarter on the other hand, valuations recovered strongly, rising 13.3%, particularly in the private equuty portfolio.

In the press

The owner of Topshop and Topman has been accused of potential breaching employment law by offering staff being made redundant less favourable terms for their notice periods, linked to the government’s furlough scheme. Sir Philip Green’s struggling Arcadia Group, which also owns Miss Selfridge, Evans, Wallis, Burton and Dorothy Perkins, is making up to 500 head office staff redundant after a slowdown in trade during the pandemic. – Guardian

Eurostar is to launch its eagerly awaited direct Amsterdam to London service on 26 October, it announced on Monday. The high-speed rail service had been due to start at the end of April but was delayed following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The cross-Channel rail operator launched the London to Amsterdam route in April 2018, but until now the return leg of the journey meant a change in Brussels to allow for passport controls and security screening, adding about an hour to the journey time. – Guardian

McLaren is bringing production home with the launch of a lightweight carbon-fibre “tubs” designed for its next generation of electric vehicles. The supercar maker said the lightweight frames will be produced at its Sheffield factory, taking the value of UK-sourced parts in McLaren cars from about 50pc to almost 60pc. – Telegraph

US Close

Wall Street stocks finished on the green on Monday, after the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorisation for convalescent plasma on Covid-19 patients.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.35% at 28,308.46, as the S&P 500 added 1% to 3,421.28, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.6% firmer at 11,379.72.

The Dow closed 378.13 points higher on Monday, as stocks looked to extend a seemingly unstoppable rally in tech shares which pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite above their previous records.