DCC delivers "strong growth" in Q1, Burberry Q1 sales impacted by Chinese lockdowns

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 22.2 points higher ahead of the bell on Friday after closing 1.63% points lower in the previous session at 7,039.81.

Stocks to watch

Sales, marketing, and support services group DCC said on Friday that it delivered "strong growth" in the "seasonally less significant" first quarter of its new trading year.

DCC stated group operating profit was in line with expectations and well ahead of the prior year, driven by strong growth in DCC Energy. The FTSE 100-listed firm added that its DCC Healthcare unit traded "robustly and in line with expectations", while its DCC Technology wing also recorded strong growth, benefitting from its recent acquisition of Almo.

Luxury fashion house Burberry said on Friday that first-quarter same-store sales increased just 1% year-on-year as sales were impacted by lockdowns across mainland China.

Burberry stated retail revenues for the 13 weeks ended 2 July came to £505.0m, up 5% at reported currency and unchanged at constant exchange rates. Excluding mainland China, comparable store sales grew 16%, while comparable store sales across Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa grew 47% year-on-year.

Newspaper round-up

As the cost of living crisis builds up UK shoppers are slashing their budgets in almost all areas. But there is a notable exception – the money spent on clothing is above pre-pandemic levels, the return of weddings, holidays and socialising fuelling a boom in "revenge spending" or buying those treats missed over months of pandemic lockdowns. Shoppers are forking out almost a fifth more on clothing than last year, research from Kantar for the Guardian has found, taking the value 1% ahead of the 2019 figure. - Guardian

Ministers have issued an ultimatum to the chief executive of Heathrow, calling on him to provide a plan to resolve the airport's staffing problems, it has been reported. John Holland-Kaye has until midday on Friday to assure ministers that the airport has sufficient workers for security screening and to assist disabled passengers, according to a letter from the Department for Transport's director general for aviation, maritime and security and the chief executive of the Civil Aviation Authority. - Guardian

Mike Ashley's Frasers has banned staff from working from home on Fridays after some employees were caught posting too often on social media. The retailer, which owns Sports Direct and House of Fraser, has ended its flexible Friday policy and asked staff to be in the office all week. An internal memo, sent by the company's operating chief, said "Frasers Friday" had become "an unproductive day of the week". - Telegraph

Homeowners with solar panels are missing out on hundreds of pounds due to rules that let energy companies underpay them for power. After months of rocketing electricity prices, a three-bedroom household with solar panels should now be able to make more than £400 a year by selling spare solar power to the grid. But under the export tariffs offered by some energy companies, they would receive as little as £22, analysis shows.- Telegraph

Europe may have to ration energy this winter if Russia cuts off the gas while Britain will also face "really, really high prices", senior energy leaders have warned. The bosses of Shell and National Grid's electricity system operator both issued stark warnings about the bleak winter ahead, after President Putin threatened that sanctions could result in catastrophic consequences for energy markets. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed mostly lower on Thursday as Q2 bank earnings began to roll in.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.46% at 30,630.17, while the S&P 500 was 0.30% weaker at 3,790.38 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.03% firmer at 11,251.19.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com