WPP acquires Newcraft, Kainos FY results seen in line with market expectations

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 49.3 points lower ahead of the bell on Thursday after ending the previous session 1.05% weaker at 7,284.15.

Stocks to watch

Communications and advertising giant WPP revealed on Thursday that it will acquire European ecommerce consultancy Newcraft for an undisclosed sum.

WPP said the addition of Newcraft, based in the Netherlands, will join its Wunderman Thompson global network and complement its "well-established commerce and marketing services teams" in Northern Europe.

IT services provider Kainos said on Thursday that its full-year results were expected to meet current market forecasts for revenues of £335.7m-373.4m and adjusted pre-tax profits of £62.7m-66.5m.

Kainos stated that trading in the five months ended 1 September had been "very strong" across both its digital services and workday practice units but noted that it remained "cognisant" of the global macroeconomic landscape.

Newspaper round-up

Households in Britain will see their spending power cut by an average £3,000 by the end of next year unless the new government acts to counter the biggest drop in living standards in at least a century, research has indicated. Adding to pressure on Boris Johnson's successor as prime minister to tackle a worsening cost of living crisis, the Resolution Foundation think tank said soaring energy bills would cut household incomes by 10% and push an extra 3.0m people into poverty. – Guardian

Growing numbers of workers are cutting their workplace pension contributions or opting out of schemes entirely because they cannot afford payments – prompting calls for employers to increase the amounts they pay in. With real wages falling and bills rising sharply, people across the country are looking for ways to reduce spending and supplement their incomes, and the TUC said it was hearing about staff in both the public and private sectors who had concluded they could not afford to save for retirement at the moment. – Guardian

Business rates will be slashed to protect swathes of corporate Britain from surging energy prices under plans drawn up by Liz Truss, the Conservative leadership frontrunner. It is thought the government could extend business rates relief from premises with a rateable value of £15,000 to those valued at £25,000, meaning many thousands more companies would be spared from the tax. – Telegraph

A leading group of manufacturing and engineering companies is pressing ministers to introduce emergency measures on the scale of the depths of the pandemic to help to avert a severe recession. Make UK has called for a "shock and awe" budget to prevent permanent "economic scarring" and to stave off substantial insolvencies and job losses. – The Times

The British microchip designer Arm has sued Qualcomm over breach of licence agreements and trademark infringement, setting the stage for a legal battle between two of the industry's most powerful companies. Qualcomm is accused of attempting to transfer licence agreements from Nuvia, a semiconductor business it acquired last year, without Arm's consent. – The Times

US close

Wall Street finished lower for the fourth session in a row on Wednesday, after a weaker-than-expected reading on the US jobs market from consultancy ADP.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.88% at 31,510.43, while the S&P 500 lost 0.78% to 3,955.00, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.56% lower at 11,816.20.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com