Ashtead Group Q1 revenue and profits rise, Berkeley on track to meet FY profit guidance

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 17.3 points lower ahead of the bell on Tuesday after closing out the previous session 0.09% firmer at 7,287.43.

Stocks to watch

Equipment rental company Ashtead Group said on Tuesday that both revenue and profits had grown in the three months ended 31 July, driven by "ongoing momentum" in supportive end markets, but cautioned that increased interest costs would offset much of its outperformance.

Ashtead stated revenues were up 25% in the first quarter at $2.25bn, with rental revenues improving 26% to $2.07bn, while operating profits increased 26% to $594.0m and underlying earnings improved 22% to $1.03bn.

Housebuilder Berkeley Group said on Tuesday that it was on track to meet full-year profit guidance despite a "volatile" operating environment.

Updating on trading ahead of its annual general meeting, Berkeley said it had continued to trade "well" during the first four months of the current financial year, with the group set to meet pre-tax profit guidance of £600.0m for the current year.

Newspaper round-up

Dressed in overalls with "leave it in the ground" scrawled on their backs, climate protesters shovelled coal over the side of a goods train bound for the Drax power station in 2008. It is now 14 years on from the train "hijack" and government officials are considering their own raid on the North Yorkshire power station – this time on the company's finances. – Guardian

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The budget broadband provider TalkTalk has been warned by its auditor that presenting its accounts on a going concern basis is increasingly risky as it comes under pressure from its £1.1bn debt pile. In the company's annual report, which has not been published on its website or filed with Companies House but has been made available on request to bond investors and seen by The Telegraph, auditors from Deloitte highlight a series of unusual accounting practices. – Telegraph

JP Morgan has drawn up plans to shift work from offices in Germany into the City of London as finance companies brace for potential blackouts in the EU's biggest economy. The Wall Street bank is preparing a raft of emergency measures so that it can continue trading if there are power outages this winter following Vladimir Putin's decision to cut off gas supplies from Russia. – Telegraph

The bank criticised by a former minister for its allegedly poor due diligence work on pandemic loan schemes suffered a rate of suspected fraud that was two and a half times the sector's average, new figures suggest. Starling, the digital bank led by Anne Boden, identified 5.8% of loans it had provided under the bounce-back loan scheme as suspected fraud. This was higher than the average across lenders of 2.3%. – The Times

US close

Wall Street trading was closed on Monday in observance of the Labor Day public holiday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com