Direct Line appoints new CEO, Smiths Group acquires US unit

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 20 points higher on Wednesday, having closed up 1.72% on Tuesday at 7,464.99.

Stocks to watch

Direct Line said it had appointed Adam Winslow as chief executive to succeed Jon Greenwood who has been acting CEO since January. Winslow, who will start with the insurance company in the first quarter of 2024, has led Aviva's UK and Ireland general insurance business. Prior to this he was CEO of Global Life at AIG Life and Retirement (now Corebridge) having held a number of general insurance and life insurance roles in his eight years at AIG.

Engineering giant Smiths Group is beefing up its US heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) operations with the purchase of Ohio-based Heating & Cooling Products. The unit was acquired for a total of $82m on a cash and debt-free basis from a private seller. The purchase price represented less than 7x forward EBITDA.

Newspaper round-up

The number of UK homes sold this year is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade, as the soaring cost of mortgages puts off homebuyers. House sales reaching completion are expected to fall 21% year-on-year to about 1m in 2023, the lowest level since 2012, according to a report from the property website Zoopla. – Guardian

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason. On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio. – Guardian

A single rogue flight plan caused the IT meltdown which led to thousands of flight cancellations, it emerged on Tuesday night, as Downing Street refused to rule out that a French airline was to blame. The National Air Traffic Service (Nats) revealed that a “technical issue” that led to more than 1,000 flight cancellations was caused by “some of the flight data we received”. – Telegraph

Shareholders globally are heading for a second year of real-terms cuts to dividend income as inflation this year is set to eat into a healthy rise in nominal payouts. A bumper increase in bank dividends this year produced a pick-up in global dividend income in the second quarter to a record of almost $570 billion, according to the latest Janus Henderson study of company payouts. – The Times

The owner of The Body Shop is exploring a potential sale of the skincare and cosmetics retailer after struggling to turn around its fortunes. Yesterday Natura & Co, the Brazilian beauty conglomerate that owns the Avon and Natura brands and is in the process of selling its Aesop brand to L’Oréal, said that its board had authorised management to explore “strategic alternatives” for The Body Shop. – The Times

US close

Wall Street closed with some decent gains on Tuesday, with investors looking ahead to a slew of US economic data scheduled to be released later this week.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.85% at 34,852.67, while the S&P 500 index rose 1.45%, ending the trading day at 4,497.63.

The Nasdaq Composite, buoyed largely by tech stocks, showed the strongest performance among the three major indices, gaining 1.74% to close at 13,943.76.

On the currency front, the dollar was last down 0.03% on sterling at 79.07p, while it slipped just 0.01% against the common currency to trade at 91.9 euro cents.

The greenback also recorded a minor decrease of 0.02% against the yen, to last change hands at JPY 145.85.