Vistry half-year profits fall, GSK treatment being reviewed in Japan

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 23 points higher on Monday, having closed up 0.49% on Friday at 7,478.19.

Stocks to watch

Vistry said it planned to merge its housebuilding operations with its partnerships business by the end of the year as it set new medium-term earnings targets. The UK home builder on Monday said it was now aiming for return on capital employed of 40%, revenue growth of 5 – 8% a year and operating profit of £800m with an operating margin of at least 12%. Vistry posted an 8.4% fall in adjusted half-year pre-tax profits to £174m amid a tough housing market where prices have been falling in response to higher mortgage costs.

Pharma giant GSK has announced that Japanese regulators are reviewing its proposed new momelotnib treatment for people with myelofibrosis – a type of blood cancer. Momelotnib, which is currently not approved in any market, is hoped to address the significant medical needs of myelofibrosis patients, especially those with anaemia. The new drug application, which included data from clinical trials addressing key clinical manifestations of myelofibrosis, has now been accepted for review by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

Newspaper round-up

BMW will unveil a significant investment in its electric Mini plant in Oxford on Monday, a move that will secure 4,000 jobs and strengthen the UK’s electric vehicle supply chain. The investment by the German carmaker is the result of “extensive” engagement with the UK government, according to the business and trade department, and marks a reversal of plans to move electric Mini production abroad to China. – Guardian

The largest solar farm in Europe to be built on a closed landfill site has begun generating renewable electricity from a former rubbish dump in Essex. The Ockendon solar farm, the third largest in the UK, includes more than 100,000 solar modules covering 70 hectares (173 acres) of land. – Guardian

Rising taxes risk “severely undermining” the fight against inflation, a group of more than 40 major British businesses have warned the Chancellor. In a letter to Jeremy Hunt, the bosses of Tesco, Aldi, Ikea, Greggs, M&S and dozens more retailers have warned an anticipated rise in business rates will ramp up costs and make it harder to cut prices. – Telegraph

Waitrose has cut the price of roast dinner staples and other items in the grocer’s latest bid to retain cash-strapped customers. The supermarket chain said it was lowering the cost of 250 items from Wednesday as part of an ongoing £100m investment. Among the goods falling in price are higher-welfare, medium whole chickens, which will drop from £4.90 each to £4.50 each. – Telegraph

When experts at the Bank of England begin their next round of forecasting for the nation’s economy, they will be watched closely by an outside observer. Ben Bernanke, the Nobel prizewinning economist and former US Federal Reserve chairman, has been charged with leading an independent review of the Bank’s forecasting models. He is the latest in a series of American economists to have been drafted in by the Bank to provide an independent evaluation of its work since it gained its independence from the Treasury in 1997. Before Bernanke, Don Kohn, David Stockton and Kevin Warsh were Fed officials to have written reviews of the UK’s monetary policy framework. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed just above the waterline on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.22% at 34,576.59.

The S&P 500 added 0.14% to 4,457.49, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.09% at 13,761.53.