LondonMetric offloading four estates, Trainline launches share buyback

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 11 points higher on Thursday, having closed down 0.02% on Wednesday at 7,525.99.

Stocks to watch

Real estate group LondonMetric Property is to sell four multi-let industrial estates in the East Midlands for £40.5m. The portfolio, which consists of 435,000 square feet across 47 units in total, is part of the Mucklow group which LondonMetric acquired in 2019, at which the four assets were valued at £30.9m. LondonMetric has now disposed of 35% of the original Mucklow portfoliio.

Online travel platform Trainline on Thursday launched a £50m share buyback as ticket sales grew by almost a quarter in the first six months of its financial year. Group net ticket sales grew 23% year-on-year to £2.6bn in the six months to August 31, driving growth in group revenue of 19% to £197m.

Newspaper round-up

Households could save up to £400 a year on energy bills under a new means-tested scheme to insulate more than 300,000 of Great Britain’s draughtiest homes. The government is spending £1bn on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands. – Guardian

Cash has mounted a comeback in the UK, with payments made using notes and coins increasing for the first time in a decade, data shows. Cash use has been in long-term decline, but the banking body UK Finance said the cost of living crisis had prompted many people to turn back to “tangible” physical money to help them manage their budgets. – Guardian

The British microchip company Arm has priced its New York IPO at $51 a share, giving it a valuation of more than $52bn (£42bn) ahead of its Wall Street debut on Thursday. The pricing, confirmed by Arm on Wednesday evening, is at the top of the $47 to $51 range Arm had said last week, suggesting strong demand from investors. - Telegraph

Ethical investment standards risk undermining Britain’s defence industry and the wider economy, Grant Shapps has claimed. The defence secretary said that companies in the defence industry were being “excluded from access to debt and equity capital, citing environmental, social and governance [ESG] grounds. – The Times

Despite the chaos caused by its failed break-up plan, EY’s global army of accountants and advisers made more money than ever before over the past year. The Big Four firm and its moves to split itself into separate audit and consulting businesses have dominated the industry for the past 18 months. – The Times.

US close

US stocks finished mixed on Wednesday despite an in-line inflation report which cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep monetary policy unchanged when it meets next week.

Markets were struggling for direction for most of the session after a largely muted reaction to the consumer price index (CPI) release for August.

Andrew Hunter, deputy chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said: "Overall, there is nothing here to change the Fed’s plans to hold interest rates unchanged at next week’s FOMC meeting."

The Dow finished 0.2% lower at 34,576, the S&P 500 rose 0.1% to 4,467, while the Nasdaq gained 0.3% to 13,814.

According to the Department of Labor, consumer prices rose 0.6% during the month of August, in line with expectations but up sharply from the 0.2% growth registered in July and the highest rate of growth in over a year.