Kingfisher expecting higher interim profits, Computacenter sees first half growth

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 12 points lower on Wednesday, having closed up 0.13% at 6,269.73 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

DIY group Kingfisher said it expected interim pre-tax profits to be higher as strong demand continued across its markets after the lifting of coronavirus lockdowns, but withheld guidance due to continued uncertainty. The B&Q owner said group second quarter like-for-like sales to July 18 rose 21.6%. For the year to the same date they were down 3.7%. “Based on the strong sales seen to date in Q2, combined with cost reductions benefiting H1 (some of which are non-recurring), the company anticipates its half year adjusted pre-tax profit to be ahead of prior year,” the company said on Wednesday.

Computacenter said on Wednesday that its adjusted profit before tax in the first half had turned out to be “substantially ahead” of the same period last year. The FTSE 250 company said that, while most of its industrial clients had been quiet, elsewhere there had been a surge in demand for IT equipment to enable home working, which helped its performance “considerably”. Notwithstanding the ongoing “unpredictable” Covid-19 crisis, it said that 2020 as a whole was looking to be a year of material progress for the firm.

Newspaper round-up

Promises by government ministers to revitalise high streets with a new breed of shops should be abandoned in favour of turning town centres into residential hubs, creating at least 800,000 homes, according to a report that aims to influence a Downing Street review of planning laws. The Social Market Foundation (SMF) said the decline of the traditional high street could not be reversed by policies that “turn the clock back” to a time before online shopping, especially after the trend accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. – Guardian

Tesco is getting rid of contract cleaners in nearly 2000 stores with their duties, including washing windows and floors, being transferred to store staff. Starting on 24 August staff working in 1,920 of Tesco’s smaller Metro and Express supermarkets will have to take on new tasks, such as cleaning floors and windows as well as the shelves and fridges. They will also have to start cleaning their own break rooms and toilets. – Guardian

Companies will be paying “wildly out-of-date” business rates bills based on pre-coronavirus property valuations until 2023 after the government postponed a revaluation for the commercial premises tax. Experts said that the Treasury risked condemning businesses struggling with the fallout from the pandemic to paying bills that bear “no relation to economic realities” as it delayed a reassessment of property values. – The Times

Businesses are operating at half of their pre-crisis capacity in a sign that the recovery is taking longer than had been anticipated, according to a survey. Although the national lockdown has been eased, more than half of businesses said that lower demand and the threat of a new wave of infections were obstacles to restarting day-to-day operations. The British Chambers of Commerce, which conducted the survey alongside Indeed, the jobs website, said that there would be more job losses and business failures unless the government stepped in with further support for employers. It called on the Treasury to increase the threshold for employers’ national insurance contributions. – The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street closed in a mixed state on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.6% at 26,840.40.

The S&P 500 was also in the green, rising 0.17% to 3,257.30, while the Nasdaq Composite went the other way, losing 0.81% to 10,680.36.