First quarter revenues rise at Cranswick, Petropavlovsk appoints interim CEO

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points lower on Monday, having closed down 1.55% at 6,090.04 on Friday.

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Food producer Cranswick said it expected full year results to be ahead of expectations after first quarter revenues rose by almost a quarter as more Britons ate at home during the coronavirus lockdown. The company on Monday said revenue in the 13 weeks to June 27 was up year on year. Excluding the contribution from acquisitions made in the prior year, revenue on a like-for-like basis was 19.2% higher. The trend had continued into the second three months of the fiscal year, it added.

Playtech investor, Jason Ader, believes that DraftKings should make an all share acquisition offer for Playtech. In remarks to Bloomberg, the longtime casino-industry investor, said he would propose just that if he were on the board of DraftKings, arguing that it would boost the company's profits while catapulting the market valuation of Playtech. Ader holds just under 5% of Playtech stock.

Petropavlovsk announced the appointment of Maksim Meshcheriakov as its interim chief executive officer on Monday, with immediate effect. The Russia-focussed FTSE 250 gold miner said the appointment of a permanent chief executive officer and other executive management roles was still to be determined by the board, with Meshcheriakov expected to be a candidate for the role of CEO. It confirmed founder and former CEO Dr Pavel Maslovskiy has left the company.

Newspaper round-up

Fears that relaxed summer socialising will lead to a surge in Covid-19 cases around the UK have been heightened after concerns that JD Wetherspoon is failing to prevent overcrowding in pubs in its 900-strong chain. Concerns about poor social distancing by customers in Wetherspoon pubs followed a surge in visitors during recent hot weather and after the publication of A-level results last Thursday. Customers in a south London pub run by the company said they had not been asked to provide personal details, including mobile phone numbers that can be used in the government’s track and trace system. – Guardian

The housing market has had its busiest month in more than 10 years in July, with the traditional summer lull replaced by a flurry of activity from buyers and sellers, according to the property website Rightmove. The site, which typically lists about 95% of homes for sale in the UK, said the “rulebook has been rewritten”, with the boom fuelled by pent-up demand during lockdown accelerating as the summer has progressed. – Guardian

Retail bosses have made fresh calls for ministers to accelerate a business rates review as the end of the tax holiday looms. – Telegraph

Two of the world’s biggest drugs companies have warned that finding a coronavirus vaccine is a marathon and not a sprint and have claimed that they would be “happy” should one of their rivals launch their version first. The heads of the vaccine businesses at GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, which are developing a Covid-19 vaccine together, said that “rapid progress” was being made in the battle to treat the disease, but that collaboration and protecting as many people as possible were more important than being first. – The Times

Debenhams could be broken up between potential buyers as concerns grow about the future of the department stores chain and its 14,000 employees. Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, Next and a Chinese consortium are among the parties interested in buying Debenhams’ stores as the retailer’s owners desperately hunt for a buyer. – The Times

US close

Stocks closed mixed on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending the session up 0.12% at 27,931.02.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, lost 0.02% to 3,372.85, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.21% weaker at 11,019.30.