JD Sports scraps interim dividend, Vistry Group sees profits slide

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 26 points higher on Tuesday, having closed up 2.39% at 5,937.40 on Monday.

Stocks to watch

JD Sports Fashion forecast annual pre-tax profits of at least £265m as it scrapped an interim dividend and reported a slump in half-year earnings caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The high street chain said Covid-19 remained an “ongoing challenge” as countries reimposed lockdown measures, forcing temporary store closures amid persistently weak retail footfall. Pre-tax profits for the six months to August 1 fell to £41.5m from £129.9m.

Vistry Group announced a “strong start” to the second half in its interim results on Tuesday, with a sales rate 20% ahead of the prior year since 1 July, at 0.73 sales per active site per week. The FTSE 250 housebuilder said its adjusted revenue for the first half was up 40% at £660.9m, although its adjusted operating profit slid 72% to £21.2m. It said Covid-19 site closures “significantly” impacted housebuilding in the first half, as well as output and performance, although its production capacity was back to “near normal” levels from 1 July.

Newspaper round-up

The slow return of UK workers to their normal place of work will come too late to save hard-pressed city centre stores from going under, the body that represents retailers has said. Despite a pick-up in spending in August, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said sales were still below their pre-pandemic level and the lack of people was having a devastating impact on shops operating in places once thronged with workers. – Guardian

Morrisons is hiring thousands more permanent staff as it expands its online delivery service and steps up in-store cleaning, building on a dramatic workforce expansion since the pandemic took hold. The Bradford-based supermarket chain, which employed about 97,000 workers at the start of the year, hired 45,000 extra staff after the coronavirus crisis hit the UK. Many of the new recruits temporarily replaced permanent workers who were vulnerable or forced to self-isolate. – Guardian

One in 10 businesses that have taken on debts from government-backed coronavirus schemes could go bust, according to a prominent survey. Some 42pc of companies have used the schemes during the pandemic, and more than a quarter report that they may have to scale back operations to repay them, a poll by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) with banking group TSB found. – Telegraph

The government should levy a windfall tax on companies that shift profits offshore to minimise their corporation tax bills, a retail industry leader says. Andrew Higginson, the chairman of Wm Morrison, said a one-off hit on tax avoiders should be Rishi Sunak’s “weapon of choice” as he seeks to repair the public finances.- The Times

Britain’s technology industry is helping to cushion the jobs market from the worst effects of the pandemic, with vacancies in the sector rising by more than a third during the summer. The number of advertised vacancies in the digital sector has climbed 36 per cent since early June, according to data collected by Tech Nation, the government-backed lobby group. – The Times

US close

Markets were closed stateside on Monday for the Labor Day holiday, having ended Friday’s session weaker across the board.

On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.56% at 28,133.31, while the S&P 500 lost 0.81% to 3,426.96, and the Nasdaq Composite was off 1.27% at 11,313.14.