Cranswick lifts dividend after annual profit growth, DCC profits rise despite revenue decline

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 67 points higher on Tuesday, having closed down 0.15% at 7,032.85 on Monday.

Stocks to watch

Food producer and supplier Cranswick lifted its dividend after reporting a 10.4% rise in annual profits. The company on Tuesday said pre-tax profit came in at £114.8m from £104.0m a year ago on revenues up 13.9% to £1.9bn. It lifted the full year dividend by 15.9% to 70.0p a share, marking 31 years of unbroken dividend growth. Cranswick said it had not encountered any problems from Brexit, but said it was experiencing continuing “short term challenges relating to the supply of products to Northern Ireland and in securing Export Health Certificates”.

DCC reported a 9.1% fall in revenue in its full-year results on Tuesday, to £13.41bn, as its adjusted operating profit rose 7.3% to £530.2m. The FTSE 100 sales, marketing and services company said all divisions recorded growth in operating profit, while return on capital employed - its key metric - improved to 17.1% for the year ended 31 March, from 16.5% a year earlier. Its board proposed a 12.5% rise in the final dividend, taking total dividend growth for the year to 10%.

Newspaper round-up

Britain risks mirroring Italy’s economic woes unless it develops a strategy for tackling the five seismic changes that will shape a decisive decade for the country, a report has warned. A joint project by the Resolution Foundation think tank and the London School of Economics said the UK was neither used to nor prepared for the challenges posed by the aftermath of Covid-19, Brexit, the net zero transition, automation and a changing population. - Guardian

A consortium led by Rolls-Royce is in talks to raise £300m for the development of mini nuclear reactors it hopes can make Britain a world leader in renewable energy and power the “green industrial revolution”. The group, UK SMR Consortium, has finalised the design concept for a low-cost “small modular reactor” (SMR) and is now preparing to put it before UK regulators - a process that could take four years. - Telegraph

Amazon is in discussions to acquire the nearly century-old MGM movie studio in what would be its biggest push into entertainment yet, according to reports. MGM, the Hollywood company behind the James Bond series, would help bolster Amazon’s Prime streaming service. Amazon is weeks into negotiations to buy the studio for about $9bn (£6.4bn), according to Variety. MGM and Amazon declined to comment. - Telegraph

Britain’s fifth largest accountancy firm is planning to allow its 5,500 staff to choose when they work at the office after the pandemic. BDO, which has 18 offices nationwide, said that it would allow staff to work where they were most productive, which the company expects to result in a mix of the office, home and client sites for the majority of employees. - The Times

The future of the head of Pendragon looks precarious after a leading shareholder in the motor dealer called his executive bonus bonanza “out of tune” in the present environment. Anders Hedin, a specialist Swedish investor in automotive businesses, holds 13.7 percent of the shares in Pendragon, the company behind the Stratstone and Evans Halshaw showroom franchises. That makes him the third largest Pendragon shareholder behind Teleios, the European activist investor, and Crispin Odey, the hedge fund manager. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed weaker on Monday, following the worst week for major US indices since February.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.16% at 34,327.79, as the S&P 500 lost 0.25% to 4,163.29, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.38% weaker at 13,379.05.

The Dow closed 54.34 points lower on Friday, cutting into gains recorded in the final session of an otherwise lacklustre week for stocks.

On the macro front, manufacturing sector activity in the jurisdiction of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York slipped a bit last month, with the so-called 'Empire State' index dipping from a reading of 26.3 for April to 24.3 in May.

Economists had pencilled-in a reading of 23.9.