Smurfit Kappa buys Peru carton firm, Mondi signs new credit facility

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points lower on Friday, having closed down 0.61% on Thursday at 7,064.35.

Stocks to watch

Packaging group Smurfit Kappa said it had bought Cartones del Pacifico in Peru for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition expands the company’s footprint in the Americas from 12 to 13 countries. As part of the deal, Emusa Group has acquired Smurfit Kappa’s flexible packaging business in El Salvador. “With a population of over 30 million, we are delighted to expand our footprint into Peru to help drive future growth,” said chief executive Tony Smurfit on Friday.

Paper and packaging group Mondi has signed a new €750m five-year revolving credit facility agreement to refinance an agreement due to mature in July 2022. The RCF incorporates key sustainability targets linked to MAP2030 - Mondi’s Action Plan to meet 2030 sustainability goals and designed to tackle global issues across the value chain with commitments focused on circular-driven packaging and paper solutions, created by empowered people, taking action on climate.

Newspaper round-up

First-time buyers in England will be able to apply for a discount of up to 50% on a new-build home under a government scheme. The First Homes initiative could save buyers £100,000 or more. But some experts say that with demand for these cut-price homes likely to exceed supply, it could spark a scramble for properties and add more fuel to the house price boom. - Guardian

Tour operators and airlines lost more than £2bn in value after the government removed Portugal from the “green list” of countries exempt from significant travel restrictions, prompting dismay and anger in the tourism industry. Less than a month after Portugal became the first big destination to be granted green list status, prompting a much-needed boom in holiday sales, the government reversed the decision. - Guardian

Rishi Sunak has used his first face-to-face meeting with the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to demand a crackdown on big tech tax avoidance, as world leaders wrangle over the largest overhaul of international rules for decades. The Chancellor is spearheading efforts by major European countries to ensure Silicon Valley pays tax where it does business, as part of a wider deal with the White House. - Telegraph

The man who was the driving force behind the creation of Canary Wharf — transforming abandoned docklands into London’s “second City” — is stepping back from his role. Sir George Iacobescu, 75, told staff at Canary Wharf Group that from next month he would no longer be responsible for development and construction at the company, which manages the 128-acre estate in east London. Canary Wharf is home to the headquarters of companies including JP Morgan, Citigroup, Barclays and KPMG. - The Times

European judges have dealt a blow to Britain’s supermarkets by ruling in an equal pay claim that female shop staff can compare their roles with male colleagues at distribution centres. The decision at the European Court of Justice applied specifically to Tesco, but lawyers said that it would affect the company’s rivals. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Thursday as market participants digested this week's all-important jobless claims report from the Department of Labor.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07% at 34,577.04, while the S&P 500 was 0.36% weaker at 4,192.85 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.03% softer at 13,614.51.

The Dow closed 23.34 points lower on Thursday, almost erasing modest gains recorded in the previous session as energy and "meme" stocks traded higher.

Thursday's primary focus was the Labor Department's jobless claims report, which showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits in the week ended 29 May had dropped below 400,000 for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic started over twelve months ago. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 20,000 to a seasonally adjusted print of 385,000 - the lowest since mid-March 2020. Economists had forecast a reading of 390,000 applications.

On the macro front, planned job cuts among US employers rose to 24,586 in May from 22,913 a month earlier, according to data firm Challenger Gray & Christmas, meaning that so far in 2021, employers announced plans to cut 192,185 jobs from their payrolls, down 86% from the 1.41m wiped out during the same period in 2020.