Tesco sales rise in first quarter, Inchcape flags higher full-year profit

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open seven points lower on Friday, having closed down 0.44% on Thursday at 7,153.43.

Stocks to watch

UK supermarket group Tesco reported a small rise in first quarter like-for-like sales, reflecting the lifting of Covid restrictions as more people started to eat out again. Group sales were up 1% to £13.3bn for the 13 weeks to May 29. On a two-year basis, before the pandemic struck, sales were up 8.1%. UK sales rose 0.5% to £10bn. Two-year UK like-for-like growth of +9.3% included the retained benefit of customers consuming more meals at home against the pre-Covid period, which peaked in March at +14.6% and moderated in April/May as restrictions eased, the company said on Friday.

Car dealership Inchcape said on Friday that its full-year pre-tax profit is set to be "significantly ahead" of market consensus of £216m after a better-than-expected performance in the first half. The company said that since its first-quarter update at the end of April, encouraging trends across the business have continued and it has benefited both from an uptick in demand and margin resilience. Inchcape cautioned that there is still a high level of uncertainty about the second half, both in terms of the pandemic and issues relating to supply due to shortages of semiconductors, which have had a limited impact to date. Nevertheless, it expects the strong first half performance to underpin its full-year results.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s economic recovery will accelerate into the autumn despite the threat from staff shortages and higher inflation, according to a forecast by the business lobby group, the CBI. The economy will expand by 8.2% this year and by 6.1% next year as the successful vaccination programme allows lockdown easing to continue next month, driving a surge in consumer spending and business activity in the second half of 2021, the CBI said. - Guardian

US safety regulators have opened 30 investigations into Tesla crashes involving 10 deaths since 2016 where an advanced driver assistance system was suspected to have been in use. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a list offering details about crashes under review by its special crash investigations programs. - Guardian

Channel 4 could be privatised as soon as next year as ministers prepare to launch a consultation on its future within weeks. The government-owned broadcaster could be sold to a private buyer within a year as part of the review, the Financial Times reported. Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, said last month that Channel 4 could be sold by 2024 to “provide a sustainable future for the broadcaster”. - Telegraph

JP Morgan Chase has bought UK robo wealth manager Nutmeg as it plots an assault on the British banking market. The Wall Street giant said the deal will complement the mobile banking service it plans to launch in the UK later this year under the Chase brand. Nutmeg has expanded rapidly since its launch in 2012 and manages assets worth £3.5bn on behalf of 140,000 clients. - Telegraph

Mark Carney was paid more than half a million pounds for 14 days’ work as governor of the Bank of England last year. The Bank’s annual report showed that Carney, 56, received £443,965 in pay, benefits and pension contributions and a one-off £113,821 relocation expense to move him and his family back to Canada. - The Times

US close

Stocks finished mixed on Wall Street on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.62% at 33,823.45.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.04% to 4,221.86, while the Nasdaq Composite managed gains of 0.87% to 14,161.35.