InterContinental Hotels swings to profit, Flutter first half earnings jump 75pc

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open nine points higher on Tuesday, having closed up 0.13% on Monday at 7,132.30.

Stocks to watch

InterContinental Hotels said on Tuesday that it swung to a profit in the first half as trading recovered after it took a hit from the pandemic. In the six months to 30 June, the Holiday Inn owner swung to an operating profit of $138m from a loss of $233m in the same period a year ago, with a "significant" improvement in demand over the course of the half, resulting in revenue per available room rising 20% versus 2020.

Flutter's first-half earnings rose 75% as the gambling group benefited from the acquisition of Stars in the US and restoration of sporting events as the Covid-19 crisis eased. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased to £597m from £342m in the six months to the end of June from a year earlier as revenue doubled to £3.05bn from £1.54bn. Excluding the US, adjusted earnings doubled to £684m from £339m.

Newspaper round-up

David Cameron made about $10m (£7m) from Greensill Capital before the finance firm he lobbied on behalf of collapsed, according to the BBC. Panorama said it had obtained documents showing the former prime minister received the sum from cashing in shares he held in the company worth $4.5m (about £3.3m) in 2019, in addition to an annual salary of $1m (£720,000). - Guardian

Lord Rothermere has agreed an extension until the end of September to the deadline to make an £810m bid to take the parent company of the Daily Mail private. The Rothermere family, which controls a 30% stake in Daily Mail and General Trust, originally had until 9 August to make a so-called “put up or shut up” (PUSU) offer for the business, in a move that would end its 90-year run as a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange. - Guardian

Civil servants who refuse to return to the office could have their pay cut under plans being considered by some government departments. Mandarins face being stripped of "London weighting" – a salary top-up worth £4,000 to offset the high costs of living in the capital – if they resist a partial return to the workplace. - Telegraph

Australia’s unravelling “zero Covid” strategy will cost its economy more than £500m every week of lockdown as analysts warn restrictions in some of its most populous states could last until October. Forecasters warned that renewed lockdowns and the glacial pace of its vaccination programme will trigger a sharp drop in GDP in the third quarter as Delta cases threaten to explode. - Telegraph

One of Britain’s biggest leisure club operators has bounced back to pre-pandemic membership levels seven months earlier than its forecasts. David Lloyd Leisure said the number of members had recovered to 660,000, from 574,000 at the lowest point, on the back of pent-up demand and the suburban locations of its clubs. - The Times

US close

Stocks on Wall Street finished in a mixed state on Monday, as investors continued to digest the stronger-than-expected monthly jobs report published at the end of last week.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3% at 35,101.85 and the S&P 500 was off 0.09% at 4,432.35, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.16% firmer at 14,860.18.

"Yet equity markets are very stable, with focus here remaining on the events of the last couple of weeks," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda Europe.

"The US jobs report on Friday has solidified expectations for a taper announcement this year, most likely September if the August report is another knockout, so now it's all about gathering clues as to when it will start and at what pace."

Further buoying investor sentiment, the Department of Labor reported that the number of job openings in the US reached 10.1m in June, beating consensus estimates for 9.27m.