Bunzl reports first-half profit growth, FirstGroup signs £300m sustainability-linked facility

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The FTSE 100 is expected to open 10 points higher on Tuesday, having closed up 0.32% on Friday, before the long weekend.

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Bunzl reported first-half adjusted profit up almost 15% as a recovery in its core business more than offset declining sales of Covid-19 related products. Adjusted operating profit for the six months to the end of June rose 14.7% at constant currency to £366.8m as constant currency revenue increased 6.3% to £4.87bn. Pretax profit rose 12.3% to £275.7m as reported revenue rose 0.4%. Bunzl increased its interim dividend by 2.5% to 16.2p a share.

South Korea’s SK Bioscience and the UK’s GlaxoSmithKline on Tuesday said they would start a phase 3 clinical study of SK’s Covid-19 vaccine candidate combined with GSK's pandemic vaccine booster. The randomised, active-controlled global trial will enrol around 4,000 participants from a range of countries and will aim to evaluate GBP510’s safety and immunogenicity compared to the AstraZeneca/Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine.

FirstGroup has signed a new £300m sustainability-linked revolving credit facility with a group of its relationship banks. The FTSE 250 passenger transport company said the facility carried an initial maturity of four years, with the option to extend by a further year subject to bank consent. It said it replaced all of its former committed syndicated and bilateral banking facilities, which were recently repaid and cancelled.

Newspaper round-up

UK business confidence has hit a four-year high, thanks to growing optimism about the post-Covid recovery, but companies highlighted concerns about staff shortages, which could push up pay in the coming months. The vaccine rollout, removal of lockdown restrictions and changes to self-isolation rules all contributed to greater optimism among firms in August, according to the latest snapshot from Lloyds Bank. - Guardian

Great Britain’s energy regulator has launched a £450m fund aimed at innovative projects that will help the country meet its net zero climate targets. Ofgem will make the money available to energy network companies that are trying to ensure homes and businesses are going green. - Guardian

The escalating crisis in Britain’s military procurement system has been exposed in an analysis of major defence projects worth £166bn that found none rated “green”, meaning it was likely to be on time, on budget and meet expectations. Official analysis of 36 projects ranging from the £6.4bn Ajax armoured vehicle, which is running years late and giving soldiers testing it vibration injuries and hearing damage, to the £31bn Dreadnought programme to replace the Navy’s Trident submarines reveals a host of delays, problems and budget overruns. - Telegraph

Investment bankers are on course to have their best year on record for fees from mergers and acquisitions thanks to the frenzy of deals that has shaken up corporate Britain. Banks advising on deals involving UK companies as either the buyer or seller have earned $4 billion so far this year, according to Refinitiv, the financial data provider. That is the highest year-to-date total since at least 2000 and well above the $2.4 billion made in the same period last year. - The Times

The largest shareholder in Rolls-Royce has called for “fresh thinking” at the engine-maker. Causeway Capital Management, which has recently increased its stake to just below 9 per cent, said that it was keen for a refresh of the board and would press Anita Frew, the incoming chairwoman, to consider the make-up at the top of the company. - The Times

US close

Stocks finished in a mixed state on Wall Street on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.16% at 35,399.84.

The S&P 500, meanwhile, was ahead 0.43% at 4,528.79, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9% to 15,265.89.