Melrose trading ahead of expectations, Apax value rises on Wizeline sale

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open 13 points lower on Thursday, having closed up 0.42% at 7,149.84 on Wednesday.

Stocks to watch

Melrose Industries said it was trading ahead of expectations as the turnaround company reported a narrower loss for the first half of 2021. The company reported a statutory pre-tax loss of £151m for the six months to the end of June compared with a £585m loss a year earlier as revenue rose to £3.54bn from £3.39bn. Adjusted pre-tax profit was £109m compared with an £11m loss a year earlier. Melrose declared an interim dividend of 0.75p a share.

Apax Global Alpha said on Thursday that the Quebecois pension investor CDPQ has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Wizeline from the Apax Digital Fund, in which it is a limited partner. The FTSE 250 company said the Apax Digital Fund would retain a minority shareholding in Wizeline following the transaction. It said the transaction valued its look-through investment in Wizeline at about €10.3, representing an uplift of 64% to the last unaffected valuations, and of €4.0m in Apax Global Alpha’s adjusted net asset value as at 30 June.

Newspaper round-up

Household energy bills are to rise after prices on the UK’s wholesale electricity market soared to a record high last month, furthering concerns about more families being pushed into fuel poverty this winter. The electricity market price passed the £100 a megawatt-hour mark last month for the first time since the market was formed in 1990, according to analysis by Imperial College London. - Guardian

The owner of Port Talbot steelworks crashed to a £347m annual loss as the pandemic hit demand, but insisted its finances are healthier after its parent, Tata, pumped in almost £1bn of equity. Losses at Tata Steel UK in the year to the end of March improved from £654m a year earlier but underlined the struggles of Britain’s steel industry. - Guardian

Treasury civil servants will be allowed to permanently work from home for most of the week in a shift that threatens to undermine Rishi Sunak as he attempts to revive cities by pushing for office workers to return. Job adverts reveal that most of the department’s staff will never have to come back to their desks full time, and will be free to stay at home for two or three weekdays. - Telegraph

More than half of American businesses are planning or considering requirements relating to the Covid jab by the end of the year, more than double the 21 percent of companies that have some form of mandate at present. Options vary from a strict order for all employees to be vaccinated to limiting access to certain areas such as cafeterias to inoculated workers, according to Willis Towers Watson. - The Times

Creditors of NMC Health, the former FTSE 100 private healthcare group embroiled in a “massive” fraud scandal, have approved a restructuring that will allow 34 group companies to exit administration in Abu Dhabi and to continue to operate the core business. In a vote in the United Arab Emirates yesterday, creditors gave “overwhelming” support for an effective debt-for-equity swap called a deeds of company arrangement. - The Times

US close

Wall Street closed in a mixed state on Wednesday, as market participants thumbed over a number of major data points.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.14% at 35,312.53, while the S&P 500 eked out gains of 0.03% to 4,524.09 and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.33% firmer at 15,309.38.

The Dow closed 48.2 points lower on Wednesday, extending modest losses recorded in the previous session.

A number of data points were in focus earlier in the session, with mortgage applications falling in the seven days ended 27 August, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, dropping 2.4% week-on-week as the average contract interest rate for traditional 30-year mortgages was unchanged at 3.03%.

Elsewhere, private sector employment in the US grew much less than expected in August as the spread of the Delta variant took its toll, according to the latest data from the ADP.