DS Smith reports strengthening trading, 888 launches Colorado sportsbook
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 15 points lower on Tuesday, having closed up 0.68% at 7,187.18 on Monday.
Stocks to watch
DS Smith said trading was continuing to strengthen due to high demand for its boxes despite rising transportation and energy costs. The packaging company said it had excellent volume growth in the past four months and had made good progress in recovering higher production costs by raising prices. Box volumes rose very strongly compared with a year earlier and the same period in 2019, the FTSE 100 group said.
Betting and gambling company 888 announced the launch of its Sports Illustrated-branded wagering experience, SI Sportsbook, in Colorado on Tuesday. The FTSE 250 firm said Sports Illustrated would work to engage its 30 million monthly unique users by incorporating betting information and insights from SI Sportsbook across its content, media, and gaming. 888 would provide “unique and differentiated” tools including a multi-sport ‘Pickem’ game, betting widgets, betting education tools, and intelligent hyperlinking to create a dynamic sports betting experience for customers.
Newspaper round-up
Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has ordered a national security review of a takeover by a Chinese academic of a small Welsh manufacturer of graphene – the thinnest and lightest “supermaterial” known. In a rare move, Kwarteng instructed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review the planned takeover of Perpetuus Group by Taurus International or any companies associated with Dr Zhongfu Zhou. - Guardian
FirstGroup is to launch a budget direct London-Edinburgh rail service next month, which it hopes will lure air passengers to the train as a cheaper and greener alternative. The new service, branded Lumo, will have just one single class of travel and the company hopes it will carry more than 1 million passengers a year on the East Coast line – slightly more than currently fly between the English and Scottish capitals. - Guardian
Channel 4 will be forced to shut regional offices and abandon coverage of the Paralympic Games if it is privatised, the station's bosses have said as they launch a fightback against ministers' plans. There is no evidence to suggest that privatisation would benefit audiences or the economy outside London, chief executive Alex Mahon said after hiring accountant EY to model the potential impact on the broadcaster. Bosses added that the channel's focus on diversity would also be likely to suffer. - Telegraph
Jo Bamford, the heir to JCB, is setting up a £1bn fund aimed at putting the UK ahead in the global race to manufacture environmentally friendly hydrogen. The owner of Ryze Hydrogen and Wrightbus has joined forces with investment company Vedra Partners to develop the fund, Hycap, which has already raised £200m. - Telegraph
The boss of a listed legal services company picked up a £500,000 bonus last year while his business received £1.5 million of furlough funding during the coronavirus pandemic. Adrian Biles, chief executive of the Ince Group, was awarded a one-off payment linked to the company’s share performance at the same time that his business received government support to keep staff employed. - The Times
US close
Markets in the United States were closed on Monday, as investors enjoyed a day off for the Labor Day long weekend.
They had closed in a mixed state on Friday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.21% at 35,369.09.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.03% to 4,535.43, while the Nasdaq Composite managed gains of 0.21% to 15,363.52.