Mitie lifts annual profit guidance, AstraZeneca reports positive Lynparza results

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open eight points higher on Friday, having closed down 0.07% at 7,078.35 on Thursday.

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Facilities management company Mitie Group lifted annual profit guidance after a strong second quarter boosted by the award of more Covid-19-related contracts. The group, which provides services from cleaning to security, said it expected operating profit before other items to be £145m - £155m, despite an expected slowdown in revenue from pandemic work. “Current market expectations for FY23 are unchanged, pending full recovery of our discretionary variable and project work in our Technical Services business to pre-Covid levels and until any further Covid-related work is judged to be likely in FY23,” Mitie said in a trading update on Friday.

AstraZeneca said on Friday that positive high-level results from the ‘PROpel’ phase 3 trial showed ‘Lynparza’, or olaparib, in combination with abiraterone, demonstrated a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) versus standard-of-care abiraterone, as a first-line treatment for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), with or without homologous recombination repair (HRR) gene mutations. The FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant said that at a planned interim analysis, the independent data monitoring committee found that the trial met the primary endpoint of rPFS in men with mCRPC who had not received treatment in the first-line setting, including with new hormonal agents (NHAs) or chemotherapy. It said it also showed a trend towards improved overall survival, although that data was still immature.

Newspaper round-up

Undisclosed companies are analysing facial data collected by the NHS app, which is used by more than 16 million English citizens, prompting fresh concern about the role of outsourcing to private businesses in the service. Data security experts have previously criticised the lack of transparency around a contract with the NHS held by iProov, whose facial verification software is used to perform automated ID checks on people signing up for the NHS app. - Guardian

Uber is to pay out millions of pounds in missed pension payments to UK drivers dating back as far as 2017 under a deal with the retirement savings watchdog. The ride hailing company was forced to guarantee its 70,000 UK drivers a minimum hourly wage, holiday pay and pensions in March this year after a landmark supreme court ruling over their employment status. Couriers for the group’s UberEats food delivery service are not included in the deal. - Guardian

Ford is weighing up whether to build transmission systems for electric cars at its Halewood plant on Merseyside rather than at a site in Germany. The car giant has held talks with government officials about making the new eTrans system in the UK. A commitment would secure hundreds of millions of pounds in investment at the site from the car company, delivering a significant boost to Britain's automotive sector. - Telegraph

Employee-owned John Lewis Partnership has rankled thousands of its workers after paying bonuses to a number of chosen staff when the wider workforce were denied a bonus for the first time in nearly 70 years. It has emerged that the retailer made almost 4,000 “special contribution awards”, including to 16 managers, last year out of its 79,000 workforce. The awards are capped at 10 percent of salary for exceptional service and have been in place for ten years, but last year was the first time the wider partnership bonus has not been paid since 1953. - The Times

Joe Garner is stepping down as chief executive of Nationwide as part of a phased succession plan that also has brought in a new chairman. Britain’s biggest building society said that Kevin Parry, its senior independent director, would succeed David Roberts as chairman. Parry will lead the search for Garner’s successor. - The Times

US close

Stocks closed in positive territory stateside on Thursday, as Wall Street attempted to reclaim some of September's losses.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.48% at 34,764.82, the S&P 500 added 1.21% to 4,448.98, and the Nasdaq Composite was 1.04% firmer at 15,052.24.

The Dow closed 506.5 points higher on Thursday, extending gains recorded in the previous session after the Federal Reserve indicated it was anticipating several interest rate hikes in the next three years in its latest policy decision.

The Federal Open Market Committee's decision to stand pat on current near-zero interest rate targets was still in focus at the open.

Overnight, the central bank said it could raise interest rates between six and seven times between now and the end of 2024, and added that it had progressed discussions on reducing its asset purchase programme.