JD Sports hits back over chairman's Footasylum meeting, BHP sells out of Mitsui coal venture

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points lower on Monday, having closed up 0.33% at 7,303.96 on Friday.

Stocks to watch

JD Sports Fashion on Monday hit back at reports over a meeting between the retailer’s boss Peter Cowgill and Footasylum chief Barry Brown in an industrial estate car park, leading to claims they may have broken UK takeover rules. “Peter Cowgill has known Barry Bown on a business and personal basis for over 25 years. As a result, it is not unusual, or in any way suspicious or illegitimate, for them to meet from time to time, including in relation to the ongoing review by the Competition and Markets Authority of JD's acquisition of Footasylum Limited,” the company said in a statement.

BHP has agreed to divest its 80% interest in BHP Mitsui Coal (BMC), an operated metallurgical coal joint venture in Queensland. The FTSE 100 mining giant said Stanmore SMC Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Stanmore Resources, was acquiring all of the shares in Dampier Coal Queensland from BHP Minerals for cash of up to $1.35bn (£1bn). It said the purchase price would comprise $1.1bn cash on completion, $100m in cash six months after completion, and the potential for up to $150m in a price-linked earnout payable in the 2024 calendar year.

Newspaper round-up

British businesses’ output has fallen for the sixth month in a row amid a supply chain crisis, energy price rises and a shortage of workers, according to a closely watched survey of big employers. UK business output hit its lowest level since March during the last national coronavirus lockdown, according to the accountancy firm BDO. Its measure fell from 105.23 points in September to 103.35 points in October. - Guardian

The UK’s long-haul airlines will put the worst of the pandemic – as well as old rivalries – behind them on Monday morning, when British Airways and Virgin Atlantic take off simultaneously at Heathrow for the first transatlantic flights carrying leisure travellers to the US since Covid-19 closed borders in March 2020. The bosses of Virgin and BA said it was a “pivotal moment” for the battered industry, with both airlines having registered enormous losses and shed thousands of staff during 20 months of restricted travel. - Guardian

Drivers making the switch to electric vehicles risk being forced to spend even more amid rising battery costs, experts have warned, in a blow to Britain’s green ambitions. The cost of lithium battery cells is rising for the first time after years of decline, with strained lithium supplies adding to rising prices of other cell materials. - Telegraph

A British biotech start-up that has created rapid PCR tests to stop coronavirus outbreaks on film sets has raised £15m to develop tests that can diagnose whether people have Covid-19, the flu or a cold at the same time. Newcastle-based QuantuMDx said it had secured the latest cash from Hong Kong venture capital firm Vita Spring, coming just eight months after it raised £11m in a round that included the Government’s Future Fund. - Telegraph

Royal London, Britain’s biggest mutual insurer, is considering plans to resurrect its offer to buy LV= if members at its smaller rival rebel over the terms of its controversial demutualisation. Bosses at Royal London have been monitoring the situation and believe LV= members might balk at the small rewards being offered and prefer a deal that preserves its mutual ethos. - The Times

US close

Stocks were in positive territory at the close on Wall Street on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.56% at 36,327.95.

The S&P 500 added 0.37% to 4,697.53, and the Nasdaq Composite was ahead 0.2% at 15,971.59.