AB Foods expecting 'significant' progress, Persimmon on-track for higher completions

London open

The FTSE 100 was expected to open 15 points lower on Tuesday, having closed down 0.05% at 7,300.40 on Wednesday.

Stocks to watch

Primark owner Associated British Foods said it expected “significant progress” in the current year as it reported a rise in annual profits but warned that food prices may have to rise due to increasing costs. The company reported a 6% rise in pre-tax profit to £725m and declared a special dividend of 13.8p a share. Revenue was flat at £13.8bn.

Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday that following a successful equity raise, it has now established its small modular reactor (SMR) business as part of the UK government’s net zero strategy. The aerospace and defence giant said the business has been established "to bring forward and deliver at scale the next generation of low cost, low carbon nuclear power technology".

Housebuilder Persimmon said it was on track to grow new home completions by 10% this year and targeted a return to pre-pandemic trading levels by 2022. In a trading update for the period from July 1 – November 8, Persimmon said the average private new home sales reservation rate per site was around 16% ahead of 2019.

Newspaper round-up

Rolls-Royce will move ahead with a multibillion pound plan to roll out a new breed of mini nuclear reactors after securing more than £450m from the government and investors. The engineering firm will set up a venture focused on developing small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, in partnership with investors BNF Resources and the US generator Exelon Generation with a joint investment of £195m to fund the plans over the next three years. - Guardian

A government compromise aimed, ministers said, at cutting raw sewage dumping by water companies was passed by MPs on Monday after Conservative rebels backed ministers. Campaigners for clean water said they were disappointed that what they viewed as a less stringent amendment had been approved. They said the government’s compromise was too weak and did not impose a legal duty on water companies to stop releasing raw sewage into waterways. - Guardian

The chairman of ITV is facing an investor rebellion over his role at an obscure investment trust amid claims that he and other directors have presided over a corporate governance fiasco. Sir Peter Bazalgette is under fire over his £17,500-a-year role as independent director at Edge Performance Venture Capital Trust (VCT). The campaign group ShareSoc claims the 68-year-old arts grandee “cannot be relied upon” after he failed to declare past links with Edge's fund manager, David Glick. - Telegraph

SoftBank has fallen into the red after Beijing’s regulatory blitz against China’s business elite knocked the valuation of technology companies. The Japanese investment giant lost 397 billion yen ($3.5 billion) in the three months to the end of September, compared with a profit of $5.5 billion a year earlier. - The Times

Skills shortages are placing the growth of the UK’s technology sector under threat, according to a long-running survey of bosses in the industry. Companies are experiencing acute hiring problems as three in five say that they intend to increase technology investment and two thirds are looking to boost staff numbers, which both stand at record levels, according to a report from the Harvey Nash recruitment group. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday after the approval of Joe Biden's infrastructure spending package in Congress led to gains across the sector.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.29% at 36,432.22, while the S&P 500 was 0.09% firmer at 4,701.70 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.07% stronger at 15,982.36.

The Dow closed 104.27 points higher on Monday, building on gains registered on Friday as a better-than-expected October jobs report led to another fresh record close for the blue-chip index.

Caterpillar and Deere stock closed higher after the House of Representatives passed a more than $1.0trn infrastructure bill late on Friday and sent the legislation to Joe Biden for his signature. Shares in other infrastructure-related stocks such as Nucor, Vulcan Materials, United Rentals, Martin Marietta, Quanta and Jacobs Engineering also advanced during the session.

The package, which was passed by the Senate back in August, will provide new funding for transportation, utilities and broadband.