M&S annual profits set to top expectations, Ibstock refinances revolving credit facility

London open

The FTSE 100 is expected to open three points higher on Wednesday, having closed down 0.36% at 7,274.04 on Tuesday.

Stocks to watch

Food and clothing retailer Marks & Spencer said annual profits would be ahead of expectations as interim earnings rose above pre-pandemic levels. The company on Wednesday said full-year profit before tax and adjusting items would be around £500m. Earnings for the six months to October 2 rose 17.9% to £187.3m compared with the same period two years ago. M&S added that it expected headwinds from Brexit and supply-chain constraints to continue into next year.

Ibstock has completed the refinancing of its March 2023 £215m revolving credit facility, it said on Wednesday, diversifying its credit sources at attractive rates, while also achieving a significant extension of its debt maturity profile. The FTSE 250 brickmaker said the existing facility had been replaced with the issue of £100m of private placement notes from Pricoa Private Capital, with maturities of between seven and 12 years at an average total cost of funds of 2.19%, and a £125m revolving credit facility with a syndicate of five banks. It said the facility was for an initial four years, with a one year extension option, at a margin of between 1.60% and 2.60%, and also included an additional £50m uncommitted accordion. Based on current leverage, Ibstock would pay interest under the facility initially at a margin of 1.60%, compared to 2.00% under the previous revolving credit facility agreement.

Newspaper round-up

Britain’s employers are offering bonuses of up to £2,000 to recruit Christmas workers amid fears over staff shortages disrupting the festive season. Research from the jobs website Adzuna showed there are currently 26,307 seasonal job vacancies ahead of the pivotal Christmas shopping period, almost double the 13,668 at the same point a year ago.- Guardian

AstraZeneca is to create a new vaccines unit as the Anglo-Swedish drugmaker plans for the future of its coronavirus shot beyond the pandemic. The company said the reorganisation would bring together people who had previously been based in different parts of the business, and will be dedicated to the Covid-19 vaccine and tweaked versions to deal with new variants of Sars-CoV-2. - Guardian

Kwasi Kwarteng is preparing to scrap plans to hold company directors personally liable for accounting failures with the threat of fines and bans, following a fierce business backlash. The Business Secretary is also expected to water down an overhaul of the audit industry and new rules intended to improve the quality of company accounts, amid fears the proposals would strangle thousands of companies with unnecessary red tape. - Telegraph

Single parents paying the higher rate of tax will be entitled to Universal Credit for the first time in a massive expansion of the welfare state’s reach into the middle classes, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The Chancellor’s welfare shake-up at the Budget will mean many workers on more than £50,000 can now claim state support, with an extra 600,000 families entitled to receive Universal Credit. - Telegraph

Michael Gove has indicated that he will go after big building materials companies whose products were used on Grenfell Tower to help to fund repairs to thousands of unsafe buildings around the country. The communities secretary seemed to take aim at Kingspan, Saint-Gobain and Arconic as he told MPs on the housing select committee yesterday that leaseholders should not have to foot the bill to fix construction flaws. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed in the red on Tuesday as market participants digested some key inflation data.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31% at 36,319.98, while the S&P 500 was 0.35% weaker at 4,685.25 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 0.60% softer at 15,886.54.

The Dow closed 112.24 points lower on Tuesday, reversing gains recorded in the previous session as the blue-chip index was knocked off its record.

Tuesday's primary focus was news that wholesale prices in the US rose less quickly than expected last month. According to the Department of Labor, in seasonally adjusted terms, so-called final demand prices jumped at a month-on-month pace of 0.6% in October, keeping the year-on-year rate of increase at 8.6% - as expected by the consensus. At the core level, they rose by 0.4%, a touch less than the 0.5% expected.

Also in focus, GE shares were up 2.66% at the end of the session on reports that the multinational will split into three companies focusing on aviation, healthcare and energy, while shares in homebuilder DR Horton closed 4.04% higher after its quarterly earnings report revealed an earnings beat that helped offset soft guidance.