Rightmove CEO to stand down, NCC lifts H2 revenue guidance

London pre-open

The FTSE 100 was being called to open 41.8 points lower ahead of the bell on Monday after closing out the previous session 1.54% weaker at 7,387.94.

Stocks to watch

Real estate group Rightmove revealed on Monday that chief executive Peter Brooks-Johnson will step down from the board and leave the company in the coming year.

Brooks-Johnson, who has spent more than 16 years with Rightmove, will continue as CEO until the announcement of the firm's full-year results in February 2023, and will assist with the recruitment of his replacement and "a smooth and orderly handover". Brooks-Johnson took over as CEO in 2017.

Cyber security company NCC Group lifted revenue guidance for the second half of the year on Monday and announced that Mike Maddison would take over as CEO, replacing Adam Palser.

NCC Group stated second-half revenues would be "substantially higher" than both 2021 and the first six months of the year, driven by acquisitions and accelerating sales growth from its assurance unit. Full-year revenues and adjusted underlying earnings were anticipated to be in line with internal expectations.

Newspaper round-up

Barclays has avoided nearly £2.0bn in tax via a lucrative arrangement in Luxembourg that allowed it to pay less than 1% on profits in the tax haven for more than a decade. A Guardian analysis of Barclays' tax bills shows it is still benefiting from a controversial decision in 2009, in which it booked profits from the $15.2bn sale of a fund management business in Luxembourg rather than in the UK where it is headquartered. - Guardian

The Conservative party donor at the centre of a bribery scandal that drew in two former prime ministers is to leave the oil group he ran for 20 years. Ayman Asfari, the Syrian-born executive who built London-listed Petrofac into a global oil engineering company, will leave the company next year. - Guardian

Morrisons sought to gatecrash a takeover for failed convenience store chain McColl's last night in a snub to the billionaire owners of Asda who were on the brink of securing a deal. Morrisons, which is owned by the US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, has made a second offer to buy McColl's that includes a pledge to repay its lenders in full immediately, one of the key sticking points of the supermarket's previous bid. - Telegraph

A new nuclear reactor plant in Essex is at risk of collapse because of political opposition to a Chinese investor's involvement, French energy giant EDF has warned. The Big Six energy supplier has told investors it has no obligation to keep funding the project in Bradwell, Essex, and that there is now "great uncertainty" over whether it can be delivered. - Telegraph

One of the biggest shareholders in Randall & Quilter has rejected a £482.0m takeover bid to take the AIM-listed insurer private. The decision by Slater Investments to oppose the deal raises the risk that the sale of the insurer to Brickell, an American investment vehicle, falls apart. - The Times

US close

Wall Street stocks closed lower on Friday as stocks continued to head south despite a slightly better than expected nonfarm payrolls report.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.30% at 32,899.37, while the S&P 500 was 0.57% weaker at 4,123.34 and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.40% softer at 12,144.66.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com