Pearson posts higher sales and profits, Spectris raises full-year guidance for sales

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As of 0737 BST, FTSE 100 futures were dipping by 18.0 points to 7,667.50.

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Education and publishing group Pearson reported a 6% rise in first half underlying sales, excluding its Online Program Management and Strategic Review businesses. That helped drive a 44% rise in adjusted operating profits and led to a "strong" operating cash flow performance of £79m. n a statutory basis, sales were 5% higher at £1,879m and operating profit improved from £148m to £219m. Statutory earnings per share improved from 18.1p to 26.1p. Management reiterated its guidance for group revenues, adjusted operating profits and profit margins. The former were seen rising at a mid single-digit pace between 2022-25, while margins were pegged to increase at a clip at the upper end of a mid-teens range in 2025.

Precision instrumentation and controls manufacturer Spectris posted a 23% jump in half-year sales driven by a mix of volume and market share growth. together with higher prices. Adjusted operating profits were up by 41% to a record £102.1m and the company's book-to-bill ratio neared 1.0 as order intake normalised. Management also upgraded its guidance, telling shareholders that full-year sales were now seen rising by more than the 6-7% previously anticipated. Adjusted operating profits for the year were seen coming in at between £250-265m.

In the press

Banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every working day, according to new data that has fuelled the growing row over so-called “debanking” and prompted Nigel Farage to call for a royal commission to investigate what he said was a scandal. Hours after the former Ukip leader revealed he was spearheading a website to campaign on behalf of people whose accounts had been shut, data revealed a big jump in the numbers of customers dumped by their bank. – Guardian

The biggest regulatory shake-up of UK retail financial services for two decades will come into force on Monday in an effort to crack down on rip-offs and poor customer service. The changes include stronger rules on value for money and giving fair pricing to all customers, with experts predicting that some older financial products that do not meet the new higher standards are likely to be removed from sale. – Guardian

Home buyers could benefit from mortgage rate reductions following an expected 0.25 percentage Bank Rate rise later this week. Brokers said that as long as the Bank of England does not surprise with a larger than expected interest rate rise on Thursday, lenders should soon have the confidence to start competing for a dwindling pool of borrowers. – Telegraph

US close

Stocks ran up at the end of the week on the back of better-than-expected readings on inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrials added 0.5% to 35,459.29, alongside a 0.99% jump on the S&P 500 to 4,582.23.

But it was the Nasdaq Composite that put in the largest gains, surging by 1.9% to 14,316.66

The annual rate of increase for both the headline and core price deflators for personal consumption expenditures in June fell back by more than expected.

The closely followed Employment Cost Index for the second quarter also came in below expectations.