Serco lifts profit guidance, Ascential buys e-commerce software business

London open

The FTSE 100 was called to open nine points lower at 7,339.

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Government outsourcer Serco lifted profits guidance after better-than-expected trading in Australia and the UK from Covid-related work.

The company, which also runs immigrant detention centres and the UK government’s controversial test and trace programme, said it now expected underlying trading profit to be at least £225m, up from £200m. Revenue guidance was lifted to £4.4bn from £4.3bn.

Ascential announced the acquisition of WhyteSpyder, an e-commerce software and digital merchandising business, for an undisclosed sum.

It said WhyteSpyder will join the group’s digital commerce business unit, “contributing to its mission to help brands and marketplaces win by optimising and accelerating their digital commerce performance”.

Newspaper round-up

Weak EU vehicle emissions targets could allow Europe’s biggest carmakers to produce millions more petrol and diesel cars than necessary up to 2030 in a “wasted decade” for cutting carbon pollution, according to a report. Analysis of car industry sales plans for electric vehicles shared exclusively with the Guardian by Transport and Environment (T&E), a thinktank and campaign group, showed that manufacturers could hit their 2030 EU carbon emissions targets with four years to spare. – Guardian

Millions of pensioners face a £169 blow to their incomes next year as the state pension fails to keep pace with inflation. It comes as the Government is set to reject calls from the House of Lords for a bigger pension rise, despite figures this week expected to show inflation already nearing 4pc, a decade-high. - Telegraph

Some companies under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office are spending up to ten times more than Britain’s anti-fraud and bribery organisation on legal and investigation fees, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, leaving the fraudbusters outgunned and less effective. Lack of funding, senior officials joining law firms representing the companies that the SFO is investigating and a perceived hesitation in prosecuting companies and executives all undermine the fight against economic crime, the bureau has found. - The Times

US Close

US stocks ended higher on Friday, with the Dow up 0.5%, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq rose 0.7% and 1%, respectively.