Portfolio

Clarkson profits sink, Brewin hires FD

By Oliver Haill

Date: Monday 13 Aug 2018

(Sharecast News) - London open

The FTSE 100 is being called down 22 points on Monday morning, having finished the last week at 7,667.01.
Stocks to watch

A tough first quarter coupled with a weaker dollar contributed to a fall in interim profits at shipping services company Clarkson. Despite conditions picking up in the second quarter, pre-tax profits fell to £18.0m from £21.9m on revenues of £152.6m, down from £156.8m year on year. The dividend was increased to 24p a share from 23p.

Brewin Dolphin announced the appointment of former Legal & General and Aviva veteran Siobhan Boylan to the board as finance director. The wealth manager said Boylan, who has been the chief financial officer of LGIM for the last five years, is likely to join early next year.

Shire's partner in Japan, Shionogi, has applied to expand the use of Intuniv in the country to treat adults for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The drug is already approved for children and adolescents but the two companies have completed a Phase 3 clinical trial in the country and claim there is a "significant need" for new non-stimulant treatment options for adults being diagnosed with ADHD.

Newspaper round-up

Companies are suffering from a "supply shock" as fewer EU citizens come to the UK, and companies struggle to fill vacancies, according to a survey of 2,000 employers. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said the number of applicants per vacancy had fallen since last summer across all levels of skilled jobs, and said shortages were forcing many companies to raise wages. - Guardian

Theresa May's plan for a bespoke customs deal with the European Union is based on flawed analysis described by trade experts last night as "fanciful". Scrutiny of the proposal on behalf of The Times cast doubt over the central pledge that the vast majority of businesses would pay the right or no tariff at the border. Business experts also questioned another key part of the plan: that businesses would be able reliably to track goods to their final destination. This issue is critical to the EU, which fears the scheme could become a backdoor smuggling route into the continent. - The Times

Train passengers will learn of wage-busting fare increases this week, despite chaotic scenes at stations on the Northern network after a third successive wave of Sunday cancellations. The fare increases - expected to amount to 3.5% from next January - will add hundreds of pounds to the cost of many season tickets even though new figures from Which? reveal that punctuality and customer satisfaction with Britain's railways has slumped. - Guardian

US close

Wall Street had a red day on Friday, ending a five-week run as the dollar was forced higher as jitters in Europe about Turkey sent investors fleeing to safer shores.

The Dow Jones closed down 0.8% at 25,313.14, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both lost 0.7% to finish at 2,833.28 and 7,839.11 respectively as the dollar index bulldozed to its highest level since June last year.

Turkey's lira - which has been under pressure on the back of worries about President Erdogan's influence over monetary policy - fell to an all-time low beyond TL 6 against the dollar after a meeting on Friday between a Turkish delegation and US officials yielded no solution to a diplomatic rift over the detention of a US pastor that has seen Washington impose sanctions on Akara.

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