London pre-open: Stocks seen steady as May faces revolt over Brexit deal
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Thursday 15 Nov 2018
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set for a steady start on Thursday as investors took stock of all the latest news on Brexit.
The FTSE 100 was called to open unchanged at 7,026.
Theresa May was able to get Cabinet backing for her Brexit deal on Wednesday, but jitters were likely amid reports that Brexiteers are plotting to force of a vote no of confidence.
"While she was able to achieve what she called collective approval from her cabinet to accept the deal, the gritted teeth consensus could well be tested in the coming days, and appeared to be reflected in her tired demeanour, almost as if to brace for the whirlwind that is about to come her way in the next few days, as various cabinet members come under pressure to resign," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
"The Prime Minister herself could well also find herself subject to a leadership challenge if reports of letters going into the 1922 committee, are anywhere close to being accurate and come to a total of 48.
"Having cleared this particular hurdle, the deal will now have to go to a special EU summit, later this month, before being put before the House of Commons in early December when the real fun is likely to begin, as the 585-page agreement is put before MP's to vote on."
On the data front, UK retail sales for October are at 0930 GMT.
In corporate news, Royal Mail reported revenue up 1% but a 25% decline in operating profits for the first half of the year.
Chief executive Rico Back said a range of actions had been put in place to improve performance and confirmed the board's commitment to cut £100m of costs and generate adjusted group operating profit before transformation costs of £500-550m for the financial year.
Chilean miner Antofagasta has approved a $1.3bn expansion of its Los Pelambres copper mine in Chile, chief executive Ivan Arriagada.
The expansion will produce additional ore equal to an extra 60,000 tonnes a year of refined copper over the first 15 years of the expansion project, lifting the mine's output for the first time in over a decade, Arriagada added.
3i Group issued its half-year results on Thursday, reporting "another good half" with a total return of £728m, or 10% on opening shareholders' funds, and a net asset value per share of 776p, up from 724p at the end of March.
The company said it saw a "good performance" from its private equity division, with a gross investment return of £667m or 11% for the six months ended 30 September, which it said was driven by growth across its larger investments in particular.
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