Victrex holds guidance after solid quarter, Legal & General to sell US protection business
By Josh White
Date: Friday 07 Feb 2025
(Sharecast News) - London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open 32 points lower on Friday, having closed up 1.21% on Thursday at 8,727.28.
Stocks to watch
Victrex held guidance after a solid first-quarter performance saw revenues rise 9% but warned trading conditions remain mixed, with medical revenues continuing to be subdued on a year-to-date basis, driven by ongoing industry destocking among its customers. The company said guidance remained for at least mid-single digit volume growth for fiscal 2025, with underlying pre-tax profit growth ahead of volume growth.
Legal & General is to sell its US protection business to Japanese peer Meiji Yasuda, with the latter taking a 5% stake in L&G in a deal worth $2.3bn. The transaction will kickstart a long-term strategic partnership between the two companies to support growth ambitions in US Pension Risk Transfer and asset management markets. L&G intends to launch a £1.0bn buyback following completion, which is expected towards the end of 2025.
Newspaper round-up
The gambling regulator has accidentally handed over more than 4,000 sensitive documents to lawyers acting for the media tycoon Richard Desmond, in an "unprecedented" blunder during its legal battle over the £6.4bn national lottery contract, the Guardian understands. Northern & Shell (N&S), the investment group owned by Desmond, is suing the Gambling Commission for £200m in damages over its handling of the lottery licence award process. - Guardian
Two former senior figures at bankrupt Woking council are to be investigated by the UK's accounting watchdog after it racked up more than £2bn in debt on a failed investment spree. The Surrey council declared itself effectively bankrupt in 2023 after ploughing vast sums of borrowed money into skyscrapers, a luxury hotel and other risky commercial investments, in what was one of the biggest financial failures in local government history. - Guardian
Sir Keir Starmer has signalled plans to approve a major oil development in the North Sea despite opposition within his Cabinet. The Prime Minister on Thursday suggested he would not stand in the way of the Rosebank oil field as a license had previously been granted. The future of Rosebank, which is backed by Norway's Equinor, has been in doubt after a court overturned its permit by ruling the previous government had failed to take into account climate concerns. - Telegraph
The head of a leading consumer watchdog has been ousted amid Rachel Reeves's push to spur growth. Abby Thomas unexpectedly quit as chief executive of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) on Thursday, which is responsible for resolving disputes between City firms and their customers. - Telegraph
Amazon missed sales expectations for its cloud computing business, fuelling concerns about the tens of billions of dollars it has invested in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing business, reported fourth-quarter revenue of $28.79 billion, below Wall Street estimates of $28.84 billion. - The Times
US close
US stock markets were searching for direction on Thursday following a barrage of blue chip corporate earnings that received a mixed reaction from investors, while labour-market data was in firm focus.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained 0.4% and 0.5% respectively - rising for the third straight session - but the Dow declined 0.3%.
Risk appetite was also being held back ahead of Friday's all-important jobs report, with analysts expecting non-farm payrolls to rise by 169,000 in January, down from the bumper level of 256,000 announced for December.
On the macro front, initial jobless claims rose by 11,000 to 219,000 last week, above market expectations of 213,000. Continuing claims rose by 26,000 to 1.88m, also coming in ahead of expectations of 1.87m.
Meanwhile, the four-week-moving average, which aims to strip out week-to-week volatility, rose by 4,000 to 216,750 on the back of sharp increases in New York and California.
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