Persimmon reiterates completions guidance, Beazley interim pre-tax profits fall
By Iain Gilbert
Date: Wednesday 13 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - LONDON PRE-OPEN
The FTSE 100 was expected to open 15.3 points higher ahead of the bell on Wednesday after wrapping up the previous session 0.20% higher at 9,147.81.
STOCKS TO WATCH
Specialist insurer Beazley reported a mixed set of first-half results on Wednesday, with solid premium growth offset by a sharp drop in profitability and margin compression. Gross written premiums rose 7% year-on-year to $3.34bn, driven by continued expansion in its cyber and property lines, while pre-tax profits fell 44% to $408.3m, reflecting higher claims activity and a less favourable investment backdrop.
House builder Persimmon said on Wednesday that it still expects to deliver between 11,000 and 11,500 completions for the full year, despite challenging market conditions and the prospect of tax rises in October's Budget. Persimmon said its private forward order book was up 11% to £1.25bn, while underlying pre-tax profits for the six months to June were also up 11% to £165m.
Construction and infrastructure products group Hill & Smith has announced a £100m share buyback programme after reporting strong cash generation and a double-digit increase in underlying profits in the first half. Underlying operating profit totalled £73.5m over the six months to 30 June, up 11% at constant currencies, with revenues up 4% at £413.6m. "Our second half outlook remains positive, underpinned by continued growth in our US end markets," said chief executive Rutger Helbing.
NEWSPAPER ROUND-UP
The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country's finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian. Officials have been tasked with examining whether tightening rules on the gifting of money and assets could be one way of addressing a gap between revenue and spending that is estimated to reach more than £40bn. - Guardian
A group of nine human rights and freedom of expression organisations have called on the culture secretary to halt RedBird Capital's proposed £500m takeover of the Telegraph and investigate the US private equity company's ties to China. The international non-governmental organisations, which include Index on Censorship, Reporters Without Borders and Article 19, have written to Lisa Nandy arguing that RedBird Capital's links with China "threaten media pluralism, transparency and information integrity in the UK". - Guardian
Donald Trump told the boss of Goldman Sachs to "focus on being a DJ" after the Wall Street bank warned that the US president's tariff campaign threatened the American economy. In a social media outburst, Mr Trump said David Solomon should "not bother running a major financial institution" as he defended his series of duties on trading partners. - Telegraph
Labour has parked over a million working-age Britons onto jobless benefits that do not require them to look for work, official figures show. The surge since Sir Keir Starmer took office means 3.7m Britons - or almost half of those currently claiming Britain's main unemployment benefit - are now exempt from finding a job. - Telegraph
Perplexity, an artificial intelligence start-up, is reported to have made an unsolicited offer to buy Google's Chrome browser for $34.5bn. The bid revealed on Tuesday is unusual because it is almost double Perplexity's own valuation, which is estimated to be $18bn, according to The Wall Street Journal. - The Times
US CLOSE
Major indices recorded sharp gains on Tuesday after the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that US consumer prices edged higher in July, with headline CPI rising by 0.2% month-on-month, down from June's 0.3% increase, suggesting that while underlying pressures remained, particularly in shelter and services, the broader inflation picture may be stabilising.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.10% at 44,458.61, while the S&P 500 1.13% at 6,445.76, and the Nasdaq Composite saw out the session 1.39% stronger at 21,681.90.
Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
You are here: news
10 Lower Thames St,
London EC3R 6EN