Below is a selection of the morning's key market news, earning reports & trending stories - see more here.

  • Today Costain (COST)  announced an underlying operating profit increase of 8% to £228m, up from £21.2m.

    Despite this, revenue fell from £874.5m in 2017 to £772.9m.

    The construction & engineering company was confident for the rest of the year, having secured £1.4bn of revenue for the full year 2018.

    With its half year results, Costain will increase its dividend by 8%.

    Chief Executive Andrew Wyllie said: "The progression in Group margin generated growth in underlying operating profit enabling an 8% increase in the interim dividend. This performance is due to our differentiation as we evolve into the UK's leading smart infrastructure solutions company.”

    Read more here

  • The CFO of Go-Ahead (GOG)  is leaving the company to join Capita (CPI) . Patrick Butcher will join outsourcing group Capita as its CFO as the company undergoes a transformation under boss Jon Lewis.

    Butcher has held roles including Go-Ahead CFO and group finance director at Network Rail.

    Lewis said: “Patrick is joining Capita at an exciting time. We have de-levered the balance sheet, disposed of non-core assets, started to reduce costs and invest in the business.

    “We are looking forward to adding Patrick’s new perspective, energy and experience to support the good start we have made with our transformation programme and new strategy, delivering the commitments we have made to all our stakeholders.”

    Read more here

  • At 7pm BST today, the minutes of the latest US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are set to be released. The numbers could provide insight into interest rates after Trump said he was “not thrilled” with the recent rise.

  • Avast (AVST)  which listed earlier this year in London’s largest tech IPO, reported positive half year earnings today.

    The company said adjusted revenue, excluding FX and discontinued business, was up 8.5% to $394.3m.

    The strong half year was driven by a strong performance at its core consumer desktop business where adjusted revenue was up 12% to $281m and customers increased 2.6% to 11.67m.

    The company reported adjusted revenue of $403.3m for the half year, up 4.1% from last year, and operating profit of $109.7m.

    Chief Executive Vincent Steckler said: "The group is performing strongly with sustained high growth, in line with market expectations.”


vox markets