Below is a selection of the morning's key market news, earning reports & trending stories - see more here.
- Turkey’s Finance Minister Berat Albayrak is hosting a conference call today with international investors to allay fears about the falling Turkish lira.
The call takes place at 2pm BST, and Reuters expects 3,000 investors & economists to dial in. The lira has risen 3% today to 5.7, up from the record low of 7.2 it reached on Monday.
This comes after Qatar offered Turkey $15bn of investment so the country wouldn’t have to ask the IMF for emergency funding.
- Kingfisher (KGF) saw a 1.6% rise in like for like sales during the second quarter of 2018.
The owner of B&Q said this was driven by improved performance of “weather-related categories” thanks to the recent good weather.
Group sales increased 3.4% to £3.26bn, up from £3.15bn the year before. Despite this, French business Castorama suffered a 3.1% fall in sales.
Kingfisher chief executive Veronique Laury said: "We started our transformation two and a half years ago and are on track to deliver our strategic milestones for the third year in a row. In the second quarter, I'm pleased that we grew our sales after the exceptionally harsh weather conditions in the first quarter."
Read more here
- Casino & Mecca Bingo owner Rank Group (RNK) pre-tax profits fell by 40.7% from £84.5m to £50.1m.
Operating profit at the company’s digital business also fell by 7.9% to £20.9m.
Chief Executive John O’Reilly said: "With the backdrop of a disappointing performance in 2017/18, we are now moving quickly to identify the key priorities which will begin to realise the significant underlying potential that I have now seen first-hand since joining the Group in early May."
Read more here
- After unemployment & inflation data, the Office for National Statistics will release retail sales data at 9.30am today. Sales are forecast to grow 0.2% in July, reversing a 0.5% fall in June.
- In its half year results, Kaz Minerals (KAZ) saw pre-tax profits rise 48% to $355m.
EBITDA also rose from $429m to $690m and revenue increased by 22%.
CEO Andrew Southam said: “KAZ Minerals has delivered strong financial results in the first half of the year due to the ramp up of volumes at Aktogay, higher commodity prices and continued low unit production costs.
“Following the successful delivery of the Bozshakol and Aktogay projects, the Group now has a portfolio of large scale, low cost operations which provides strong cash generation and has enabled the rapid de-gearing of the balance sheet.”
Read more here
