AstraZeneca completes deal with TerSera over Zoladex, Micro Focus raising $5.5bn for HP buyout
London open
The FTSE 100 is expected to open down 32 points on Friday, after closing down 0.06% at 7,369.52 on Thursday.
Stocks to watch
AstraZeneca said it had completed an agreement with TerSera Therapeutics for the commercial rights to its cancer treatment Zoladex in the US and Canada. Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca has received a payment of $250m from TerSera. It will receive future sales-related income through milestones up to $70m, as well as recurring quarterly sales-based payments at “mid-teen percent of sales”.
Software firm Micro Focus International launched a $5.5bn leveraged loan in relation to its proposed acquisition of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software business. Last September Micro Focus agreed to buy HP's software business by way of a merger with a subsidiary of HP incorporated to hold the software business.
Multinational media distribution company Entertainment One updated the market on its trading for the year to 31 March on Friday, with both reported revenue and underlying EBITDA growth said to be “strong”. The FTSE 250 firm said there was strong growth in its Television and Family segments, with an improved second half performance in Film. Year-end adjusted net debt was anticipated to be around 1.2x-1.3x underlying EBITDA.
Newspaper round-up
A growing number of leading City firms revealed they are now laying the groundwork for an exodus of thousands of jobs from London after Britain’s vote to leave to EU. A day after Theresa May formally triggered the process for Brexit it was confirmed that the insurers Lloyd’s of London and Royal London were setting up subsidiaries outside the UK, while the investment banks JP Morgan and Citigroup were actively exploring the relocation of key operations. - Guardian
Britain began to “take back control” from Brussels as David Davis announced that the first EU law to be scrapped after Brexit will be a charter that helps criminals avoid deportation. Revealing details of the forthcoming Great Repeal Bill, Mr Davis told MPs that the controversial EU Charter of Fundamental Rights will be dropped on the day Britain leaves Europe. - Telegraph
The new boss of the John Lewis department store chain warned of more job cuts this year and possible price rises as she said shoppers’ behaviour was changing “profoundly and fast”. Paula Nickolds, who took charge of middle England’s favourite store three months ago, said the department store needed to modernise and become more efficient in the face of rising costs, the move to online shopping and a tough economic environment. - Guardian
The chief executive of the publisher of the Guardian newspaper was poised to join the race to become the new boss of Channel 4. David Pemsel, a former ITV executive who has held the top job at Guardian Media Group for less than two years, emerged as a potential successor to David Abraham according to industry sources. Channel 4’s chief executive had announced he will step down by the end of the year. - Telegraph
US close
US stocks and the dollar both regained further ground on Thursday following news that the country’s economy grew more than expected last quarter, with Federal Reserve speakers adding to the breezy mood.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3% to just above 20,728, the S&P 500 added 0.3% to a little over 2,368, while the Nasdaq finished 0.29% firmer at a touch more than 5,914.
The dollar was also higher, with the greenback up 0.8% against the euro to 0.936 and 0.77% higher versus the yen to 111.89.
However, the euro was under pressure after the latest inflation numbers from Germany came in sharply below expectations.
Dollar traders got the wobbles when it emerged President Donald Trump was still studying ways to penalise currency manipulators but the greenback regained its poise thanks to the final reading of US gross domestic product for the fourth-quarter of 2016, which was revised up to 2.1% from 1.9%.
GDP was boosted by an upgrade in personal consumption to 3.5%, while core personal consumption expenditures was also revised higher to 1.3% from 1.2%, which is below the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.
This very respectable final reading shocked markets, said analyst Joshua Mahony at IG.
"Today’s US GDP reading goes a long way to justifying the recent decision from the Fed to raise rates. With rate setter Eric Rosengren calling for a hike every other meeting, we could see another rise sooner than many think," he said.