Weekly Review
The FTSE 100 finished the week up 127.77 points, or 1.76%, at 7,374.26.
Equity view
Electra Private Equity’s portfolio manager Epiris announced on Friday that its portfolio company AXIO Group had agreed to sell RISI, the information provider for the global forest products industry, to Euromoney Institutional Investor for $125m.
BritVic, the owner of Robinson's juices and a bottler for PepsiCo brands, completed the £56.8m acquisition of Brazilian drink firm Bela Ischia Alimentos.
HSBC maintained its ‘buy’ rating on Go-Ahead Group but cut its target price to 2,200p from 2,475p following a disappointing profits downgrade from the transport operator, although its dividend looks safe and underlying cash generation seems sound.
The weak pound helped advertising giant WPP lift reported full year pre-tax profits by 26% to £1. 8bn, although revenues slowed in the US and UK in the second half leading to a cut in expectations for 2017 revenue growth to 2%.
Informa agreed to buy Yachting Promotions Inc, the operator of some of the largest yachting and boat shows in the US, for £106m, from Active Interest Media.
A poor return from heating and plumbing at builder supplier Travis Perkins led to a 67.4% dive in full year pre-tax profits.
Medical technologies company ConvaTec posted its unaudited results for the 2016 calendar year on Thursday, with adjusted revenue growing 2.3% to $1.69bn, or 4% at constant exchange rates.
Sports betting and gaming group GVC said it had signed a €320m (£274m) senior secured term and revolving facility made up of a €250m term loan and a €70m revolving credit facility (RCF).
Private aircraft services provider BBA Aviation on Wednesday posted a full year pre-tax loss of $82.2m after taking in $316m in exceptional items.
Tritax Big Box said it had agreed a new long-term, interest only, fixed rate term £90m loan facility with PGIM Real Estate Finance.
FTSE 250 listed transport operators FirstGroup and Stagecoach were shortlisted by the government for the East Midlands rail franchise, which was due to run out in March 2018 but had now been extended.
Consumer credit lender International Personal Finance tanked on Wednesday as it reported a 20% drop in full-year pre-tax profit.
The weak pound helped boost full year pre-tax profits st specialty chemicals firm Croda to £288m from £275m.
FTSE 100 engineer GKN posted a 12% jump in full-year pre-tax profit as sales rose and the company expressed confidence over its prospects for 2017.
Non-standard lender Provident Financial said full year pre-tax profit jumped a hefty 25. 7% to £343. 9m, as it warned that any negative outcomes from Brexit could have a “significant impact on the group” this year.
Heat treatment firm Bodycote said full year pre-tax profits rose to £91. 9m from £75m although sales fell as it felt the impact from the oil and gas industry downturn.
Distribution and outsourcing company Bunzl received a boost from the post-Brexit vote slump in the pound as full year pre-tax profits jumped 12% to £362.9m.
Acacia Mining said on Monday that it found an inferred mineral resource of about 1.31m ounces of gold at 12.1 grams per tonne on the Liranda Corridor at its West Kenya project.
Land Securities on Monday said it completed the sale of The Printworks, Manchester to DTZ Investors for £108m.
Electricity generator Drax Group confirmed it was to buy Texas Pellets and Louisiana Pellets, which were currently going through the bankruptcy process in the US.
Economic news
PM Theresa May's Brexit Bill was facing yet another humbling in the House of Lords, this time to stop the government from diving out of the EU if no deal is reached with the bloc in what has already been a rocky road towards triggering Article 50.
UK services industry growth slowed for the second successive month in February, while surging input cost inflation led to prices charged by the sector rising to their highest in almost eight and a half years.
The pace of UK construction growth unexpectedly improved in February thanks to strength in civil engineering, according to data released on Thursday.
The UK financial watchdog pushed back the final deadline for bank customers to make a new complaint about payment protection insurance (PPI) misselling to 29 August 2019, with banks having so far paid out around £26bn of compensation.
House prices unexpectedly picked up in February, according to the latest survey from mortgage lender Nationwide.
Growth in the UK manufacturing sector slowed more than expected in February, according to data released on Wednesday.
Britons were less optimistic in February, judging that both the outlook for their personal finances and ability to save had worsened, the results of a widely-followed survey revealed.
UK's quitting the EU without an alternative trade deal would be the biggest single action of protectionism in the nation's history, warned former Chancellor George Osborne in London.
Consumer confidence improved slightly in the UK in February despite increasing worries about inflation, European Commission data revealed on Monday, while eurozone economic sentiment remained broadly flat.
Britain's decision to leave the European Union was revealed as a factor in BMW's doubts over whether to make electrically-powered Minis in its Oxford factory.
International events
US citizens will no longer be able to travel to the European Union without a visa, after the EU's civil liberties committee voted to block free access to to its member states in response to the failure of the US to agree to a similar agreement with five European countries.
French presidential candidate François Fillon’s spokesperson quit his campaign, in another blow to the former prime minister amid an inquiry into a ‘fake jobs’ scandal and as a rival gains ground.
Factory gate prices in the euro area dipped at the start of 2017 as energy prices dipped, but still came in ahead of forecasts.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level in nearly 44 years last week, according to data from the Labor Department.
China's factories whirred back to life in February, boosted by strong demand for overseas, although some economists said the outlook was weaker.
Hawkish remarks from a chorus of Fed speakers pushed market implied odds of a US central bank rate hike in mid-March as high as 70% at one point on Tuesday evening, before they fell back.
Japanese industrial production unexpectedly shrank in January amid declining output of transport equipment, chemicals and business oriented machinery.
US President Donald Trump said that the $54bn planned increase in military spending in the country's budget would be generated by a "revved up economy".
US durable goods orders rose a little more than expected in January, according to data from the Commerce Department, almost entirely on the back of a surge in commercial aircraft orders.
A leading indicator of homebuilding activity in the States weakened unexpectedly at the turn of the year, especially in the Midwest and West and almost returning to its levels of a year ago nationwide.