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London open: Stocks little changed; Paysafe surges on deal news
London stocks were little changed in early trade on Friday as investors sifted through some corporate news and awaited the release of borrowing figures.
At 0840 BST, the FTSE 100 was flat at 7,489.77, while the pound was up 0.1% against the dollar and the euro at 1.2990 and 1.1156, respectively.
Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at London Capital Group, said: “Cable consolidates near the 1.30 level despite a softer US dollar. The UK’s encouraging retail sales data was not enough to brush away the Bank of England doves, who gained confidence after Tuesday’s soft inflation data.”
On the data front, investors were eyeing the release of public sector net borrowing figures at 0930 BST.
In corporate news, Vodafone rose as it reported improved growth in the first few months of its new financial year thanks to strong growth in the Africa, Middle East and Asia Pacific (AMAP) region.
Paysafe surged as it struck a $470m deal to acquire US-based Merchants’ Choice Payment and also received an 590p-a-share takeover proposal from private equity companies Blackstone and CVC Capital Partners.
Merchant bank Close Brothers was on the front foot after saying it remains confident of a “good result” for the current financial year as it has continued to perform well across all divisions.
Beazley edged higher as its interim results beat expectations, while online electrical goods retailer AO World gained ground as it reported 2.5% growth in UK revenue for the three months to the end of June despite a challenging trading environment.
Euromoney fell despite its third-quarter revenue growth coming in largely as expected, while Homeserve retreated after saying trading in the period from 1 April to 20 July was in line with its expectations.
Acacia Mining slid as it said it is now targeting the lower end of its full-year production guidance after first-half results were dented by Tanzania’s ban on the its concentrates exports.
