FTSE 100 made good progress early on as investors shrugged off weak economic numbers out of China and mixed updates from Burberry and Rio Tinto. The blue-chip index was up 45 at 7,085 with Rolls-Royce the best of the risers.
Burberry grew its global turnover by 5% in the first quarter despite “significant disruption from lockdowns in mainland China”, which wiped more than a third off its sales to the region. However, it expects to take a £190mln revenue hit and a £90mln knock on operating profits for the full year due to currency effects.
Aston Martin is looking to raise £653mln through a rights issue to shareholders. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund would become the British luxury sports car manufacturer’s second largest shareholder.
Workers from Network Rail and 14 train operators are set to strike for another two days in August. This follows the largest rail strike in decades in June and a further two days of walk outs scheduled in July.
Amazon says it will create 4,000 new permanent UK jobs this year. They include roles in corporate, technology, software development, product management and engineering.
Among the small caps, Avation said demand for aircraft is exceeding supply as air travel continues to recover. The airline industry is “experiencing a rapid recovery with activity levels of most of our airline clients close to and in some cases above pre-COVID levels,” said the plane lessor.
TomCo Energy told investors that Greenfield Energy, its wholly owned subsidiary, has been awarded a 10-year marginal tax relief. The tax reduction could be worth up to US$76.3mln, it said in a statement.