5th Aug 2025 07:55
(Alliance News) - London stocks are set to open higher on Tuesday following a rally in New York and Asia, and ahead of a slew of composite PMI readings.
In early corporate news, BP reports a rise in profit during the first half of 2025 but expects lower production in its third quarter, while Domino's Pizza also lowers its full-year guidance after weak interim sales growth.
Here is what you need to know before the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.5% at 9,173.60
GBP: down at USD1.3281 (USD1.3287 at previous London equities close)
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BROKER RATINGS
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Goldman Sachs raises Lloyds Banking to 'buy' (neutral) - price target 99 (87) pence
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Berenberg cuts Auction Technology Group target to 560 (660) pence - 'buy'
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JPMorgan cuts International Paper to 'neutral' (overweight) - price target 54 (55) USD
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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BP reports pretax profit of USD2.88 billion for the second quarter that ended June 30, falling 8.0% from USD3.13 billion in the first quarter but up 19% from USD2.43 billion the year before. For the first half of 2025, pretax profit rose 2.0% to USD6.01 billion from USD5.89 billion a year earlier. Total revenue for the first half sank 2.7% to USD95.56 billion from USD98.21 billion, which included a second-quarter revenue decline of 0.4% to USD47.68 billion from USD47.88 in the first quarter and a 1.2% on-year fall from USD48.25 billion. Replacement cost profit for the first half improved to USD2.61 billion from USD1.59 billion. In the second quarter, BP swung to replacement cost profit of USD2.04 billion from a USD16 million loss the prior year. Average realisations for natural gas increased to USD6.86 per thousand cubic feet in the first half of 2025, against USD5.46 in 2024. The oil major declared a second quarter dividend of 8.32 cents per share, up 4.0% on-year from 8.00 cents, bringing its interim dividend 6.9% higher at 16.32 cents per share against 15.27 cents. BP also announces a further share buyback for USD750 million for the second quarter. Looking ahead, the firm expects reported upstream production for the third quarter to be "slightly lower" than the second quarter, and anticipates underlying upstream production for the full year also to be slightly lower than in 2024. Within this, 2025 underlying production from oil production & operations is expected "broadly flat", and production from gas & low carbon energy is forecast to be lower. BP guides for "slightly higher" depreciation, depletion and amortisation in 2025 against the year before.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Domino's Pizza says pretax profit for the 26 weeks that ended June 30 fell 32% to GBP40.5 million from GBP59.4 million the year before, on revenue growth of 1.4% to GBP331.5 million from GBP326.8 million. This is driven by other income of GBP11.2 million being reported in the first half of 2024, against GBP1.5 million in 2025, as well as cost of sales increasing 4.6% to GBP177.8 million in 2025 from GBP169.9 million a year earlier. The company declares an interim dividend of 3.6 pence per share, up 2.9% on-year from 3.5p. Domino's Pizza lowers its full-year guidance for underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation as a result of "weak consumer sentiment", with flat on-year orders, and lower than expected store openings, bringing its 2025 forecast to between GBP130 million and GBP140 million. Underlying Ebitda in the first half declines 7.4% to GBP63.9 million from GBP69.0 million, against GBP143.4 million in underlying Ebitda reported for financial 2024. "Despite these near-term challenges we remain confident in our strategy and the prospects for our resilient, market-leading business," says Chief Executive Officer Andrew Rennie. "That confidence is demonstrated by our decision to increase the interim dividend, and we also continue to assess a range of accretive growth opportunities." The firm expects new store openings in the mid-twenties for the full year.
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Spectris withdraws its recommendation of a takeover offer from Advent International, and instead backs an increased cash offer from Project Aurora, which is a special purpose vehicle owned by funds advised by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The Project Aurora offer is for GBP41.75 per Spectris share, comprising GBP41.47 in cash and an interim dividend of 28 pence per Spectris share. This values the share capital of Spectris at around GBP4.2 billion and implies an enterprise value of roughly GBP4.8 billion. It also represents a 105% premium to the Spectris share closing price of GBP20.38 on June 6, which was the last business day prior to the offer period beginning. Spectris on Friday had accepted an offer from Advent International worth GBP41 per share, and had withdrawn its recommendation of a GBP40 per share bid from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
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OTHER COMPANIES
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Ryanair reaches a record of 20.7 million passengers in July, improved 2.5% from 20.2 million passengers the year before, despite 680 flights over the month being cancelled mainly as a result of French air traffic control strikes. Ryanair operated a total of more than 113,000 flights in July, with an unchanged on-year load factor of 96%. On a rolling basis, passengers in the year to July 2025 total 203.1 million, up 6.7% from 190.4 million the year before. The load factor remains flat at 94%.
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By Emily Parsons, Alliance News reporter
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