Thursday update
DB Live: Boots and Johns Lewis; iomart; Persimmon
4.45pm: London close – Boots and John Lewis cut jobs
London’s top flight closed 106.54 points lower at 6,049.62p following another wave of job cuts by high-profile retailers such as Boots and John Lewis.
Boots is cutting 4,000 jobs – or 7% of its workforce – by closing 48 opticians outlets and reducing staff at its head office in Nottingham.
The company sales at its core outlets dived 72% and sales at Boots Opticians slumped 48% during the coronavirus lockdown on the high street.
John Lewis confirmed it is planning to permanently close eight of its 50 stores with the likely loss of 1,300 jobs.
4pm: Forbes cuts LBTT
Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes unveiled a cut in the cost of buying a home just two days after the government ruled out such a move.
11am: Iomart adds jobs
Cloud computing company iomart is creating 20 roles in its technical support teams in its Glasgow head office and in London.
iomart, which has a staff of 400 in Glasgow, has required no support from the government’s furlough scheme during the lockdown.
Reece Donovan, chief operating officer, said: “We are proud to have provided critical services and ensured business continuity, helping our customers and supporting our staff through the pandemic.
“As the economy moves into a new phase, we want to invest in talented people who have the skills we need to move our business to the next stage of growth.”
8.15am: London open
After opening higher and touching 6177, the FTSE 100 was trading a touch lower at 6,141.48. down 14.68 (0.24%).
7am: Persimmon
The housebuilder said it has seen encouraging sales levels throughout the period, in particular over the last six weeks when net reservations have been c. 30% ahead year on year.
“We enter the second half in a strong position, with work in progress well advanced, forward sales c. 15% ahead year on year, and cash holdings of c. £830m.”
Persimmon’s total revenues for the first six months of 2020 were £1.19bn (2019: £1.75bn)
Rolls-Royce jobs
Aerospace engineer Rolls-Royce says it has received more than 3,000 expressions of interest for voluntary severance in the UK with approximately two-thirds of these currently expected to leave by the end of August.
6.30am: Markets
Traders are hoping momentum from the US and Asia overnight continues into London stocks following recent losses.
Spread betters expect the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 28.84 points higher at 6,185 after closing 33.74 points lower at 6,156.16 on Wednesday.
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan is up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 1.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.5%.
6am: Burger King warning
Fast food chain Burger King’s UK boss Alasdair Murdoch has warned that the company may have to permanently close up to 10% of its stores.
That puts 1,600 jobs at risk. Only about 370 of the restaurant chain’s 530 UK stores have reopened since the nation went into lockdown.
Today’s agenda
* First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will announce the next round of changes to the lockdown
* Rolls-Royce expected to update on its job cut plans
Top articles in today’s Daily Business
Holyrood urged to invest £800m in tartan jobs deal
Sturgeon relents on overseas travel, but Spain off lis
