Housebuilders are somewhat lower in the aftermath of the UK employment data. Barratt Developments having gained 1% at the open has fallen back to the lower end of the benchmark along with Persimmon. Barratt holds a fairly optimistic view on the year ahead with market conditions still strong and high levels of consumer demand keeping sales steady.
SAB Miller (+1.36%) Finally, we have reached a formal agreement. AB InBev announced it will pay £44 ($66.7) per share for the London-listed drinks company valuing the deal at $12 billion.
Experian (+3.2%) the firm has bounced back from last month’s hack which exposed the details of 15 million US customers who applied to use its service through T-Mobile. A top riser in the FTSE again today, it has received “a number of class actions” and has warned that it’s too early to predict the effect or indeed costs of the regulatory and government investigations or legal action.
Schroders (-0.63%) The asset management group has been cut to equalweight versus overweight at Barclays as Q2 outflows disappointed versus the expectations for a flat performance .