- The FTSE 100 rose 54.34 points to 6,486.55.
- The FTSE 250 tumbled 106.79 points to 17,106.14.
- The FTSE All Share increased by 20.01 points to 3,539.89.
- The FTSE AIM All Share finished 5.98 points lower at 744.23.
George Osborne set out a new budget today with key changes including the minimum wage for over 25s being increased to £7.20 an hour from next year, a commitment to bar increases in income tax, national insurance and VAT, and cuts to corporation tax. National Insurance contribution for small firms and the investment allowance will be set at £200,000 from next January.
For investors, the tax free allowance on pension contributions will be tapered down for those earning over £150,000 and the dividend tax credit is being replaced by a flat £5,000 allowance. Permanent non-dom status will be abolished for those who are resident for 15 of the last 20 years. An additional allowance on inheritence tax is also being brought in for parents who leave their homes to their children. Those on incomes above £30,000 (£40,000 in London) will have to pay market rates if they are living in social housing and buy-to-let landlords’ mortgage interest credits are to be restricted.
Barclays (BARC) has announced the exit of CEO Antony Jenkins with effect from the 17th of July. The board said that a different set of skills would be required for the future and that the search for a successor was underway. Gary Greenwood from Shore Capital rated Barclays as a “buy” and said that “if this move does indeed act as a catalyst for an accelerated improvement in Barclays’ financial performance, then this can only be a good thing, in our view“. Shares in the bank grew by 5.15p to 257.3p.
Housebuilder Galliford Try (GFRD) believes that results for the year ended 30th June will be at the upper end of analyst expectations after the rate of sales improved following the UK general election. Numis reiterated a “hold” position and 1619p target price, saying that yields were in line with peer group averages, with analysts also commenting after the budget that construction would be hit by several changes. Galliford Try shares dropped 61p to 1,661p.
Online gaming outfit GVC Holdings (GVC) has confirmed that it has made a proposal for the acquisition of rival Bwin.party. The deal would be financed by new debt facilities and talks are currently ongoing. Parties familiar with the matter say that the offer is in the region of 110p and that this would be paid in cash and shares. GVC shares closed the day at 445p, down by 12.5p.
Monitise (MONI) shares dropped 24.4% to 7.5p after Visa announced it would cut its stake in the mobile banking outfit. Monitise failed to find a buyer earlier this year and recently cut its forecasts for the current financial year by around 10%. Visa currently holds 5.3% of Monitise stock.
Tomorrow’s news today
Hays (HAS) and Dunelm (DNLM) will publish trading updates tomorrow morning, while Supergroup (SGP) will put out final results.
Quote of the day
“It’s clearly a budget. It’s got a lot of numbers in it.”
– George W. Bush