London pre-open: Stocks seen weaker after Friday's surge

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Monday, having closed at their highest level in more than a year on Friday. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 20 points lower.

There are no macroeconomic releases of note due in the UK.

In corporate news, B&Q owner Kingfisher said it expected lower annual profits in the current year as the home improvement market continued to lag behind demand for housing.

The company, which also owns the Brico depot chain in France, said it expects adjusted pre-tax profit of £490m - £550m compared with the £568m it reported for last year, down 25% on 2022/23.

Direct Line said it was confident in its standalone prospects after Belgium's Ageas said late on Friday that it would not be making an offer for the London-listed insurer.

Ageas said that following two recent attempts to engage with the company's board about a possible offer, both of which were rejected, it will not make an offer for Direct Line.

Direct Line said in a brief statement: "As communicated at Direct Line Group's 2023 preliminary results on 21 March 2024, the board believes under Adam Winslow's leadership the company is well-positioned to drive material improvement in performance that is expected to unlock significant value for Direct Line Group shareholders."

Wise announced the appointment of Emmanuel Thomassin as its new chief financial officer and director, effective from 1 October, succeeding Matthew Briers who announced his departure last year.

The London-listed consumer currency specialist said Thomassin had extensive experience from his tenure as CFO at Delivery Hero. Until he assumes his role, Kingsley Kemish, currently senior group financial director, would serve as interim CFO.

AstraZeneca announced that its autoimmune disease treatment Ultomiris has been given the green light by US regulators.

The drug, which is also approved for certain patients in Japan and the EU, is to be used for the treatment of adult patients with anti-aquaporin-4, antibody-positive neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), a disease that affects the central nervous system including the spine and optic nerves.

The positive ruling by the US Food and Drug Administration followed positive results from the recent Champion-NMOSD phase III trial, which showed zero relapses over a median treatment duration of 73 weeks.