London pre-open: Stocks seen down; US PCE, UK GDP eyed

(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Thursday following a mostly weaker Asian session, as investors looked to the release of a key US inflation reading and the latest UK GDP on Friday. The FTSE 100 was called to open around 25 points lower.

Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, said: "All eyes are now firmly on Friday's PCE data in the US, at least until Sunday's French elections."

In corporate news, luxury timepiece seller Watches of Switzerland held current-year guidance and said it was "cautiously optimistic" after annual profits fell amid a wind-back of discretionary spending.

Pre-tax profit for the year to April 28 fell 40% to £92m with revenues flat at £1.53bn in a "challenging" market hit by rising prices and low consumer confidence.

Bunzl upgraded its full-year profit forecast due to improved margin performance driven by effective margin management and acquisitions.

Despite a projected 3% to 4% year-on-year revenue decrease for the first half at actual exchange rates, operating margins were expected to show strong improvement, leading to robust adjusted operating profit growth at constant exchange rates.

The company highlighted recent acquisitions in Brazil and Canada, which were expected to strengthen its market position and contribute to margin growth.

Elsewhere, Serco lifted its full-year profit guidance following "good" progress in the first half.

The outsourcer now expects underlying operating profit of £270m for 2024, up £10m on previous guidance. It also expects free cash flow to be better and financial leverage to be lower than prior guidance.

Chief executive Mark Irwin said: "We continue to explore new ways to bring together the right people, the right technology and the right partners to help governments around the world respond to the complex and difficult challenges they face.

"As we enter the second six months of the year, while mindful of a potential impact internationally from elections in 2024, we remain optimistic about the quality of our pipeline of potential new work to support our medium-term growth targets."