Next, Aviva and Cobham

“The FTSE100 opened in negative territory with traders cautious ahead of the Bank of England’s decision on interest rates and its latest inflation report. It will also be releasing the minutes to the monetary policy committee meeting and a key indicator of economic sentiment will be how many members voted to keep interest rates on hold. This is expected to shift back to 6-2, from 5-3 the previous time,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“High street fashion group Next led the blue-chip board in early trading after an increase in full price sales in the second quarter. This was driven by its online Directory arm where sales rose by 11.4% which offset a 7.4% decline in its shops. Next remains cautious given weak consumer confidence and the improvement in full price sales was offset with lower clearance rates during its end-of-season sale and it is likely to experience a similar deterioration in the January sale. The group has maintained its profit guidance and the shares were up by more than 9.7%.

“Aviva increased its interim dividend by 13% following an 11% rise in operating profits. Aviva has grown top line sales and bottom line profit in UK general insurance, pensions, annuities and protection and its digital business continues to make progress. The group is benefiting from its geographic spread and product diversity which give it numerous sources of growth.

“Cobham topped the FTSE250 Index after reporting first half results in line with forecasts and maintaining its full-year outlook. Cobham is in the early stages of implementing a challenging turnaround in its performance and is making progress across a number of areas. Full implementation, though, will be time consuming and it has warned that it may encounter some turbulence along the way. Cobham’s shares were up by more than 6.7% in early trading.”

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