Investment firm M&G has revealed a jump in adjusted profits before tax from £298million to £390million in the six months to the end of June.

It said this: ‘Reflects a strong contribution from our Retail and Savings segment driven by an improved result from with-profits business and higher returns from excess assets in the shareholder annuity portfolio following the rise in interest rates.’

Construction group Galliford Try has reported good results aided by no longer having a housing arm, with profits up almost 20 per cent.

Andy Murphy, at investment research firm said Edison Group commented: ‘Galliford Try has posted a very encouraging set of results today, with profits rising by 18.4 per cent from £18.5m to £21.9m.

‘Galliford Try specialises in infrastructure and environmental projects, and shed its housebuilding arm in 2020. These choices have made Galliford Try’s business model uniquely resilient during what is a challenging period for the sector, and for the economy at large.

‘Infrastructure projects are counter-cyclical, and the drive to net zero has increased demand for environmental projects. What’s more, divestment from housebuilding has shielded the company from the decline of the residential property market, which began earlier this year.

‘As uncertainty over property markets abounds, Galliford Try finds itself well-positioned to take advantage of many of the long-term trends in British construction.’

The nudging down of CPI inflation in August to 6.7 per cent takes it to its lowest level since February last year.

The fall was also contrary to expectations, with economists and the Bank of England predicting a slight rise from 6.9 per cent in July to 7.1 per cent. That was expected to come from a sharp rise in petrol and diesel prices.

But while today’s figures will be well recieved, things don’t look so good for the next inflation reading, as the oil price climbs towards $100 and sends fuel costs rising further.

Dunelm revealed a dip in annual profits as rising costs and the slowdown in the property market took their toll.

The previously high-flying homeware retailer said it expected to return to growing its profits in the year ahead.

Dunelm revealed a 9.4 per cent drop in pre-tax profits to £192.7 million for the year to July 1.

Dunelm said consumer behaviour remains ‘unpredictable’, but forecast growth in sales and pre-tax profits over 2023-24.

The FTSE 100 was trading up 0.1 per cent or 7 points at 7,660.2 just after open this morning.

The ONS revealed at 7am that inflation had edged down to 6.7 per cent in August from 6.8 per cent in July.

A drop in the key core CPI figure from 6.9 per cent to 6.2 per cent will be seen as good news.

This takes some pressure off the Bank of England ahead of tomorrow’s base rate decision. The Bank is still widely expected to raise base rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5.5 per cent but this could be its last move upwards.

In the data the ONS said:

• The largest downward contributions to the monthly change in CPI annual rates came from food, where prices rose by less in August 2023 than a year ago, and accommodation services, where prices can be volatile and fell in August 2023.
• Rising prices for motor fuel led to the largest upward contribution to the change in the annual rates.
• Core CPI (excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco) rose by 6.2% in the 12 months to August 2023, down from 6.9% in July; the CPI goods annual rate rose slightly from 6.1% to 6.3%, while the CPI services annual rate slowed from 7.4% to 6.8%.

Aldi UK has called on Wilko workers fearful of losing their jobs to get in touch as the supermarket has over 6,000 store vacancies available.

Aldi previously said it was creating 800 jobs in its new stores over the coming months and today added that it was also recruiting for a ‘large volume’ of other store roles across the country as its expansion continues.

Recruitment groups Hays has appointed insider Dirk Hahn as its new chief executive, while also seeing its profit fall in the last year and warning of fresh job cuts.

This follows an announcement on 23 February that the company had started a process to identify a successor to Alistair Cox.

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King claimed yesterday the time for rapid interest rate increases is over as shock economic figures raised fears that Britain is heading for recession.

The data showed private sector output shrank this month at the fastest pace since January 2021 when Britain was in lockdown.

Recruitment groups Hays has appointed insider Dirk Hahn as its new chief executive, while also seeing its profit fall in the last year and warning of fresh job cuts.

This follows an announcement on 23 February that the company had started a process to identify a successor to Alistair Cox.

Sterling and gilt yields tumbled yesterday as mounting fears of recession saw investors scale back bets on where interest rates will peak.

As central bankers headed to Jackson Hole in Wyoming in the US for their annual chinwag, a set of bleak reports showed private sector activity across Britain and the eurozone in sharp decline as inflation and rising borrowing costs take their toll.

More homes are going up for rent, as stubborn owners increasingly shift from selling to letting when they don’t get the price they want.

Two years of near-double digit rent increases have seen renting become increasingly expensive, with demand from tenants far outstripping the supply of homes.

Hundreds of Wilko stores are set to close and thousands of staff will lose their jobs after talks to buy it collapsed without a rescue deal last night.

The 93-year-old chain tumbled into administration this month – putting 400 stores and 12,000 jobs at risk.

North Sea oil and gas producer Ithaca Energy said the windfall tax has forced it to slash production in the UK.

The FTSE 250 company said it was writing off £58m as a direct impact from the levy, pushing it to scale back plans for the second half of 2023 and into 2024.

The pound at 8am was $1.2704 compared to $1.2713 at the previous close.