Berkeley, Tullow Oil and Amec Foster Wheeler

“The FTSE100 edged up in early trading with investors looking to the EU trade balance out mid-morning while this afternoon the focus will be on US data for capacity utilisation, industrial production, inflation expectations and consumer sentiment,” says AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould.

“House-builder Berkeley topped the FTSE250 board in early trading after it confirmed that pre-tax profits were likely to be at the top end of forecasts. The group endured a torrid time in the immediate aftermath of the EU referendum but the market in London and the South East has now stabilised and reservations in the last two months were up on a year ago. Berkeley’s shares were up by more than 4.5% in early trading.

“Tullow Oil’s shares tumbled after it proposed a heavily discounted 25-for-49 rights issue to reduce its high level of debt. The rights issue price of 130p is at a discount of over 45% to last night’s closing price of 237.3p. The group has also agreed to a farm-down that once complete would mean it would ceased to be an operator in Uganda. Tullow’s shares were down by over 14.6%.

“Engineering group Amec Foster Wheeler, which earlier this week agreed a takeover by Wood Group, has clinched a $950m contract with the US Air Force. The deal recognises the company's ability to deliver high performance on complex design-build projects in remote and challenging environments.”

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