London pre-open: Stocks seen lower as inflation rises more than expected
By Michele Maatouk
Date: Wednesday 20 Aug 2025
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to fall at the open on Wednesday after figures showed that UK inflation rose more than expected in July.
The FTSE 100 was called to open down around 20 points.
Data released earlier by the Office for National Statistics showed that consumer price inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.8% in July, mainly due to transport and in particular air fares.
This was up from 3.6% in June and was above analysts' expectations of 3.7%.
The core rate - which strips out energy, food, alcohol and tobacco - rose to 3.8% from 3.7%.
ONS chief economist Grant Fitzner said: "The main driver was a hefty increase in air fares, the largest July rise since collection of air fares changed from quarterly to monthly in 2001.
"This increase was likely due to the timing of this year's school holidays.
"The price of petrol and diesel also increased this month, compared with a drop this time last year.
"Food price inflation continues to climb, with items such as coffee, fresh orange juice, meat and chocolate seeing the biggest rises."
In corporate news, mortgage lender OSB Group said that profits had fallen in the six months ended 30 June, with rising funding costs and a competitive mortgage market weighing on profitability.
Statutory pre-tax profits dropped 31% to £226.7m, hit by a 59% surge in impairment charges to £54.6m, while underlying pre-tax profits fell 25% to £260.6m.
Loan book growth remained solid, up 6% to £24.4bn, but the group's cost-to-income ratio rose to 27%, compared with 24% a year earlier.
Ithaca Energy upgraded full-year production guidance as profits and output doubled in the first six months of the year.
The company now sees production of 119-125 barrels of oil equivalent a day, compared with prior guidance of 109-119 kboe/d. Adjusted EBITDAX came in at $1.1bn from $550m.
B2B tech firm Computacenter promoted its head of group commercial finance to the chief financial officer position following a nine-month search.
Keith Mortimer, who has been with the company since 1999 and has held various senior finance and commercial roles, will be appointed CFO on 1 September, some nine months after the exit of former CFO Christian Jehle who stepped down at the end of 2024 by mutual agreement.
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