Updates from Hays, Victrex and N Brown

A stagnant, negative day for the FTSE 100 on Wednesday, dipping 13 points to 6,482.2. Tullow Oil and TUI Travel took the hardest hits, down 4% and 3.93% respectively (to 576p and 367p). GKN shares also came under pressure, down 3.50% to 294.70p. The biggest riser was the London Stock Exchange itself, up 2.21% to 1849p. Tesco shares also inched up again, to 185p; a 1.37% climb.

The news was better stateside with the Dow Jones leaping strongly, reversing losses from Tuesday. It soared 274 points on the back of better sentiment from the Fed, indicating a looser response to interest rates. The Dow closed at 16,994.22.

We start this morning with a half-year interim from N Brown Group. Revenues dip 0.6% to £407.3m while operating profit shrinks -6.6% to £45.2m. Adjusted earnings per share slip 3.2% to £42.7m.

Chairman Andrew Higginson blames says the lower first half profits result on "the planned later phasing of our product season and marketing activities as well as the changes we have made to our credit policies."

He warns: "The benefits of re-phasing will not flow through as expected during the second half as a result of the very difficult market conditions across the clothing sector in recent weeks." He adds: "I am confident that we are taking the right actions and are making good progress."

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Recruiter Hays is up next with a quarterly update to 30 Sept: there's total like-for-like growth in net fees of 9% worldwide. The strongest growth - 13% - came from the UK & Ireland, driven by excellent permanent placement growth of 20%.

Accountancy & Finance, Construction & Property and IT all grew by more than 15% says Hays. There was continued growth of 8% in Continental Europe & Rest of World.

"Each of our three largest businesses, Australia, Germany and the UK, grew simultaneously for the first time in nearly four years," says chief exec Alistair Cox. "Elsewhere many European, Americas and Asian markets continued to improve."

We end with a Victrex pre-close update. Full year group sales increase to 3,551 tonnes, a 22% hike on 2013 (2,920 tonnes), with second half year sales volume of 1,967 tonnes increasing 29% on last year (H2 2013: 1,528 tonnes).

Though sales volumes were particularly strong, profit expectations remain largely unchanged says Victrex. Strong volume performance in Victrex Polymer Solutions (VPS) business reflects core growth and higher-than-expected volumes in the second half year from Consumer Electronics.

"Our growth momentum remains positive," the company claims. "Although currency headwinds remain considerable in 2015, our forthcoming new PEEK and Aptiv film capacity, technical excellence and marketing know-how keep us well placed."

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