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(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening higher on Friday as US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell takes centre stage at the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 33.12 points higher at 7,161.30. The blue chip index closed down 1.1% at 7,128.18 on Thursday.
Powell will deliver his keynote speech at around 1500 BST and investors will be eagerly anticipating any clues about the central bank's plans for monetary policy.
CMC Markets analyst David Madden said: "We will hear from Jerome Powell, the head of the Fed at the Jackson Hole Symposium, and the update will give us an insight into what the Fed might do come September. Judging by the minutes from the July meeting the central bank seems content to sit on their hands, but it is worth remembering the US-China trade situation has intensified and so has the unrest in Hong Kong and that might prompt Powell to be a touch more dovish than he was in late July.
"The markets have been pricing in lower rates from the Fed, but keep in mind, it is the policymakers who call the shots, and it is worth noting that unemployment in very low, earnings are solid, and retail are strong, and the economic climate is not calling for a rate cut."
The UK Competition & Markets Authority has taken action against Royal Bank of Scotland and Santander after the banks failed to send, or sent inaccurate, annual payment protection insurance reminders.
The CMA said RBS failed to provide reminders to almost 11,000 of its customers for up to six years, meaning those affected were unable to fully assess if they wanted to continue paying for PPI, and were stopped from shopping around effectively. Santander sent annual reminders containing incorrect information to over 3,400 of its mortgage PPI customers from 2012-2017, the CMA added.
"For now, we expect RBS to repay all affected customers quickly, and for both RBS and Santander to make sure that similar breaches do not happen again," the CMA said.
In company news, US toy maker Hasbro agreed to acquire the maker of the Peppa Pig children's TV show Entertainment One in an all-cash deal valued at GBP3.3 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Entertainment One shareholders will receive GBP5.60 in cash for each share, which represents a 31% premium to the company's 30-day volume weighted average price as of Thursday.
IT services provider Computacenter said its outlook remains in line with its expectations as it reported a rise in interim earnings.
For the half year to June 30, revenue rose 21% to GBP2.43 billion from GBP2.00 billion last year, but pretax profit slipped 2.3% to GBP50.8 million from GBP52.0 million last year. The company said pretax profit took a hit from exceptional and other adjusting items relating to the acquisition of FusionStorm. On an adjusted basis pretax profit rose to GBP53.5 million from GBP52.1 million last year.
The company raised its interim dividend to 10.1p from 8.7p last year.
Chief Executive Officer Mike Norris said; "The board expects that the full year 2019 profit growth, in monetary value, will be the best in the company's history. This performance will be predominantly achieved without the aid of acquisitions, however we expect to see a more significant contribution from our acquired business in the USA during the second half."
Irish insulation and building services company Kingspan Group said it delivered a record first half of revenue growth, buoyed by a solid performance in the UK and strong performances in the Americas and Ireland.
For the half year to June 30, revenue rose 12% EUR2.24 billion from EUR2.01 billion last year and pretax profit rose 18% to EUR208.9 million from EUR177.6 million.
The company lifted its interim dividend 8% to 13.0 cents from 12.0 cents last year.
"We have delivered a record first half with revenue growth in all our business units and a strong trading profit performance. We continue to expand our global production footprint with new facilities under construction in the US, Brazil and Sweden. The near-term outlook is solid although the political uncertainty in the UK, weakness in sterling, and weaker German economy are amongst risks we are monitoring closely," said CEO Gene Murtagh.
Stilo International proposed a cancellation of its shares on AIM as the company swung to an interim loss.
The company expects the de-listing and cancellation of admission of the ordinary shares to trading on AIM on October 8.
"The company estimates that it could save annualised costs of at least GBP120,000, being incremental costs resulting from the company being a plc with a listing on AIM - this includes fees payable to brokers, the nominated adviser, the registrar and AIM as well as incremental legal accounting and auditing fees, and time spent by the board on dealing with continuing obligations associated with Stilo being on the AIM market," the company said.
For the six months to June end, the company swung to a loss of GBP29,000 from GBP42,000 profit last year and sales revenue fell to GBP638,000 from GBP707,000.
Stilo also proposed a buyback of 15.3 million shares and launched a tender offer of 14.7 million shares.
The company said it expects trading to continue slowly for the reminder of 2019.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.5%.
The pound was USD1.2226 early Friday, compared to USD1.2250 at the London equities close Thursday.
The economic events calendar has US new home sales data at 1500 BST.
