LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 ended Thursday within touching distance of its existing all-time high, boosted by oil majors as Brent breached the USD80.00 mark.Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 managed to set its own all-time high thanks to a stellar session for online grocer
Ocado as it closed up 44% on news of its fourth international partnership.The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.7%, or 53.77 points at 7,787.97, marking a record closing high and having hit an intraday high of 7,788.23. The index's all-time high currently stands at 7,792.56, which was set in January of this year.The FTSE 250 ended up 0.9%, or 190.65 points, at 21,019.44. The mid-cap index hit an all-time high of 21,042.29 earlier in the session. The AIM All-Share closed flat at 1,085.33.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.5% at 13,202.33, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.9% at 19,232.07, and the Cboe UK Small Companies ended up 0.5% at 12,869.50.In European equities on Thursday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended up 0.8%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.8%.Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite also gaining 0.2%. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the bloc will take steps to shield European firms doing business in Iran from the impact of US sanctions, as EU leaders agreed to save the Iran nuclear deal.Meeting in the Bulgarian capital Sofia, EU leaders showed a united front on saving the nuclear deal - one week after President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 agreement, which is meant to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons in return for the lifting of sanctions.French President Emmanuel Macron said, "We are going to work to uphold the framework of the 2015 agreement, whatever American decisions are taken."Trump's decision last week to leave the deal means sanctions could be reimposed on Iran, as well as European companies doing business there.The euro stood at USD1.1795 at the European equities close Thursday, against USD1.1793 at the same time on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the pound was quoted at USD1.3510 at the London equities close Thursday, compared to USD1.3480 at the close on Wednesday.Brent oil was quoted at USD80.36 a barrel at the London equities close Thursday from USD78.23 late Wednesday, as it topped USD80.00 on Thursday for the first time since late 2014.Oil has been climbing since Trump decided to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal last week."Could oil go higher? Venezuela's problems are unlikely to be resolved anytime soon and could be exasperated if the Trump aims sanctions at the troubled country following rigged and unfair elections; also if the US can get China to loosen energy ties with Iran, then regardless of increased US shale production, the price could close in on USD100," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares climbed 2.0% on the higher oil price, while 'B' shares gained 2.1% and
BP closed 1.4% higher.Meanwhile, gold was quoted at USD1,288.70 an ounce at the London equities close Thursday against USD1,288.42 at the close on Wednesday.In US data on Thursday, the Labour Department showed first-time claims for US unemployment benefits increased by more than anticipated in the week ended May 12.The report said initial jobless claims rose to 222,000, an increase of 11,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 211,000, and above expectations for jobless claims to inch up to 215,000.Meanwhile, the less volatile four-week moving average dipped to 213,250, a decrease of 2,750 from the previous week's unrevised average of 216,000.Back on the London Stock Exchange,
Experian ended up 5.6% as the best blue-chip performer on Thursday.The FTSE 100-listed credit checking company delivered a strong set of annual results and said it is to launch a share repurchase programme of up to USD400 million. For its year to March-end, revenue rose 8.0% to USD4.66 billion compared to USD4.33 billion last year.In addition, benchmark pretax profit for 2018 - a closely watched measure of earnings which excludes charges such as amortisation - was higher at USD1.21 billion compared to USD1.12 billion last year.The company said it posted total revenue growth in its key market of North America of 8% and organic revenue growth at 6%, reflecting a strong performance across its B2B unit of 9%.In second place was
National Grid, closing 3.8% higher as last year's US tax reform helped to boost pretax profit to GBP2.71 billion from GBP2.18 billion the year before.National Grid increased its final dividend to 30.44 pence from 29.10p, bringing the full year dividend to 45.93p. This is a 3.7% increase on last year's full year dividend of 44.27p.Looking ahead, the company said it expects the "good financial performance" from its US businesses to continue due to the agreement of a number of regulatory filings. Its UK businesses are on track to meet expectations.At the bottom of the large-cap index was
Royal Mail, down 7.2%.Revenue rose 4.1% to GBP10.17 billion for its year to March 25, from GBP9.78 billion the year before. This was up 2% on an underlying basis. Adjusted operating profit, before transformation costs, fell to GBP694 million from GBP712 million last year.The UK parcel and letter delivery segment, UKPIL, recorded revenue which was flat on a underlying basis, as it dipped to GBP7.62 billion from GBP7.66 billion.Within UKPIL, parcel revenue grew 4% while total letter revenue declined by 4%. Parcel volumes rose 5%, while address letter volumes fell 5%. UKPIL collections, processing and delivery productivity improved by 1%, below the firm's target range of 2% to 3%."With the general direction of travel now entrenched, with a letters and cards market in terminal decline, offset by the continuing growth in parcels as online shopping strengthens its grip, the group is understandably focusing its efforts on the latter," said Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor."There are, however, some potential pitfalls ahead. In terms of these results, UK productivity was below target, transition costs were significant and this move towards a leaner and more technologically focussed operation will become more pressing," Hunter continued.
HSBC Holdings closed down 1.3% as the Asia-focused bank went ex-dividend, meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout.
Intertek, also ex-dividend, finished 0.7% lower.It was a stellar session for
Ocado, closing up 44% at 797.20 pence after unveiling its fourth international deal, this time with the second-biggest general retailer in the US, Kroger Co. The company's share price peaked at 1,000.00 pence during the session, an all-time high.The technology sharing and investment partnership pact gives Kroger exclusivity in groceries for Ocado's technology in the US.As part of the deal, Kroger will invest GBP183 million in the online supermarket and will use Ocado's technology for grocery and other food distribution related activities in the US. It will pay monthly exclusivity and consultancy fees for using Ocado's technology.This new deal comes just a fortnight after Ocado landed a deal with Sweden's ICA Group, and follows partnerships in Canada and France which were announced in January and December respectively. None of these previous partnerships, however, included an investment into Ocado."Even though Ocado remains the #13 most shorted stock, according to FCA disclosure rules, this is an improvement over its position in July 2016, when it was the most shorted stock with 21.37% of shares out on loan and 16% in November 2017, before the first deal came through and the company began proving the sceptics wrong," said Accendo Markets analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants.In second place, though by some distance, was
Sophos Group as it gained 8.9% after reporting a widened loss for its full-year due to currency movements though lifted its payout to shareholders.The company recorded a pretax loss of USD52.3 million for its year ended March 31, compared with a pretax loss of USD49.3 million in financial 2017. Foreign exchange losses on debt revaluation increased to USD6.9 million from USD1.2 million.Adjusted operating profit, however, increased by 20% to USD46 million from USD38 million in the prior-year.The London-listed company declared a final divided of 3.5 cents per share, giving a total payout of 4.9 cents, up 6.5% year-on-year.
Just Group ended up 7.1% after the retirement-focused financial services company said it made a "strong" start to the year as it increased total new business sales.For the three months ended March 31, Just Group total new business sales rose 41% to GBP617 million from GBP436 million the year before. This was driven by retirement income sales increasing by 43% to GBP454 million from GBP317 million.Towards the other end of the index, travel agent
Thomas Cook closed 4.8% lower.The travel agent said a strong performance from its airline division, lower finance costs, and growth in trips to Egypt and long-haul destinations resulted in a narrowed loss and increased revenue generation for the first half of its 2018 financial year. The travel operator posted a pretax loss of GBP303 million for the six months to March-end, compared with a pretax loss of GBP314 million in the year ago period, on a revenue of GBP3.22 billion and GBP2.99 billion, respectively.Gross margins stood at 20.8% down from 21.1%, in line with company's estimates, as strong performance by the airline performance largely offset margin pressures in the UK business.Elsewhere on the Main Market,
Mothercare closed up 20% as it laid out restructuring plans and reported a swing to loss for its recently-ended financial year.For its year ended March 24, Mothercare reported a pretax loss of GBP72.8 million, sinking from a profit of GBP7.1 million the year before, stemming from a total one-off charge of GBP67.1 million, consisting of store closures, property impairments, restructuring and onerous leases.Earlier on Thursday, the baby products retailer said it will restructure its estate and raise GBP28 million for general corporate purposes.Under the store estate restructuring plan, the company plans to close 50 stores and seek rent reductions on a further 21 stores. It expects to have a total store portfolio of 78 by 2020, down from the current 137 stores.
Fevertree - the third largest company by market capitalisation on London's junior AIM market - lost 6.4% despite saying its performance in the first four months of 2018 was "encouraging" and trading remained in line with full-year expectations.In an annual general meeting statement, Chairman Bill Ronald said the tonic water maker saw "positive progress" for the first four months of 2018, especially in the UK.Shore Capital analyst Phil Carroll said: "The lack of upgrades to market expectations may put a dampener on the share price today, especially considering it has been rising into today's statement. For some investors this may present an opportunity when considering the long term opportunity in Fever-tree if it executes its broader ambitions."In the UK corporate calendar on Friday there are first quarter results from pharmaceutical company
AstraZeneca. There are also trading statements from aviation services and newspaper distribution group
John Menzies, building services group
T Clarke and motor finance lender
S&U.In the economic events calendar on Friday there is Japan inflation readings at 0030 BST, Germany producer prices at 0700 BST and eurozone trade balance data at 1000 BST.
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