BT Share News (BT.A)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Friday as investors await the US second-quarter GDP reading, while Reckitt Benckiser reported a surge in top-line growth. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 23.13 points higher at 7,686.30. The blue chip index closed up 0.1% at 7,663.17 on Thursday.In early UK corporate news, household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser reported strong revenue growth, while saying its integration of US baby formula maker Meed Johnson Nutrition is on track. For the half year ending June 30, revenue rose 23% to GBP6.14 billion from GBP5.02 billion last year. Pretax profit came in at GBP1.11 billion, up 8.8% from GBP1.02 billion the year before. Reckitt also reported like-for-like sales growth of 4% for the second quarter.The company declared an interim dividend of 70.5 pence, up 6% from the year before. BT Group said it made a good start to the financial year with the launch of new converged products including BT Plus and 4G Assure among the highlights. For the first quarter ending June 30, revenue came in at GBP5.72 billion, lower than GBP5.84 billion in the first quarter last year. Pretax profit rose 68% to GBP704 million under IFRS15 from GBP418 million the year before under IAS18. Adjusted pretax profit was up 3% to GBP816 million.Revenue was hit after regulated price reductions in Openreach and declines in its enterprise businesses offset growth in the consumer business, BT said.BT said its outlook for the year remains unchanged. "We've made a good start to the year. We are making positive progress against our strategy. Our customer experience metrics continue to improve and we have seen the successful launch of new converged products including BT Plus, our first Consumer converged offering and 4G Assure, for business customers. Initiatives to transform our operating model have seen a gross reduction in 900 roles across the group and improved cost performance," said outgoing Chief Executive Gavin Patterson.Education publisher Pearson said it made "good progress against strategic priorities", with its cost cutting plan on track and guidance for 2018 unchanged.For the half year ending June 30, revenue was down 8.8% at GBP1.87 billion, compared to GBP2.05 billion last year. The company swung to a pretax profit of GBP202 million from a pretax loss of GBP10 million last year. The company delivered cost savings of GBP40 million in the first half, as it decommissioned over 200 applications and started the implementation of its Enterprise Resource Planning software system in the US.Pearson proposed an interim dividend of 5.5p, up from 5.0p last year. "Although there is still much to do, we have had a good first half and continued to make progress against our strategic priorities. We are driving ahead in digital learning, helping more people develop the skills they need to prosper in a fast changing world," said CEO John Fallon. The pound was flat against the dollar quoted at USD1.3107 compared to USD1.3114 late Thursday.In political news, the European Union's chief Brexit negotiator has blown a hole in Theresa May's Chequers plan by flatly rejecting a key element of her proposals for future relations following UK withdrawal.Central to the UK prime minister's plan, set out in a white paper a fortnight ago, is a "facilitated customs arrangement" under which tariffs charged at the border would be passed on to either the British or EU authorities depending on the destination of imported goods.Appearing alongside new Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab following their second round of talks in Brussels, Michel Barnier left no doubt that this was not acceptable to the EU.The economic events calendar has Italy producer prices at 0900 BST and US GDP readings at 1330 BST.Ahead, in the US earnings calendar social media company Twitter is reporting its quarterly figures before the US market open on Friday.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.2%.