BTG Share News (BTG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Thursday tracking Asian markets lower, while Ted Baker shares sank after the fashion retailer fell victim to challenging market conditions.The FTSE 100 index was down down 0.8%, or 59.81 points, at 7,450.47. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was down 0.5%, or 99.94 points, at 20,200.06. The AIM All-Share index was down 0.1%, or 1.55 points, at 1,090.89.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.4% at 12,707.59, the Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 18,379.92, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 12,132.88.On the London Stock Exchange, Associated British Foods was up 1.3% after Berenberg raised the Primark clothing chain owner to Buy from Hold. BHP Billiton was up 0.9% after the Anglo-Australian miner confirmed it reached an agreement with prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais related to the Samarco Mineracao dam failure disaster in 2015.BHP explained the deal with the State Prosecutor of Mariana "outlines the process and principles for the negotiation and implementation by the Renova Foundation of the formal compensation programme for impacted people in Mariana, Minas Gerais".Fundao - operated by Samarco - failed in early November 2015 and flooded the surrounding area, causing multiple deaths. Samarco is jointly owned by subsidiary BHP Billiton Brasil and Brazilian miner Vale. At the other end of the large cap index, British American Tobacco was the worst performer, down 4.1%, while Taylor Wimpey was down 1.9%, DS Smith, down 1.9% and Smith & Nephew, down 2.1%. The stocks went ex-dividend meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest payout. easyJet was down 2.5% after the budget airline said its passenger numbers increased in August while the load factor declined slightly.The FTSE 100-listed company recorded a 14% increase in passenger numbers to 8.8 million from 7.7 million seen a year before. Load factor, however, decreased by 0.8 percentage point to 92.8% from 93.6%. Load factor represents the number of passengers as a proportion of available passenger seats.In the FTSE 250, BTG was the best performer, up 4.6% after the healthcare company upped its guidance for its current financial year.For the six months to the end of September, the company said it delivered "good" product sales growth, driven by the performance of Interventional Medicine division.BTG also confirmed its committent to Varithena, a local anaesthetic, which is expected to become profitable in financial 2020 and to have peak sales potential in the high tens of millions of dollars.Meanwhile, in its Pharmaceuticals unit, the company said it saw a "good" performance from CroFab, which is used as an anti-venom to bites from certain snakes.Looking forward, the company said it now expects to achieve growth for the combined Oncology and Vascular products portfolio, including Varithena, sales between 15% and 17% in its full financial year. At the other end of the midcap index, Ted Baker was the worst performer, down 13% after the fashion retailer said it continues to make progress amid challenging trading conditions, despite reporting a drop in first half profit partly due to the collapse of department store chain House of Fraser.For the six months to August 11, pretax profit fell 3.2% to GBP24.5 million from GBP25.3 million a year ago as it took a blow from the failure of House of Fraser.The company said it does not expect to recover any debts from House of Fraser. Ted Baker lost GBP557,000 in debts due to the chain's collapse.The company said it continued to develop and make progress despite "challenging external trading conditions", including a negative impact from "unseasonable weather" across the UK, Europe and North America at the start of the year.Looking ahead, the retailer said it expects the second half of the year to "remain challenging due to external factors", however, it believes it is "well-positioned" for continued development.Ted Baker lifted its interim dividend 7.8% to 17.9p from 16.6p. The pound was marginally lower quoted at USD1.2935 compared to at USD1.2999 at the London equities close Wednesday.In domestic political news, a leading Tory Brexiteer has issued a new warning to Theresa May that she faces a Commons defeat if she presses ahead with her Chequers blueprint for Brexit.Just hours after the prime minister appealed to the party to unite behind her plan, former Brexit minister Steve Baker, who quit over Chequers, urged her to avoid a political "accident" and rethink her approach to negotiations with Brussels.Baker, a leading member of the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group, said even if only half the 80 Conservative MPs who had indicated their opposition to the plan actually voted against it would be enough to defeat the government.In her closing address to the Conservative conference on Wednesday, May sought to rally her warring party with an appeal to back her proposed deal in the "national interest".She warned that if Tory MPs split in pursuing their "perfect Brexit" they risked ending up with "no Brexit at all".However Baker - who backed former foreign secretary Boris Johnson's conference call to "chuck Chequers" - said she would face a "substantial" revolt unless she changed course.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.4% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.3% early Thursday.The economic events calendar on Thursday has US initial jobless claims at 1330 BST and US factory orders at 1500 BST. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.6% while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.9%. Financial markets in China remain closed for a week long holiday. Asian stock markets were lower as upbeat US economic data drove 10-year US Treasury yields to their highest level since 2011 and also raised concerns about the outlook for interest rates.