Burford Capital Share News (BUR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London closed higher on Thursday as US-China trade tension worries that erupted earlier in the week continued to soften following another day of no further geopolitical fireworks.The FTSE 100 index closed 1.2% higher at 7,285.90. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index ended up 1.0% at 19,137.61, and the AIM All-Share index finished 1.0% higher at 884.94.The Cboe UK 100 closed up 1.0% at 12,317.57, the Cboe UK 250 up 0.8% at 17,020.67, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up marginally at 10,938.45.At the close Thursday, sterling was softer against the US dollar. The pound was quoted at USD1.2145 at the London close, from USD1.2158 late Wednesday."European stock markets are higher heading into the close as the fear surrounding the US-China trade dispute has faded a little," CMC Markets UK Market Analyst David Madden said. In mainland Europe, in Paris the CAC 40 equities index ended up 2.3% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.7%.The euro was quoted at USD1.1215, compared to USD1.1230 late Wednesday.Earlier in the week, global markets were rattled by US President Donald Trump slapping further tariffs on USD300 billion of goods from China from the start of September. This is in addition to the USD250 billion of Chinese goods already hit by duties.The news had sharply weakened the Chinese yuan leading to the US accusing Beijing of currency manipulation before cautiously rowing back from the term. "The fact the Chinese central bank fixed the yuan at a lower rate than expected gave the markets some respite," Madden added. "Chinese exports and imports in July both came in better than expected, and that added to the feel-good factor." Earlier on Thursday, official data from China showed imports fell 5.6% in July on the year prior and exports rose 3.3%. This outperformed the economist consensus estimates of a 8.3% fall in exports and 2.0% fall in imports during the month. "The trade spat is far from over, but while the rhetoric and the actions have been dialled down, traders are swooping in snapping up relatively cheap stocks," Madden continued. Amongst the blue chip gainers in a broadly higher market, Hargreaves Lansdown surged to the top of the FTSE 100, up 12%, after it reported growth in assets under administration despite a tough market backdrop.For the year ended June, pretax profit climbed 4.6% to GBP305.8 million after revenue grew 7.4% to GBP480.5 million. The performance at the wealth manager was helped by net new business inflows of GBP7.3 billion down 4% from the GBP7.6 billion reported the year prior. Assets under administration rose 8% on the year to GBP99.3 billion.Hargreaves Lansdown emphasised revenue margins on funds have been broadly stable following the completion of the UK retail distribution review. Looking forward over the next year, the firm continues to expect them to remain at "similar levels" despite being "slightly impacted" by the Woodford Investments debacle.Private healthcare operator NMC Health closed 4.8% higher after it confirmed the first half of 2019 had delivered a "good" performance with trading in line with expectations.The Gulf-focused firm made the announcement after noting recent "share price weakness" since the start of August. Since the start of August, shares in NMC have still shed 15%. NMC emphasised performance over the six months ended June was "good" and that trading "remains in line with management expectations" on all key metrics including revenue, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation & amortisation and leverage. Full year guidance also remains as previously stated.At the other end of the blue chips, soft drinks bottler Coca-Cola HBC ended 1.1% lower despite reporting "solid" interim revenue growth after profit suffered due to debt increases.For the six months ended June 28, pretax profit narrowed 10% on the year prior to EUR260.8 million despite revenue rising 3.7% to EUR3.35 billion. Profit performance at the Europe-focused bottler was hurt by costs jumping amid increased debt levels as well restructuring and acquisitions charges. The company also blamed "unseasonable cold and wet weather in the second quarter" as a factor in the profit drop.In the mid caps, small business lending platform Funding Circle Holdings ended 6.9% higher after loans and revenue surged on the year prior despite profit suffering amid rising costs. For the six months ended June, revenue jumped 29% to GBP81.4 million and loans under management surged 37% to GBP3.54 billion. Pretax losses, however, deepened 13% to GBP30.8 million after operating expenses rose 25% to GBP112.7 million.At the other end of the FTSE 250, liquid handling systems maker TI Fluid Systems was the worst performer after shedding 15% amid a sharp drop in first half earnings and warning full year revenue was set to fall. For the six months ended June, pretax profit narrowed 25% to EUR93.4 million on the year prior after revenue fell 3.4% to EUR1.71 billion.TI Fluid explained a challenging light-vehicle production environment - especially in China - and cost increases in Europe were to blame for the profit weakness. Globally, light vehicle production volumes fell 6.7% year-on-year in all markets.TI Fluid also warned that it expects 2019 revenue to be lower than the EUR3.47 billion reported the year before.Car and home insurer Hastings closed down 3.0% amid a sharp interim profit fall amid changes in the discount rate applicable for personal injury damage awards.For the six months ended June, pretax profit almost halved to GBP46.1 million after claims inflation ran ahead of earned premium inflation. This effect combined with legislative changes which increased underwriting levies to sink earnings.Gross written premiums grew 2.8% to GBP499.2 million, but net written premiums slipped 1.6% to GBP215.6 million. On AIM, the index was helped by litigation finance firm Burford Capital rebounding 29% after it delivered an item-by-item defence of its business from the criticism of a US research firm which sent its shares 54% lower on Thursday. On Wednesday, Muddy Waters Capital announced it had taken a short position on Burford on the basis that it was "a poor business masquerading as a great one" by using "heavily manipulated" figures and arguing it was "arguably insolvent." On Thursday, Burford replied thoroughly to the report by Muddy Waters by stating the seven main claims were "simply false" and "do not stand up to scrutiny." In particular, Burford emphasised its cash position stood at USD400 million.Brent oil was quoted at USD57.58 a barrel at the London equities close, higher than USD56.30 Wednesday.Gold was quoted at USD1,497.06 an ounce at the London equities close, lower versus USD1,505.49 Wednesday. With mildly moderating trade fears, the price of the precious metal stepped back after surging above USD1,500 on Wednesday to highs not seen since early 2013. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones was trading 0.8% higher, the S&P 500 up 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.5%. In the economic calendar on Friday, Japan delivers GDP figures at 0150 BST alongside money supply data. In China, consumer price and producer price index data are reported at 0330 BST. In Europe, trade balance data are due from Germany at 0800 BST with French industrial output figures following at 0845 BST. In the UK, a flurry of data is released at 1030 BST headlined by GDP data. In addition, manufacturing and industrial production figures will be published alongside trade balance data. Included in the UK corporate events on Friday, interim results are due from drugmaker Hikma Pharmaceuticals, bookmaker William Hill and security outsourcer G4S. FTSE 100-listed advertising giant WPP will also deliver a trading statement. London Close is available to subscribers as an email newsletter. Contact info@alliancenews.com