LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set to open higher on Wednesday, following onfrom sharp gains seen on Wall Street after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested the US central bank could lower interest rates.In London, Non-Standard Finance's hostile takeover of larger doorstep lending rival Provident Financial lapsed. FTSE 100-listed Aviva's chief financial officer has decided to step down, while Workspace reported a sharp rise in rental income. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 is set to open 7.01 points higher at 7,221.30. The blue chip index closed up 29.49 points, or 0.4%, at 7,214.29 on Tuesday.Non-Standard Finance's hostile GBP1.1 billion takeover for Provident Financial collapsed after the UK financial regulator blocked the deal on Tuesday.Non-Standard Finance said it would "lapse" the offer following discussions with regulatory authorities as it had received a low level of acceptances by Wednesday deadline to declare the offer bid wholly unconditional. As at Wednesday, Non-Standard Finance had received acceptances from around 54% of Provident investors. Non-Standard Finance explained that while it remains appropriately capitalised, due to the low level of acceptances received, "the enlarged Non-Standard Finance group would not have sufficient regulatory capital on a consolidated basis at completion due to the expected level of minority interests at that point".John van Kuffeler, Non-Standard Finance's group chief executive said: "I am very disappointed that despite our best efforts customers, employees and shareholders will not now benefit from our transformation plan to build a brighter future by combining Provident with Non-Standard Finance."Aviva said CFO Tom Stoddard will be stepping down at the end of June. Aviva said Stoddard will remain with the company until the end of 2019 to "support an orderly transition". Current Aviva UK Insurance CFO Jason Windsor has been appointed interim CFO for the group.Ryanair said its May traffic was up 13% year-on-year to 14.1 million customers. The budget airline operated 78,000 scheduled flights in May. Office space rental firm Workspace saw a sharp fall in pretax profit in financial 2019 due to a lower year-on-year valuation increase and lower disposals profits compared to the year before. In the twelve months to March 31, Workspace reported pretax profit of GBP137.3 million, down from GBP170.4 million. The company's trading profit increased 19%, however, to GBP72.4 million.Workspace hiked its full year dividend 20% to 32.87 pence.Card Factory said its first-quarter total sales were up 6.4% on a year before, with like-for-like sales in the three months to April 30 up 2.3%.Card Factory said its performance in the first quarter "represents an encouraging start to the year". The company's expectations for the full year remain unchanged.Go-Ahead said it has appointed Elodie Brian as chief financial officer on a permanent basis. Brian has been the firm's interim CFO since December. Speaking at the motoring association's AGM, AA said its trading in the period is in line with expectations and remains "well positioned" to meet its medium-term growth targets to financial 2023. AA also said it is "well positioned" to see Ebitda growth in financial 2020.AA's financial year ends January 31.Fed Chair Powell pledged the central bank will take appropriate actions to sustain the US economic expansion. Powell mentioned recent developments involving trade negotiations and other matters in opening remarks at a Chicago Fed conference on Tuesday, acknowledging that the Fed does not know how or when these issues will be resolved."We are closely monitoring the implications of these developments for the US economic outlook and, as always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near our symmetric 2% objective," Powell said.The rest of Powell's speech focused on longer-run issues, but the Fed chief's initial comments generated optimism about a potential interest rate cut and spurred a rally on Wall Street.Powell's comments come after St Louis Fed President James Bullard suggested in a speech on Monday that an interest rate cut "may be warranted soon" due in part to escalating global trade tensions.The Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 2.1%, the S&P 500 up 2.1% and Nasdaq Composite up 2.7%.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 closed up 1.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%, and the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.5%.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2706 early Wednesday, higher than USD1.2675 at the London equities close on Wednesday.US President Donald Trump on Tuesday promised a "phenomenal" trade deal between the UK and US on his second day of a three-day state visit to the UK. "As the UK makes preparations to exit the EU, the US is committed to a phenomenal trade deal between the US and the UK," Trump said. "There is tremendous potential in that trade deal, I say probably two and even three times what we're doing right now."The economic events calendar on Wednesday has Markit services PMI readings from France, Germany, the Eurozone and the UK at 0850 BST, 0855 BST, 0900 BST and 0930 BST, respectively.Later in the day, there is Eurozone producer price index at 1000 BST and US Markit PMI reading at 1445 BST.Already out, China's private sector activity growth moderated to a three-month low in May partly driven by softer rise in services activity, survey results published by IHS Markit revealed.The Caixin composite output index fell to 51.5 in May from 52.7 in April. Nonetheless, the score remained above 50.0 for the thirty-ninth consecutive month, suggesting continuing expansion in the sector.The services Purchasing Managers' Index dropped to a 3-month low of 52.7 in May from 54.5 in April. However, the score was consistent with a robust rise in output amid firm client demand.
UK earnings, trading statements calendar - next 7 days
Wednesday 21 September | |
Alphawave IP Group PLC | Half Year Results |
City Pub Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Dianomi PLC | Half Year Results |
Eagle Eye Solutions Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Frontier Developments PLC | Full Year Results |
Galliford Try Holdings PLC | Full Year Results |
Hostmore PLC | Half Year Results |
Ingenta PLC | Half Year Results |
Keywords Studios PLC | Half Year Results |
LBG Media PLC | Half Year Results |
MyHealthChecked PLC | Half Year Results |
Pendragon PLC | Half Year Results |
Pennant International Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Petershill Partners PLC | Half Year Results |
S4 Capital PLC | Half Year Results |
Strix Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Supermarket Income REIT PLC | Full Year Results |
Surgical Innovations Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Ten Entertainment Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Warpaint London PLC | Half Year Results |
Thursday 22 September | |
Aquis Exchange PLC | Half Year Results |
Biome Technologies PLC | Half Year Results |
Brave Bison Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Ceres Power Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Computacenter PLC | Full Year Results |
CVS Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Distribution Finance Capital Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Ebiquity PLC | Half Year Results |
Fonix Mobile PLC | Full Year Results |
Forward Partners Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Halma PLC | Trading Statement |
Hansard Global PLC | Full Year Results |
JD Sports Fashion PLC | Half Year Results |
Judges Scientific PLC | Half Year Results |
Learning Technologies Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Life Science REIT PLC | Half Year Results |
Osirium Technologies PLC | Half Year Results |
Pantheon Infrastructure PLC | Half Year Results |
PensionBee Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Playtech PLC | Half Year Results |
Polymetal International PLC | Half Year Results |
PZ Cussons PLC | Full Year Results |
Safestyle UK PLC | Half Year Results |
Time Finance PLC | Full Year Results |
Wilmington PLC | Full Year Results |
Friday 23 September | |
Biffa PLC | Trading Statement |
European Opportunities Trust PLC | Full Year Results |
Investec PLC | Trading Statement |
Smiths Group PLC | Full Year Results |
TheWorks.co.uk PLC | Full Year Results |
Monday 26 September | |
Atome Energy PLC | Half Year Results |
Chapel Down Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Concurrent Technologies PLC | Half Year Results |
CPPGroup PLC | Half Year Results |
Devolver Digital Inc | Half Year Results |
Dillistone Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Finsbury Food Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Frenkel Topping Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Immotion Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Likewise Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Microlise Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Next Fifteen Communications PLC | Half Year Results |
SpaceandPeople PLC | Half Year Results |
XLMedia PLC | Half Year Results |
Xpediator PLC | Half Year Results |
Tuesday 27 September | |
AG Barr PLC | Half Year Results |
Animalcare Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Billington Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Boku Inc | Half Year Results |
Card Factory PLC | Half Year Results |
Close Brothers Group PLC | Full Year Results |
Diaceutics PLC | Half Year Results |
Digitalbox PLC | Half Year Results |
ECSC Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Ergomed PLC | Half Year Results |
Ferguson PLC | Q4 Results and Full Year Results |
FireAngel Safety Technology Group PLC | Half Year Results |
GENinCode PLC | Half Year Results |
Instem PLC | Half Year Results |
LifeSafe Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
Medica Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Mission Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Mortgage Advice Bureau PLC | Half Year Results |
NAHL Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC | Half Year Results |
Origin Enterprises PLC | Full Year Results |
United Utilities Group PLC | Trading Statement |
Personal Group Holdings PLC | Half Year Results |
S&U PLC | Half Year Results |
Saga PLC | Half Year Results |
Serica Energy PLC | Half Year Results |
SSP Group PLC | Trading Statement |
tinyBuild Inc | Half Year Results |
Transense Technologies PLC | Full Year Results |
Yu Group PLC | Half Year Results |
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