Croma Security Share News (CSSG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stock prices started Wednesday lower after Chinese economic data overnight showed a slightly bigger-than-expected fall in exports, while J Sainsbury shares rose after it reported a "solid start" to its financial year.

The FTSE 100-listed grocer said like-for-like retail sales in the 12 weeks to June 4 fell 0.8% excluding fuel and were down 1.0% including fuel. Total retail sales were up 0.3% excluding fuel and down 0.1% including fuel in the quarter.

But the group said it saw like-for-like transaction growth across its sales channels in the quarter, which Chief Executive Mike Coupe said marked a "solid start" for the group.

"Sainsbury's is well-positioned. Our core food business offers customers choice, quality and a clear value proposition. General merchandise and clothing continue to perform well with good sales growth across both businesses, and we continue to see encouraging results from Sainsbury's Bank, a significant opportunity for long-term growth," Coupe said.

The stock led the blue-chip gainers list early Wednesday, up 2.7%.

The FTSE 100 index itself was down 0.2%, or 12.04 points, at 6,272.49.

The blue-chip index was hit after the latest Chinese trade data reignited concerns about the world's second-largest economy, as exports declined by more than expected in May.

The General Administration of Customs said exports slid 4.1% year-over-year in May, only slightly worse than economists' expectations for a 4.0% decline but accelerating from the 1.8% fall in April. This was due to weaker overseas demand for Chinese goods.

At the same time, imports dropped 0.4% in May from a year ago, much slower than the 6.7% fall expected by economists and the 10.9% fall registered in April

The Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.3% in response. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.9% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is down 0.3%.

The FTSE 250 was down 0.2% at 17,156.20 and the AIM All-Share was flat at 744.43.

In Europe, the French CAC 40 and the German DAX 30 indices both were down 0.6%. The European Central Bank began purchasing corporate bonds Wednesday as announced in its last policy decision last Thursday.

Oil prices hung onto the gains they made overnight. Early Tuesday, Brent oil traded at USD51.34 a barrel, firm on the USD51.28 seen at the London equities close Tuesday.

This pushed Royal Dutch Shell 'A' shares up 0.6%, but BP shares gave up early gains to trade down 0.1%.

Flexible office-space provider Workspace Group hiked its dividend by 25% as it reported rises in both its property valuation and rental income over its financial year that ended March 31.

Workspace posted a final dividend of 10.19 pence per share, taking its full-year dividend to 15.05p per share, up 25% from the 12.04p per share paid for the year prior.

Net rental income rose 28% to GBP74.1 million from GBP57.7 million, driving up revenue to GBP101.2 million from GBP83.6 million, whilst Workspace's underlying property valuation increased by 21% to GBP1.78 billion from the GBP1.42 billion reported a year earlier.

The stock was the best performer in the FTSE 250, up 4.5%.

3i Infrastructure said it has raised a total of GBP385.0 million from its capital raising to fund the completion of previous investments and to fund new deals.

The infrastructure investment group said it issued 233.3 million shares at 165 pence per share to raise the funds. Shares in the company closed at 167.00p on Tuesday and trade up 2.8% at 171.70p early Wednesday.

Around GBP230.0 million of the proceeds will be used to fund the completion of investments made in Wireless Infrastructure Group and TCR, 3i Infrastructure said, with the rest to back new investment opportunities.

Henry Boot was the biggest gainer in the FTSE All-Share, up 8.3%. The land and property investor and construction company said it expects to post pretax profit for 2016 "comfortably ahead of current market expectations" in light of the high level of land sales completed since the start of the year, together with the commercial development planned for the second half.

It said that since its trading update on May 26, it has concluded two further land sales for 275 house units, one of which was ahead of schedule.

Henry Boot had originally forecast that the second land sale, which was notably larger than the first, would comprise of three separate sales across the three years ending December 31, 2018. However the sale completed on Tuesday evening, with the site sold in two parts, rather than three, in 2016 and 2017, resulting in "a materially higher total profit on disposal than had been previously anticipated".

Croma Security Solutions Group was the worst AIM All-Share performer, down 21%, after it said an administrative error resulted in its profit for the 2015 financial year being overstated.

Croma said its pretax profit for the year to the end of June 2015 was overstated to the tune of GBP142,250 due to an administrative error which meant an intercompany charge was not eliminated from the figures.

The same error means profit for the half to the end of December 2015 was overstated by GBP47,216.

Croma will make a one-off adjustment to correct the error in its results to the end of June this year, which will mean profit falls materially below expectations.

Sill ahead in the economic calendar are UK industrial and manufacturing production at 0930 BST and US mortgage applications at 1200 BST. In the afternoon, there are US JOLTS job openings and the National Institute of Economic & Social Research's UK GDP estimate, both at 1500 BST, and US EIA crude oil stocks at 1530 BST.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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