LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening lower on Tuesday with investors taking a cautious approach ahead of key events lined up for later in the week.In company news, Sports Direct International made a revised offer to rescue struggling department store Debenhams, City Pub posted strong annual results and foreign exchange solutions provider Finablr said its was considering an initial public offering. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open down 11.19 points at 7,440.70. The blue chip index closed up 5.02 points, or 0.1%, at 7,451.89 on Monday.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.5%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%."There is a definite sense of caution which is keeping traders subdued as they shift their focus towards a busy second half to the week. The wait and see mood is expected to hang around today ahead of key events that make up a 'Super Wednesday'. These include the crucial Brexit EU summit, the ECB policy announcement and US Federal Reserve minutes. Then there is the start of the US earnings season on Friday, which could set the tone for the coming weeks," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler. United Arab Emirates-based cross-border payments and consumer solutions provider Finablr announced its intention to list on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.The company said the offer would comprise new shares to be issued by the company to raise gross proceeds of USD200 million and an offer of existing shares to be sold by certain existing shareholders.Finablr intends to use the net proceeds from the issue of the new shares in order to finance further expansion plans and reduce net debt.However, Finablr did not provide an exact date for the listing."We have tremendous opportunities ahead of us and we are well placed to capture these, through the significant investments we have made in building capabilities and the strong management team we have put in place. I am very excited about what we have built and this is the right time to consider the future growth of Finablr and whether the business would benefit from becoming a listed company," Founder Bavaguthu Shetty said. Sports Direct International said it has made a revised proposal to troubled department store chain Debenhams under which the sports equipment retailer would underwrite a GBP200 million pre-emptive equity issuance to existing Debenhams shareholders.The equity issuance is subject to a number of conditions, including the appointment of Sports Direct Founder & Chief Executive Mike Ashley as Debenhams' CEO and Debenhams' lenders agreeing to write-off GBP82 million of Debenhams' GBP720 million total debt facilities. In response, Debenhams confirmed it received Sports Direct's revised proposal and said "relevant milestones" were not met by the proposed deadline. Debenhams added that it is in talks with lenders over the availability of undrawn facilities and that Sports Direct's offer to underwrite GBP200 million equity issue was not acceptable to lenders.On Monday, Debenhams rejected the sportswear retailer's proposal to underwrite a GBP150 million equity issuance to existing Debenhams shareholders.City Pub Group said it made significant progress in developing its operations and delivered strong earnings. In 2018, the pub operator swung to pretax profit of GBP2.6 million from a GBP200,000 pretax loss recorded in the year ago period, on a revenue which rose 22% to GBP45.7 million from GBP37.4 million last year. City Pub said adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation increased 28% in 2018 to GBP7.9 million, while annual like-for-like sales was up 1.6%.The company raised its total dividend by 22% to 2.75 pence from 2.25p in 2017. "We continue to seek new sites to add to our portfolio and we have already earmarked six new pub openings for this year and are on course to meet our target of doubling the size of the estate to around 65-70 pubs by mid-2021. We believe the combination of further acquisitions, fine tuning the management of our existing estate and the benefits of our new divisional structure will enhance our performance further," said Chair Clive Watson. The pound was quoted at USD1.3085 early Tuesday, up from USD1.3040 at the London equities close Monday.UK Prime Minister Theresa May is to meet her counterparts in Berlin and Paris, a day before she is due to ask for another delay to the Brexit process at an emergency EU summit.May will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin and President Emmanuel Macron in Paris as she seeks to avoid a no-deal Brexit on Friday, when Britain is currently scheduled to exit the European Union.The prime minister has said she will ask for an extension until June 30 at Wednesday's summit of EU leaders but Brussels has already indicated it expects her to have a concrete plan in place if more time is to be granted."The pound continues its recovery versus the dollar in early trade on Tuesday. The House of Lords has passed a Bill preventing the UK from exiting without a Brexit deal. The EU is also toying with the idea of agreeing to a delay for the UK leaving the EU. These pound-positive points should keep sterling supported above USD1.30 despite the continuing Brexit chaos," London Capital's Lawler added. Still to come in the economic calendar is Italy retail sales at 0900 BST and US JOLTS job openings at 1500 BST.
5 Jul 2016 08:39
