ESL.L Share News (ESL)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set for a higher open Friday, as lower air fares over the winter led Ryanair to cut its profit guidance for its current financial year. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 32 points higher at 6,866.30. The blue-chip index closed down 27.76 points, or 0.4%, at 6,834.92 on Thursday.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 1.3% higher Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 1.2% higher in late trade.On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported US officials are "debating ratcheting back tariffs" as a way to bring some calm to markets and give China an incentive to make further concessions."Only yesterday we were discussing the weaker sentiment from increased US-Sino tensions, as the US took aim at Huawei. Overnight rumours went into reverse," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler."Talk of easing tensions were helping lift riskier assets. It seems almost impossible to sensibly gauge where US-China relations stand. Yet the market hangs on each headline, highlighting just how sensitive it is to the ongoing trade issue.""Last night, Wall Street surged higher on reports US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is pushing for rolling back some tariffs levied on Chinese imports. Trade tensions have been weighing on investor sentiment for months, dragging equity, and more specifically industrials, on a roller coaster ride," he added. In the US on Thursday Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending 0.7% higher, the S&P 500 0.8% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.In early UK corporate news, Irish budget airline Ryanair has reduced its profit guidance, blaming lower fares over the winter period.For its financial year ending March, Ryanair is guiding for profit after tax between EUR1.0 billion and EUR1.1 billion. Its prior guidance range was EUR1.1 billion to EUR1.2 billion.Profit after tax in its previous financial year was EUR1.5 billion, meaning profit will be down as much as 50% in financial 2019. The previous year's figure had been up 10% on financial 2017.Winter fares are expected to fall 7%, Ryanair said, compared to prior guidance of 2%.However, the company did guide 9% growth in traffic to 142 million passengers in the current year, stronger ancillary sales, and a "slightly" better second-half unit cost performance so far.Profit guidance excludes expected EUR140 million start-up losses from Austrian budget carrier Lauda.Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said: "While we are disappointed at this slightly lower full-year guidance, the fact it is the direct result of lower-than-expected second-half air fares, offset by stronger than expected traffic growth, a better-than-expected performance on unit cost and ancillary sales is positive for the medium term." In the FTSE 100, Rio Tinto had a "pleasing" operational performance in the last quarter of 2018, with copper production a particular highlight.Pilbara iron ore shipments of 87.4 million tonnes in the fourth quarter were down 3% on a year ago, but 7% higher than the third quarter of 2018. For 2018 as a whole, shipments totalled 338.2 million tonnes, up 2% on 2017.Bauxite production in 2018 of 50.4 million tonnes was down 1% on last year, while aluminium production of 3.5 million tonnes was down 3%. Mined copper was up 33% year-on-year at 633,500 tonnes and titanium dioxide slag was down 15% at 1.1 million tonnes.Aluminium output fell due to ongoing labour disruptions at the non-managed Becancour smelter in Canada, Rio Tinto said, while copper came in above guidance due to a strong performance Escondida in Chile and higher grades at Rio Tinto Kennecott in Utah.Safety, health, and environmental technology firm Halma has bought Rath Communications for USD32.6 million in cash. Rath provides emergency communication systems for Refuge Areas in the US. In the FTSE 250, IT firm Sophos reported 2% growth in constant currency billings for the third quarter ended December, with growth also 2% in the nine months year-to-date.Sophos said "continued subdued performance" is partly due to a strong comparative period a year prior, and it expects trends in the third quarter to continue into the quarter ending March. Revenue is up 14% year-to-date, with subscription revenue 18% higher year-to-date and up 15% in the third quarter year-on-year at constant currency. Adjusted operating profit more than doubled year-to-date, Sophos said, due to strong revenue growth while it has posted a year-to-date operating profit of USD51 million from a loss of USD25 million year-on-year. Fresh and prepared food firm Bakkavor said revenue for its that year ended December 29 rose 2.2%, and 3.2% like-for-like, with "good" progress made across the company. In the UK, despite weak consumer confidence, like-for-like revenue increased 1.8%. Internationally, like-for-like revenue climbed 16% due to "good" volume growth. Overall, Bakkavor said this is a "robust" performance with expectations for the recently completed year unchanged. Elsewhere, property and construction firm Henry Boot said real estate activity met expectations for 2018. Excluding a one-off pension provision, it would have beaten expectations. This came despite "more challenging" conditions, Henry Boot said, with Brexit uncertainty hurting the real estate market in the UK.The company's Hallam Land Management business did "exceptionally well", Henry Boot said, though uncertainty did hinder the performance of the Developments arm. Eddie Stobart Logistics posted 35% growth in revenue for its year ended November to around GBP843 million, beating market expectations. Like-for-like revenue rose 18%.Eddie Stobart won GBP162 million of new contracts for the year, while margins have improved and are expected to improve further in its current financial year.Underlying earnings before interest and tax are guided to meet market expectations. Back in the US, President Donald Trump has retaliated against his rival, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, saying he was postponing her planned trip to Belgium and Afghanistan, citing the ongoing partial shutdown of the US federal government.Shortly thereafter, the White House said the US administration's delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos would not head to Switzerland for the annual gathering of world leaders and business elites next week. The measures add to the turmoil of the shutdown, which is now in its fourth week, with no sign of it ending, despite increasing warnings about the impact on the economy and the functionality of the federal government. UK Prime Minister Theresa May also has cancelled her planned attendance at Davos, as she battles to save her Brexit deal. "She won't be going to Davos," a Downing Street spokeswoman told dpa by telephone. "She will be staying to deal with other issues here."Other government officials will still represent the UK in Davos, the spokeswoman added.In the UK on Friday are retail sales figures for December at 0930 GMT."In November UK retail sales surged 1.4%, surpassing the most optimistic of expectations, largely as a result of Black Friday promotions and discounting," noted CMC's Hewson."The picture for December is unlikely to be anywhere near as good and given other similar surveys its quite likely that any spending could well have been left quite late, if it came at all," he continued.The pound was higher quoted at USD1.2965 early Friday, compared to USD1.2920 at the London equities close on Thursday.The international economic events calendar on Friday has eurozone current account numbers at 0900 GMT.