Essentra Share News (ESNT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called for a higher open on Friday despite the start of US tariffs on Chinese goods, in a fairly thin morning for UK company news. Among the large caps, Rolls Royce has sold its Commercial Marine business while in the FTSE 250, BCA Marketplace confirmed Apax Partners will not be making an offer for the company. In other M&A news, satellite firm Inmarsat has rejected a second proposal from EchoStar Corp, though the latter said it is continuing to engage with Inmarsat over a deal. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 32 points higher at 76,320.60. The blue chip index closed 0.4% higher, or 30.13 points, at 7,603.22 on Thursday. "The dollar may well find the bigger news today will be from the increasing trade tensions, rather than the non-farm payrolls," said Jasper Lawler of London Capital Group."With trade tariffs due to start today, investors will be listening carefully for any fresh rhetoric aggravating the situation or indeed any sign of either country, US or China stepping down, which seems incredibly unlikely at this late stage, but with Trump at the helm you never know!", Lawler added.The pound was quoted at USD1.3229 against the dollar Friday from USD1.3214 at the London equities close Thursday. Punitive US tariffs on USD34 billion of Chinese imports took effect Friday in an opening salvo that threatens to launch a full-blown trade war between the world's two largest economies.The 25% tariffs target a range of goods including semiconductor chips and machinery parts. China has responded with retaliatory duties of 25% on the same amount of US products. China said it has been forced to "counterattack" after the US enacted punitive tariffs on USD34 billion worth of Chinese goods on Friday.The US has begun the "biggest trade war in history," which will hurt the global value chain, roil markets and harm global economic growth, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said Friday."The Chinese side promised not to fire the first shot, but in order to defend the core interests of the country and the people, we were forced to make the necessary counterattack," it said.In the FTSE 100 index, jet engine maker Rolls-Royce said it has agreed to sell its Commercial Marine business to Kongsberg for a total of GBP500 million.Net proceeds for Rolls-Royce will be between GBP350 million and GBP400 million, and the sale comes after the company launched a review into the business in January. Rolls-Royce said the proceeds will be used for the "resilience" of its balance sheet and to provide funds to pursue other opportunities. In the midcaps, EchoStar said satellite firm Inmarsat has rejected a second takeover proposal, though it is continuing to attempt to talk to Inmarsat over a deal.Under the second proposal, Inmarsat shareholders would have got 265 pence in cash per share and 0.0777 new EchoStar Class A common stock. EchoStar would also offer USD296,225 in both cash and shares to holders of Inmarsat's 3.875% convertible bonds due in 2023, meaning the total offer for Inmarsat, including the bonds, would be GBP3.2 billion.Inmarsat shares closed flat at 526p each on Thursday, giving it a market capitalisation of GBP2.43 billion. The latest proposal is, however, well above Inmarsat's 363p price at the end of May before the first proposal was made. BCA Marketplace noted neither Apax Partners nor any funds advised by Apax plan on making an offer for the company, following a statement by Apax confirming it would not make a bid. In mid-June, private equity firm Apax said it was considering an offer for used vehicle marketplace BCA, with the latter rejected a preliminary all-cash offer from Apax in May. Fibre and plastic products firm Essentra announced a small acquisition - it has bought Swedish plastic caps and plugs maker Nolato Hertila for GBP4.9 million. Chief Executive Paul Forman said: "The acquisition of Hertila is a further example of our Components division strategy being put into action, following on from the Micro Plastics transaction at the end of last year, where the integration is in line with expectations. "As a leading provider of caps and plugs, Hertila strengthens one of our core product ranges, adds valuable injection moulding capability in Northern Europe and provides attractive opportunities for cross-selling, making it a great strategic fit with our own business."Elsewhere, Acacia Mining reported a "strong" operating performance in the second quarter of the year, though gold production fell 36% year-on-year due to reduced work at Bulyanhulu and to stockpile processing at its Buzwagi mine. Gold production totaled 133,778 ounces for the three months to the end of June, up from 208,533 ounces a year prior. North Mara gold output rose 3% year-on-year, while Buzwagi's fell 44%. At Bulyanhulu, all production of gold is still from tailings retreatment. Cash at the end of June stood at USD120 million, increasing by USD13 million from the figure three months earlier. In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher all round, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending 0.8% higher, the S&P 500 0.9% up, and Nasdaq Composite ending 1.1% higher.The Federal Reserve intends to press ahead with interest rate hikes despite mounting concerns about a possible trade war, according to the minutes of the Fed's June meeting.At that meeting, the Fed raised rates and projected four rate increases in 2018 instead of three previously planned. The central bank, however, maintained its outlook for three rate hikes in 2019."Negative risks to economy from US trade policy have intensified," the minutes showed.Still, "The information reviewed for the June 12-13 meeting indicated that labour market conditions continued to strengthen in recent months, and that real gross domestic product appeared to be rising at a solid rate in the first half of the year."Coming up in the US economic calendar on Friday is a report on employment from the Labor Department at 1330 BST, with employment expected to increase by 195,000 jobs in June and unemployment to remain at 3.8%. In the UK, permanent job placement growth moderated at the end of the second quarter, the Report on Jobs published by IHS Markit and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation showed Friday.Permanent staff appointments increased markedly in May, but the pace of expansion was the softest seen in eight months. Temporary billings expanded at the weakest rate in three months.US investment bank JPMorgan Chase is set to begin moving jobs to continental Europe as Britain prepares to leave the EU.Several dozen workers, mostly in the company's customer service and risk management departments, will be relocated, a company representative said on Thursday.The total number of jobs affected will depend on what kind of deal - if any - Britain ends up making with the EU on the terms of its exit, the company said.In Germany, industrial production recovered at a faster than expected pace in May, data from Destatis revealed.Industrial output grew 2.6% month-on-month in May, reversing a revised 1.3% drop in April. Output was forecast to grow marginally by 0.3%. The economic events calendar on Friday has UK Halifax House Price Index data at 0830 BST and US EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report at 1530 BST.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.1% early Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is 0.8% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.8% higher.