easyJet Share News (EZJ)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Thursday after a report that Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is under pressure again from the US raised fears of worsened Sino-US trade tensions.Losses for broadcaster ITV, hotelier Whitbread and low-cost airline easyJet were weighing on the FTSE 100, offsetting gains by accounting software firm Sage and Primark parent Associated British Foods.The FTSE 100 was down 37.28 points, or 0.5%, at 6,825.40, while the FTSE 250 was 59.41 points lower, or 0.3%, at 18,427.32. The AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 904.60.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.5% at 11,587.31, while the Cboe UK 250 was 0.3% lower at 16,470.94 and the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 11,093.00.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.7%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt 0.8% was lower early Thursday.The Wall Street Journal reported that US authorities are in "advanced" stages of a criminal probe into telecom giant Huawei. The investigation, which concerns the theft of technology behind a robotic device that T-Mobile US used to test smartphones, is reportedly at an advanced stage and could lead to an indictment soon.Glenn Schloss, vice president of corporate communications at Huawei, declined to comment on the new allegations but told dpa that Huawei and T-Mobile had already settled their dispute over the robot in 2017. The fresh pressure on Huawei comes after Canadian officials arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the technology firm, at the request of US authorities late last year. In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong finished 0.7% lower.In London, accounting software firm Sage was topping the FTSE 100, up 7.9%, as it reported an encouraging start to the financial year.Organic revenue grew 7.6% in the first quarter, ended December 31. Recurring revenue was up 11%, underpinned by software subscription growth of 28%.Martin O'Sullivan, analyst at broker Shore Capital, commented: "Company-complied consensus is for full-year organic revenue growth of 5.7% in FY2019 and so another strong quarter in Q2 (aided by a relatively soft comp and Sage Business Cloud momentum) would provide further impetus for upgrades, in our view."AB Foods gained 5.5% as it backed its annual outlook following good sales growth and margin improvement at bricks-and-mortar clothing retailer Primark. Total group sales for the 16 weeks to January 5 were up 2% on last year at constant currency, while at actual exchange rates sales were up 1%. Other than an expected reduction in Sugar revenue, sales growth was delivered by all businesses, AB Foods highlighted.Sales at Primark were 4% ahead of last year, at both constant currency and actual exchange rates, and with a higher operating profit margin, profit was "well ahead". The sales growth was delivered by increased retail selling space, with like-for-like sales posting a "modest decline".UK Primark sales were up 1% on last year, with like-for-like sales in September and October ahead but reduced footfall denting performance in November. Sales over Christmas were ahead of expectations, the company added.GVC Holdings rose 3.1% after the gambling firm said it expects 2018 earnings to be ahead of market consensus after finishing the year on a strong note.In the fourth quarter, online net gaming revenue grew 15% while UK retail like-for-like sales were down 3%. Total sales for the quarter grew 5%. For 2018 as a whole, total net gaming revenue was up 9%, with online up 19%."The group's performance in 2018 has been excellent with the strong momentum reported at Q3 continuing into Q4. We are materially outperforming the market and taking share in all of our major territories," commented Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander.GVC said it expects proforma underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for 2018 ahead of expectations at between GBP750 million to GBP755 million. easyJet and ITV were among the worst performers in the FTSE 100, down 2.8% and 5.0% respectively, after suffering broker rating downgrades. Barclays cut low-cost airline easyJet to Underweight from Equal Weight, while Merrill Lynch double-downgraded broadcaster ITV to Underperform from Buy. Whitbread shed 3.9% after saying it expects to deliver annual results in line with expectations but remains cautious on the UK next year given "uncertainty and higher inflation".The hospitality firm said UK like-for-like sales were down 0.6% year-on-year in the third quarter, and down 0.7% in the year-to-date. UK total sales growth was 2.5% in the third quarter and 2.7% in the year-to-date, while UK & International sales were up 2.4% in the quarter and 2.5% year-to-date.Whitbread, which owns the Premier Inn hotel chain and recently sold its Costa Coffee coffee shop chain to Coca-Cola, said it expects underlying pretax profit in the 2020 financial year to be in line with that achieved in the current financial year.The reflects the assumption of weaker UK market revenue per available room, investment in the UK and Germany, and some "short-term operational dis-synergies" following the sale of Costa.The economic events calendar on Thursday has eurozone inflation readings at 1000 GMT and US initial and continuing jobless claims at 1330 GMT.Theresa May has survived an attempt to oust her as UK prime minister, as Members of Parliament rejected opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn's motion of no confidence in the government by a margin of 325 to 306.The prime minister's 19-vote victory came less than 24 hours after the crushing defeat of her EU Withdrawal Agreement in the House of Commons, and clears the way for her to start cross-party talks on a Brexit Plan B.After seeing down the vote, the prime minister announced she would invite party leaders in the Commons and other MPs in for discussions to get a Parliamentary consensus.But she appears to face an uphill struggle after all the opposition party leaders demanded scrapping the possibility of no-deal as a condition of progress, while Labour refused to even sit down with the PM until the concession was guaranteed.The pound was quoted at USD1.2841 early Thursday, soft compared to USD1.2867 at the London equities close on Wednesday.