LONDON (Alliance News) - Bright sunshine in London Friday after a difficult week for markets. Shares have opened higher following positive leads from Asia and Wall Street.
Brighter still for Rare Earth Minerals, up 28%, and Bacanora Minerals, up 43%, who said their Sonora lithium project in Northern Mexico has signed a lithium supply deal with Tesla Motors, the US electric sports car company.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6,219.53
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 16,994.69
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 729.02
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Hang Seng: up 0.7% at 21,981.17
Nikkei 225: closed up 3.0% at 19,136.32
DJIA: closed up 2.3% at 16,654.77
S&P 500: closed up 2.4% at 1,987.66
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GBP: flat at USD1.5414
EUR: up at USD1.1271
GOLD: up at USD1,130.40 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD47.90 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)
US Jackson Hole Symposium
09:00 Italy Consumer and Business Confidence
09:30 UK Gross Domestic Product
10:00 Italy Wage Inflation
10:00 EU Consumer and Business Confidence
11:00 Ireland Retail Sales
13:00 Germany Consumer Price Index
13:30 US Personal Income and Spending
13:30 Canada Industrial Product and Raw Material prices
15:00 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
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Consumer confidence in the UK jumped in August, data collecting website GfK said, as its index climbed to a reading of +7. That beat forecasts for +4, which would have been unchanged from the July reading. It also matched the June figure as a 15-year high. "Rising house price inflation and improving employment growth prospects, combined with falling petrol prices and day-to-day living costs, as well as low interest rates, are translating into high levels of confidence across all major measures," said Joe Staton, head of market dynamics at GfK.
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Profits earned by Chinese industrial enterprises decreased in July after rising in the previous month, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Industrial profits fell 2.9% year-over-year to CNY471.56 billion in July following a 0.3% rise in the preceding month. The agency said the fall in industrial profit for the month was impacted by a slowdown in industrial production and sales growth, a decline in industrial producer prices and raw material purchase price, and a fall in investment income.
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Nationwide consumer prices in Japan added 0.2% on year in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said - matching forecasts and slowing from 0.4% in June. Overall core consumer prices, which exclude the volatile costs of food, were flat on month. That beat expectations for a decline of 0.2% following the 0.1% gain in the previous month. On a monthly basis, overall inflation eased 0.1% and core CPI was flat.
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The unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.3% in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That was below forecasts for 3.4%, which would have been unchanged from the June reading.
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Switzerland's economy recovered unexpectedly in the second quarter on the back of spending and investment, data published by the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showed. Gross domestic product grew 0.2% sequentially in the second quarter, offsetting a 0.2% fall in the prior quarter. Economists had forecast a 0.1% fall. On a yearly basis, the economy expanded 1.2%, the same rate of growth as seen in the prior quarter. The rate was forecast to slow to 0.9%.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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UBS CUTS DEBENHAMS TO 'SELL' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 70 (90) PENCE
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UBS RAISES DUNELM GROUP TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 1020 (905) PENCE
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TRADERS: CREDIT SUISSE RAISES INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: CITIGROUP RAISES DAILY MAIL TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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The Sage Group said a claim for damages made by former shareholders of software firm MYOB Group Ltd, in relation to Sage pulling out of a deal to buy MYOB from Australian private equity firm Archer Capital in 2011, has been dismissed on all counts. The software company said it will now be taking steps to recover the costs it incurred during the legal proceedings.
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Advertising and marketing giant WPP said its MediaCom subsidiary has acquired a minority stake in Australia's Rapid Media Services. Rapid Media Services is a media communications agency with offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and the Gold Coast. It has been affiliated with MediaCom in Australia since 2001. No financial details on the deal were disclosed.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Jimmy Choo reported a huge rise in profit in the first half of 2015 as revenue grew in its retail division and it booked lower exceptional costs and capital expenditure. The luxury shoe, handbag and accessories maker said it made a GBP20.2 million pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, multiplying from the GBP1.3 million profit it made in the first half of 2014.
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Property, residential, construction and services company Kier Group said it has been retained by Scape Group as the sole contractor on its GBP1.5 billion book of construction and maintenance work to take place over the next four years. FTSE 250-listed Kier said the Scape National Minor Works framework covers the whole of the UK and delivers schemes valued between GBP50,000 and GBP4.0 million, ranging from refurbishment and maintenance to new construction projects. Scape is the local authority-owned public sector works company.
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Computacenter said it expects its 2015 adjusted profit performance to be slightly ahead of its original expectations due to a boost from one-off gains, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for the first half of 2015. The IT services company reported pretax profit of GBP70.7 million, up significantly from GBP18.0 million a year before, despite revenue declining slightly to GBP1.44 billion from GBP1.46 billion, boosted by a GBP42.2 million gain from its sale of its recycling business R.D Trading Ltd in February. Computacenter proposed an interim dividend of 6.4 pence, compared to 5.9p the previous year. On a pro-forma basis, taking into account a share consolidation, the company's interim dividend in the previous year was 6.7p.
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Business services company Rentokil Initial said it has expanded its pest control business with the acquisition of Chicago-based Anderson Pest Solutions. Rentokil said the deal is in line with its strategy of pursuing growth in its pest control business and will help it build its customer base, particularly in the Chicago metropolitan area. No financial details were disclosed on the deal.
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Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment said it made a profit in the first half of 2015, having suffered a loss in the first half of 2014, even though revenue was hit by the introduction of VAT in some EU countries and a tough comparative period which included the football World Cup. The online gaming company said it made a pretax profit in the six months ended June 30 of EUR3.1 million, after it made a EUR100.4 million loss in the same period the year before, but revenue declined to EUR296.5 million from EUR317.1 million. Bwin.Party is in talks with smaller peers 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings regarding a possible takeover of the company. "Whilst discussions with GVC are continuing, there has been no change to the board's recommendation for 888's offer," Bwin.Party said. The company said it will pay an interim dividend of 1.92 pence, up 2% on the 1.89p it paid the prior year.
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Rotork said it has agreed a GBP125.0 million deal to acquire Manchester-based pneumatic and hydraulic instrument valves and components company Bifold Group. The FTSE 250 actuators and flow control products manufacturer said Bifold has leading positions in a number of niche sectors, including subsea and wellhead control systems. It will be integrated into Rotork's instruments division following the acquisition. Rotork will pay GBP115.0 million in cash upon closure of the agreement, with a further GBP10.0 deferred. It said it will finance the acquisition with new committed debt facilities.
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The Restaurant Group reported growth in profit in the first half of 2015 as it achieved strong trading in each of its brands and business areas and said that the company is set for continued strong growth for the remainder of the year. The restaurant operator said its pretax profit in the 26 weeks ended June 28 rose 10% to GBP36.9 million from GBP33.7 million in the same period the year before, as revenue grew 8% to GBP334 million from GBP308 million. The Restaurant Group will pay an interim dividend of 6.8 pence, an 11.5% rise on the 6.1p it paid the prior year.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Rare Earth Minerals and Bacanora Minerals said their Sonora lithium project in Northern Mexico has signed a lithium supply deal with Tesla Motors, the US-based electric sports car and energy storage products company. On condition that the Sonora project reaches certain performance milestones in the next two years, Tesla will buy lithium hydroxide to feed the manufacturing of batteries at its Gigafactory in Nevada. The supply deal is for an initial five years, starting from when Tesla makes its first order, with an option for this to be extended by another five years.
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Goldman Sachs-backed motor insurer Hastings is preparing for an autumn flotation in London which could value the company at up to GBP1 billion, the Financial Times reported. Gary Hoffman, the former chief of Northern Rock who heads up Hastings, said the group's rise in pretax profit for the first half of 2015 showed the company had its "eye on the ball", even as its rivals warned about rising claims costs. The FT said Hastings has not yet made a firm decision on whether or not it will seek to list.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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Apple will hold a media event on September 9 at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California, where it is expected to unveil the latest iPhone, a new Apple TV set-top box and other updated products. The reports indicated that the latest smartphones will look similar to the current iPhone 6 models, with 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, along with an improved camera and faster processor. A new feature called Force Touch - first introduced in the Apple Watch - is also expected to be added, which will let users navigate through features by pressing down on the screen.
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Google has rejected the EU's charges that it abused its market power and the demand that it change the way it ranks online comparison shopping services in its search results, setting up a potentially long legal battle with the EU regulator empowered to levy billions of euros in fines. Google argued that the EU's charges fail to take into account the fast growth of companies such as Amazon and eBay that the company says pose a new competitive threat, which undercuts the case that it has harmed comparison shopping companies.
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Japanese trading major Mitsubishi Corp said it will pay JPY130 billion to acquire a 20% stake in Singapore agri-business giant Olam International Ltd to expand its business abroad. The acquisition will enable Mitsubishi to appoint up to two executives to serve on Olam's board, the company said in a statement. Olam, founded in Nigeria in 1989, has operated in 65 countries and deals in some 44 products, including coffee, cocoa and nuts. The company has a strong raw materials and food processing base in Africa, Mitsubishi said. In 2014, Mitsubishi acquired an 80% stake in Olam's grains company in Australia.
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Stagecoach
Biofrontera
Fastnet Oil and Gas
Fulham Shore
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
11 Apr 2016 15:04
