James Fisher and Sons Share News (FSJ)

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set to open broadly flat on Friday, following subdued trading in Asia and a holiday for Wall Street, as investors await the reopening of New York and the US jobs report for June.In early UK company news, SIG reported a decline in revenue in the first half of 2019, while James Fisher & Sons named a new boss. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 3.92 points higher at 7,607.50 on Friday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 5.74 points on Thursday, at 7,603.58.Sterling was quoted at USD1.2581 early Friday, flat compared to USD1.2578 at the London equities close on Thursday. The pound has lost ground this week, beginning the week trading near to the USD1.27 mark.On the London Stock Exchange, building materials supplier SIG reported a 3.8% decline in like-for-like revenue for the six months to the end of June. The FTSE 250-listed company said it saw a 13% fall in like-for-like revenue in the UK & Ireland, due to reduced level of construction activity. However, SIG highlighted that its business in this region has now completed its transition to a smaller and more focused base, resulting in higher gross margins and lower costs. Meanwhile, in Mainland Europe like-for-like revenue in the first half was 3.3% higher year-on-year.In addition, SIG said it sold WeGo FloorTec to fellow London-listed building materials firm Kingspan Group. The transaction follows a review of SIG's peripheral businesses. There remains one further peripheral business under review in SIG's portfolio, it said.The WeGo FloorTec sale is expected to complete "shortly", the company said, and the proceeds of about GBP12 million from Kingspan are expected to be used to reduce headline financial leverage."The board continues to believe that underlying profitability for the full year will be delivered in line with its expectations," SIG said in its statement Friday. Marine engineer James Fisher & Sons has appointed Eoghan O'Lionaird to replace outgoing Chief Executive Nick Henry, who has been with the company for 15 years. Henry will remain employed by James Fisher until the end of March 2020, while O'Lionaird will join the company on September 1.O'Lionaird has been a divisional CEO at his current employer, Spectris, a FTSE 250 company supplying precision instrumentation and controls. Prior to joining Spectris, O'Lionaird held senior management roles at sciences and diagnostics firm Danaher Corp and health technology company Royal Philips Electronics.Turning to the mining sector, iron ore pellet maker Ferrexpo has reported an 11% rise in second quarter production on the first quarter, to 2.8 million pellets, with first half output up 5.3% year-on-year.The mid-cap company's first half sales are set to rise 4% on the year before to around 5.0 million tonnes, while Ferrexpo also reiterated 2019 production guidance of 10.6 million tonnes. In 2019, pellet output was 10.5 million.Interim cashflow has been strong, Ferrexpo said, due to a 29% rise in pellet prices during the first half, while it has also reduced net debt.Gold miner Acacia Mining, meanwhile, reported "significant" increases in mineral reservices at its Gokona mine in Tanzania.Mineral reserves as at the end of May increased by 13% to 1.3 million ounces of gold. In comparison, year-end 2018 mineral resource stood at 1.1 million ounces of gold. The increase was primarily driven by the successful additional drilling on the East and West extension at Gokona, Acacia said. In Asia on Friday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.1% higher.Financial markets in the US will reopen on Friday, after being closed for the Independence Day public holiday on Thursday. The closely watched US jobs report for June is released at 1330 BST."Today's US payrolls report has the potential to upset the apple cart when it comes to whether or not we can expect to see a Fed rate cut later this month, and if we do whether it will be 25 or 50 basis points," explained CMC Markets Chief Market Analyst Michael Hewson.Back in May, the US Labour Department reported slowdown in the pace of US job growth, with the small 75,000 rise, which was below analysts' expectations of 185,000 rise. A weaker-than-expected figure in June could increase the likelihood of a rate cut by Federal Reserve."If today's payrolls numbers do rebound strongly from the 75,000 in May, with 160,000 expected, and wages edge higher to 3.2%, it will become much more difficult for the central bank to justify cutting rates, despite the pressure from the markets and President Trump," added Hewson.The economic events calendar on Friday also has UK Halifax house prices at 0830 BST.