(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open marginally higher on Wednesday, despite a weaker handover from Asia and New York, ahead of a slew of European services PMI prints.
PMI releases from S&P Global for the eurozone, UK and US are due at 0900 BST, 0930 BST and 1445 BST. An ISM services reading for the US is reported at 1500 BST. There is also an ADP US jobs report at 1315 BST, a precursor to Friday's nonfarm payrolls.
Already out, growth in Japan's service sector quickened last month, though Australia's fell into contraction territory.
"Given this week's weak US manufacturing ISM report, all eyes will be on today's March services ISM survey, and more notably to the prices paid and employment components, which in the manufacturing survey slowed sharply," CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson commented.
In UK company news, RS Group said it expects profit to be ahead of market consensus. Ladbrokes owner Entain has acquired a sports media company for up to USD160 million, while Franco Manca owner Fulham Shore has agreed to be acquired.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: called up 0.2% at 7,646.12
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Hang Seng: closed for Tomb Sweeping Day.
Nikkei 225: closed down 1.7% at 27,813.26
S&P/ASX 200: closed up marginally at 7,237.20
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DJIA: closed down 198.77 points, or 0.6%, at 33,402.38
S&P 500: closed down 23.91 points, or 0.6%, at 4,100.60
Nasdaq Composite: closed down 63.12 points, 0.5%, to 12,126.33
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EUR: down at USD1.0953 (USD1.0957)
GBP: down at USD1.2486 (USD1.2501)
USD: down at JPY131.51 (JPY131.83)
Gold: up at USD2,025.12 per ounce (USD2,016.62)
(Brent): up at USD85.44 a barrel (USD84.52)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS
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Wednesday's key economic events still to come:
10:00 CEST EU services PMI
11:00 CEST EU balance of payments
08:45 CEST France industrial production index
09:50 CEST France services PMI
09:55 CEST Germany services PMI
10:00 CEST Germany Ifo economic forecast
11:00 IST Ireland unemployment
09:15 CEST Spain services PMI
09:30 BST UK official reserves
09:30 BST UK services PMI
10:15 BST UK BoE Monetary Policy Committee Member Silvana Tenreyro speaks
07:00 EDT US MBA mortgage applications survey
08:15 EDT US ADP national employment report
09:45 EDT US S&P Global services PMI
10:00 EDT US ISM services PMI
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Nato foreign ministers are meeting on Wednesday for a second day of talks with freshly-minted member Finland in attendance. The Nordic country became the 31st member to join Nato after applying in the aftermath of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Nato allies are hosting representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea at alliance headquarters in Brussels to discuss China. In the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow, allies are to discuss "China's growing alignment with Russia," Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said ahead of the meeting. As well as concerns that China is considering supplying arms to Russia and Beijing's aggressive stance towards Taiwan, Nato allies are to discuss the Ukraine war's impact on the Indo-Pacific region.
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UK watchdog Ofcom is proposing referring the cloud market to the Competition & Markets Authority for an antitrust probe. Ofcom said it is "particularly concerned about the practices" of Amazon and Microsoft, cloud market leaders. "While competitive market forces are delivering benefits to customers - especially where providers are competing to attract new customers - in the form of innovative products and discounts, other features of the market give cause for concern," Ofcom said. The regulator took aim at egress fees, costs that customers pay to transfer their data out of a cloud. Ofcom also noted "technical restrictions on interoperability", meaning cloud providers making it difficult for their services working effectively with those from other providers.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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Citigroup raises Direct Line to 'buy' (sell) - price target 188 (136) pence
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Credit Suisse cuts Shell price target to 3,000 (3,500) pence - 'outperform'
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Credit Suisse cuts Anglo American price target to 2,950 (3,250) pence - 'neutral'
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain said it has bought 365scores, a sports media business, for USD150 million and contingent payments of up to USD10 million. "365scores is one of the world's leading scores and sports media companies, providing scores & sports information, editorial & social content, as well as sports-focused free-to-play games," Entain said. It added that 365scores has an audience of over 15 million active users.
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RS Group said it expects full-year adjusted operating profit to be slightly ahead of consensus expectations and revenue to be in line with estimates. The industrial and electronics products distributor said consensus for the year ended March 31, 2023, is revenue of GBP2.99 billion, adjusted operating profit of GBP382.0 million, and pretax profit of GBP373.0 million. The company said that this reflects gross margin benefits and strong cost control. "We enter 2023/24 well positioned to face the more difficult market environment. We continue to invest in our proposition to drive further market share gains while managing our cost base appropriately as we target value creating growth and are confident of the group's strategy and future prospects," RS said.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Hilton Food Group said that revenue in the year to January 1 rose 17% to GBP3.85 billion from GBP3.30 billion a year earlier. However, pretax profit fell 38% to GBP29.6 million from GBP47.4 million. The food packaging business proposed a final dividend of 22.6p, bringing the total dividend for 2022 to 29.7p, the same level as the last financial year. Hilton Food also named Steve Murrells as its new chief executive officer. Murrells will take up the role from July 3, succeeding Philip Heffer, who has decided to step back from running the company after almost 30 years with Hilton Foods, including the past five years as CEO. Heffer will remain with the business as an advisor to the Hilton Foods Board.
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Qinetiq said it has renewed its maritime strategic capability arrangement with the UK Submarine Delivery Agency for a further ten years, transitioning from its previous 15-year agreement. The GBP259 million contract also includes an option for an additional five-year extension. Nic Anderson, CEO of UK Defence, said: "The renewal of the MSCA will sustain key skills at our sites and will also reinvigorate our relationships with education and academia, supporting STEM programmes to attract the next generation of naval architects, engineers and other vital roles."
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OTHER COMPANIES
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WANdisco said that Kenneth Lever has now been formally appointed to the board as executive chair. On Monday, the Sheffield, England-based data migration platform said Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer David Richards and Chief Financial Officer Erik Miller had decided to step down, amid an investigation by FRP Advisory. At the same time, it said Non-Executive Chair Lever will move to executive chair pending the appointment of a new CEO. In March, WANdisco suspended trading in its shares after uncovering signs of possible "sophisticated" fraudulent activity, just days after it announced it was exploring a potential US listing.
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Franco Manca and The Real Greek owner Fulham Shore has agreed to a GBP93.4 million takeover. Tokyo-listed food company Toridoll Holdings will pay 14.15 pence per share, a 35% premium to Fulham Shore's Tuesday closing price. Restaurant sector-focused private equity fund Capdesia will also be involved in the deal. Toridoll's stake will eventually reduce to no less than 51%. Fulham Shore Executive Chair David Page said: "We are proud of the significant progress that Fulham Shore has made since it was founded in 2012. We are proud of our two brands, Franco Manca and The Real Greek, and the growth we have delivered for Fulham Shore. Whilst we remain excited about the prospects for the business on a standalone basis, we have been in discussions with both Toridoll and Capdesia and received a proposal that we believe is compelling for all of our stakeholders. We believe Toridoll and Capdesia's experience in successfully building restaurant businesses and their long-term vision for Fulham Shore, will enable Fulham Shore to fulfil its long-term potential."
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By Sophie Rose, Alliance News reporter
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