Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
----------
COMPANIES
----------
London Stock Exchange Group posted a revenue rise, though higher expenses meant the company could not improve interim profit. The stock exchange and clearing operator and index calculator added it is making progress with its Refinitiv acquisition, after getting the green light from US regulators. But LSEG said it is in talks to potentially sell its Borsa Italiana arm, as a European Commission probe into the Refinitiv takeover continues. Revenue in the six months to June 30 climbed 3.9% to GBP1.06 billion but pretax profit slipped 0.3% to GBP362 million from GBP363 million, with expenses up 16% at GBP526 million.The six-month period was marked by volatility in equity markets due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
----------
NatWest Group, previously known as Royal Bank of Scotland Group, continued a common theme among the big UK banks, reporting a loss for the first half of 2020 following a sharp rise in impairment losses. In the six months to June 30, NatWest sunk to an operating pretax loss of GBP770 million compared to a GBP2.69 billion profit a year before. NatWest recorded a loss attributable to shareholders of GBP705 million from a GBP2.04 billion profit a year before. Impairment losses totalled GBP2.86 billion in the first half, versus GBP323 million a year prior. The FTSE 100-listed lender upped its impairment provisions at the end of the first half to GBP6.1 billion from GBP4.2 billion at the end of March and GBP3.7 billion at the end of 2019. Profit before impairment losses was GBP2.09 billion, down from GBP3.02 billion the year before.
----------
International Consolidated Airlines Group said it swung to a loss in its first half as the malaise in the travel sector continued in its second quarter. It also confirmed an equity raise and announced a successor for Chair Antonio Vazquez. IAG said revenue for the three months to June 30 was GBP703 million, plunging 89% year-on-year. Its pretax loss for the quarter was GBP2.32 billion, swinging from a profit of GBP921 million. Looking ahead, Chief Executive Willie Walsh said: "We continue to expect that it will take until at least 2023 for passenger demand to recover to 2019 levels." IAG also confirmed plans to raise EUR2.75 billion from a pre-emptive share subscription. Largest shareholder Qatar Airways, with a 25% stake, has backed IAG's plans to bolster its coffers and has proposed two directors to join IAG'S board as non-executive directors. IAG said Chair Antonio Vazquez - who reached nine years in office last January - will retire early January 2021. He will be succeeded by Independent Director Javier Ferran.
----------
British American Tobacco posted higher interim profit as its previous year included a charge relating to a class action lawsuit in Canada, while revenue grew despite travel-related hit to cigarette volumes. BAT reported a GBP4.59 billion pretax profit for the six months ended June 30, up 19% from the previous year. This was driven mostly by "charges in respect of the Quebec class action" in 2019, which amounted to GBP436 million and did not repeat in 2020. BAT was one of three tobacco companies that lost an appeal in Quebec in March 2019 against a CAD15.6 billion, around GBP8.9 billion, judgement against them in class action lawsuits that had been running for some 20 years. Revenue increased by 0.8% to GBP12.27 billion in the first half of 2020 from GP12.17 billion in the first half of 2019.
----------
MARKETS
----------
The FTSE 100 lagged its European peers on Friday morning, amid a stronger pound - which hurts overseas earnings - and a 7.6% decline for British Airways owner IAG. The FTSE 250 and the AIM All-Share surged however, with CMC Markets analyst David Madden noting that "traders have adopted a risk-on strategy this morning, even though the risks in relation to the pandemic are higher". LSEG was up 1.9%.
----------
FTSE 100: down 0.14 point at 5,989.14
FTSE 250: up 0.7% at 17,141.49
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.7% at 888.22
GBP: up at USD1.3134 (USD1.3036)
EUR: up at USD1.1861 (USD1.1781)
Gold: up at USD1,976.18 per ounce (USD1,941.55)
Oil (Brent): up at USD43.30 a barrel (USD42.72)
(changes since previous London equities close)
----------
ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
----------
The eurozone's economy suffered a heavy fall in the second quarter, as the Covid-19 crisis deepened, forcing member states to impose lockdowns. Gross domestic product in the euro single-currency area dropped 12% quarter-on-quarter, according to flash estimates Eurostat, and by 15% annually. It follows the first quarter when GDP sank 3.6% quarter-on-quarter and 3.1% annually. "These were by far the sharpest declines observed since time series started in 1995," Eurostat said Consensus, according to FX Street, was for a 14.5% annual fall in the second quarter and a 12% quarterly decline. In the whole of the European Union, GDP fell 12% quarter-on-quarter and 14.4% annually.
----------
UK house prices returned to growth in July after a decline in June amid the easing of lockdown restrictions, Nationwide reported. House prices grew 1.5% in July on a year before, with prices up 1.7% month-on-month. In June, prices had slipped by 0.1% annually and had fallen 1.4% on a monthly basis. "The rebound in activity reflects a number of factors. Pent up demand is coming through, where decisions taken to move before lockdown are progressing," said Chief Economist Robert Gardner. "Behavioural shifts may be boosting activity, as people reassess their housing needs and preferences as a result of life in lockdown," added Gardner. Nationwide said these trends look set to continue in the near term, further boosted by the recently announced stamp duty holiday, which will serve to bring some activity forward.
----------
People from different households in Greater Manchester, parts of east Lancashire and West Yorkshire have been banned from meeting each other inside their homes or in gardens following a spike in virus cases. The new rules also ban members of two different households from mixing in pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues, but these businesses will remain open for those visiting individually or from the same household. The UK government said it will give police forces and councils powers to enforce the new rules – adding that some exemptions will be put in place, including for the vulnerable. Health Secretary Matt Hancock said "households gathering and not abiding by the social-distancing rules" was a reason for the stricter rules, announced late on Thursday evening, and that the move was in order to "keep the country safe".
----------
Factory activity in China edged upwards in July as the country's manufacturing sector gathered pace after a sharp coronavirus hit and demand gradually rebounded, according to official data. China's closely watched purchasing managers' index, a key gauge of manufacturing activity, has bounced back after measures to curb the coronavirus caused a dramatic plunge in February, and performed better than expected over the last month. The PMI of the world's second-largest economy came in at 51.1 points in July, up from 50.9 the month before. This is better than the analyst expectations reflected in a Bloomberg poll, which forecast 50.9. Any figure above the 50-point mark represents growth rather than contraction. Non-manufacturing PMI came in at 54.2 points, down from 54.4 in June and slightly worse than expected. Zhao Qinghe, senior statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics, said production had "generally rebounded" and demand had "gradually warmed up".
----------
Japan's industrial production climbed 2.7% in June from the previous month for the first rise in five months, while its unemployment rate edged down, the government said. The reading in industrial production was better than the median forecast of a 1.1% increase by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei Business Daily, following an 8.9% fall in May. However, compared with the same month last year, industrial production plunged 18% in June amid the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry said.
----------
Copyright 2020 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
