Ibstock Share News (IBST)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Having traded firmly in the red for most on Monday, stocks in London managed to largely pare their losses ahead of a week dominated by central bank updates.Gains for GVC Holdings and St James's Place were countered by a drag from National Grid in the FTSE 100, while Hiscox and Senior managed to balance a 13% fall for Ibstock."US and European markets have started the week in an unconvincing fashion, but there are a plethora of economic and corporate reports to drive things later in the week," said IG market analyst Joshua Mahony.To come in the week ahead are interest rate decisions from the Bank of Japan, US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England."Amid all the months of intense scrutiny surrounding the Bank of England, the potentially gamechanger of the week comes from the Bank of Japan, where any monetary tightening would mark an incredible change of tack from a central bank presiding over an economy with a headline inflation of 0.8% and negative growth," Mahony added.The FTSE 100 index closed just 0.46 of a point lower at 7,700.85 on Monday - having dipped to a intraday low of 7,659.91 earlier in the session. The FTSE 250 also ended flat, gaining just 9.31 points to close at 20,878.25 and the AIM All-Share closed down 0.5%, or 5.58 points, at 1,096.29.The Cboe UK 100 ended flat at 13,060.81, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.2% at 18,981.95, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.4% at 12,387.62.The pound was quoted at USD1.3146 at the London equities close Monday, firm compared to USD1.3121 at the close on Friday.In UK data on Monday, mortgage approvals increased to a five-month high in June of 65,619, from 64,684 in May.Bank of England data showed that secured lending increased by GBP3.9 billion after rising GBP3.8 billion in May. At the same time, consumer credit grew by GBP1.6 billion, the same as seen in May.In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.4%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.5%.Germany's consumer price inflation slowed slightly more than expected to a three-month low in July. The consumer price index advanced 2% year-on-year, expected to remain unchanged at June's 2.1%.On a monthly basis, consumer prices gained 0.3% versus the expected rise of 0.4%. The harmonized index of consumer prices for Germany, which is calculated for European purposes, climbed at a steady pace of 2.1% as expected.Meanwhile, eurozone economic confidence continued its downward trend, hitting the lowest level in almost a year in July.The economic sentiment index dropped slightly to 112.1 in July from 112.3 in the previous month, in line with economist expectations. Broadly unchanged euro-area economic sentiment resulted from decreases in industry and retail trade confidence, which were offset by an increase in the services sector, EU said.The euro stood at USD1.1714 at the European equities close Monday, up against USD1.1657 at the same time on Friday.Stocks in New York were lower at the London equities close, with the DJIA down 0.1%, the S&P 500 index down 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite sinking 1.1%. US construction and mining equipment maker Caterpillar was up 1.6% in New York on Monday after it said second-quarter profit more than doubled from last year. Profit attributable to shareholders for the second-quarter more than doubled to USD1.71 billion, or USD2.82 per share, from USD802 million, or USD1.35 per share, in the previous year.Total sales and revenue for the second-quarter grew 24% to USD14.01 billion, from USD11.33 billion in the second quarter of 2017. The increase was primarily due to higher sales volume driven by improved demand across the three primary segments, with the largest increase in Construction Industries, Caterpillar said. Brent oil was quoted at USD74.92 a barrel at the London equities close Monday from USD74.63 late Friday.Gold was quoted at USD1,223.87 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,224.40 at the close on Friday.Ending as the best performer in the FTSE 100 on Monday was gaming firm GVC Holdings, closing up 5.5%.The Ladbrokes owner first announced over the weekend it was in "advanced" discussions with MGM over a possible deal, then on Monday announced it had entered a joint venture with the US casino operator to form a "leading sports betting and interactive gaming platform".The 50-50 joint venture, which has been made possible by a loosening of US sports betting regulation in May by the Supreme Court, sees both companies committing an initial USD100 million each."This is clearly the 'big and bold' deal that GVC had intimated. While a B2B agreement would have been closer to what we had been expecting, and with a safer profile, a 50/50 JV would enable GVC to benefit from a much larger profit pool in future," said Roberta Ciaccia, analyst at Berenberg.St James's Place and Wm Morrison Supermarkets both received a boost from broker rating upgrades on Monday as they ended up 2.8% and 1.2%, respectively.Exane BNP raised wealth management firm St James's to Outperform from Neutral, while UBS lifted its rating on grocer Morrisons to Buy from Neutral.Blue-chip insurers were higher, with Aviva finishing 1.4% higher and RSA Insurance also up 1.4%. Both were buoyed as mid-cap peer Hiscox managed to beat expectations, with half-year profit climbing 28% to USD163.6 million.Hiscox - ending up 8.1% as the best performer in the FTSE 250 - said gross premiums written increased 21% to USD2.23 billion from USD1.84 billion a year prior, as net premiums earned rose to USD1.28 billion from USD1.18 billion with a group combined ratio of 87.9%, improved from 90.8% a year earlier.Just behind Hiscox in the FTSE 250 was Senior, closing up 7.4% as the engineer reported a sharp 31% rise in interim pretax profit to GBP31.4 million. This profit growth outstripped revenue, which increased 3% year-on-year to GBP523.3 million.Ibstock slumped 13% at the other end of the mid-cap index, as the brick maker warned on its annual earnings.For the first half of 2018, Ibstock said it expects its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation to be around GBP58 million, down from the GBP59.7 million recorded a year prior. This, Ibstock said, is due to the impact of weather during the first half as well as higher energy costs.Further, the FTSE 250-listed company said its UK brick factories have been operating at either full or very nearly full capacity, but in recent months, especially July, production has missed expectations. It is planning a year-long set of measures to meet increasing demand for bricks.For 2018, Ibstock now expects adjusted Ebitda of between GBP121 million and GBP125 million, with the figure standing at GBP119.6 million in 2017.Back in the FTSE 100, and ending among the worst performers, was National Grid, down 1.8% as regulator Ofgem seeks to save consumers "over GBP5 billion" through price controls for energy networks.The price controls, Ofgem said, set the revenue that monopoly network owners can earn through charging consumers, and the default length for the new control will be five years from 2021 compared with the current eight years.National Grid, in its own statement Monday, said it is pleased Ofgem has provided further clarity of the duration of the next price control.In Tuesday's economic calendar, there is UK Gfk consumer confidence at 0001 BST while, in Japan, industrial production and unemployment data is at 0030 BST. Later, at 0300 BST, the Bank of Japan releases its latest interest rate decision, followed by a press conference with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda.In Germany, retail sales are due at 0700 BST with unemployment at 0900 BST. France's consumer price index is ate 0745 BST. Eurozone GDP and CPI are both due at 1000 BST while, in the US, personal consumption expenditures are due at 1330 BST.Headlining the UK corporate calendar on Tuesday are half year results from oil major BP, online takeaway platform Just Eat, baker Greggs, British Gas owner Centrica and subprime lender Provident Financial. There are also half year results from emerging markets-focused lender Standard Chartered at 0515 BST, and from drugmaker Shire at 1200 BST. Commodities trader Glencore releases a second quarter production report.