LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices are seen opening marginally lower on Friday which would add to a sharp fall on Thursday, as lingering concerns over global growth continued to weigh on investor sentiment. There was no strong overnight lead, as US markets were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday, while Japan's were closed Friday for Labor Thanksgiving Day.IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open down 6.22 points at 6,954.10. The blue chip index closed down 1.3% at 6,960.32 on Thursday. In early corporate news, Ibstock sold its US business as it seeks to concentrate on its core UK market, while the new version of Indivior's blockbuster opioid addiction treatment was approved in Canada providing the drugmaker some good news at the end of a bad week in the US. Brick maker Ibstock said it sold its US brick manufacturing business Glen-Gery to building materials firm Brickworks for an enterprise value for USD110 million. After pension payments, Ibstock expects to receive USD95 million from the sale, which will be used to repay debt and strengthen its balance sheet. "This divestment augments our strong underlying cashflow generation, leaving us with a strong balance sheet. Our capital allocation and shareholder return priorities remain unchanged, and we continue to assess both organic and inorganic investment options in the UK as we look to deliver long-term growth," the company said.Ibstock said it remains on course to deliver adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation within a range of GBP121 million to GBP125 million for 2018. The Ebitda outlook assumes GBP11 million full-year contribution from Glen-Gery but excludes GBP9.5 million in property sale gains.Drugmaker Indivior said Health Canada has approved its Sublocade injectable treatment for moderate to severe opioid use. Earlier this week Indivior was dealt a blow after losing a US court ruling against Indian generic drug maker Dr Reddy's Laboratories. The injunction against the sale of the Dr Reddy's generic version of Sublingual film, used for the treatment of opioid addiction, was originally granted in July."The approval of Sublocade in Canada is an important milestone, and we look forward to continuing to partner with the Canadian treatment community to help those with opioid use disorder," said Indivior Chief Executive Shaun Thaxter.Irish agri-services company Origin Enterprises said it made a positive start to trading for the 2019 financial year in the seasonally quiet first quarter. For the three months to October 31, revenue was up 24% to EUR430.0 million from EUR346.7 million in the first quarter last year. In Ireland & UK, revenue was rose to EUR261.5 million from EUR219.5 million, supported by seasonal timing and volume contribution from its Bunn fertiliser business which was acquired last year. "The autumn and winter cropping profile in our Ireland/UK and Continental European geographies provides a good foundation for the seasonally more important second half of the year. The group's newly acquired operations in Latin America will result in additional contribution in the first half of the Origin year, with solid progress on plantings providing an encouraging start to the year," the company said. The company also said it would be able to maintain a flexible approach to dealing with the potential challenges which could arise following Brexit.Support services and construction firm Interserve said overall trading for 2018 was positive with strong profit growth in-line with management expectations. Interserve's year-end net debt is expected to be in a range of GBP625 million to GBP650 million and is on track to deliver GBP15 million in cost savings in 2018."The board remains focused on positioning the group for long-term, sustainable success. This means continuing the operational progress we are making to put legacy issues behind us, particularly in closing out and exiting the Energy from Waste business. It also means reducing debt and putting a strong long-term capital structure in place. To this end we will announce a deleveraging plan for the group early in 2019," said CEO Debbie White. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 2.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.9%. The Tokyo market is closed for the Labor Thanksgiving Day holiday in Japan.Asian stocks were lower on worries about slowing growth and uncertainty surrounding the outcome of US-China trade talks.US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was hopeful of making a deal with China when he meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the G20 in Argentina next week."China wants to make a deal very badly. If we can make a deal, we will," Trump said.The pound was firm quoted at USD1.2872 against USD1.2855 at the London equities close Thursday. In domestic political news, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has been warned she faces a battle to reach a final agreement on Brexit as she prepares for a special summit of EU leaders this weekend.Ahead of Sunday's gathering, Spanish premier Pedro Sanchez demanded last-minute changes to the deal despite May's efforts to win him round.The UK prime minister will head to Brussels on Saturday for eve-of-summit talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker knowing that she also faces an uphill task in Westminster to persuade her own MPs to back her deal.May declared that final agreement on Brexit is "within our grasp" following a breakthrough on future relations between the UK and EU on Thursday.The economic calendar on Friday has manufacturing and services PMI figures from France, Germany, the eurozone and US at 0815 GMT, 0830 GMT, 0900 GMT and 1445 GMT respectively. Financial markets in the US will resume trading on Friday for a half day on the day after Thanksgiving.
11 Feb 2016 10:39
