Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened lower on Tuesday after China cut its growth targets and predicted weaker economic growth ahead amid its trade spat with the US, while the pound was flat ahead of the UK services PMI reading.Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised various reforms meant to stimulate China's economy as he set an economic growth target of 6.0% to 6.5% for 2019 at the opening of the annual parliamentary session on Tuesday.The range would mark China's slowest economic growth in almost three decades. Last year, the economy grew 6.6%, bogged down by a trade war with the US and rising government debt.Li warned of the "many difficulties" facing the economy as he addressed the 2,948 delegates gathered at the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The parliamentary session, known as the National People's Congress, will last until March 15."A set of pro-growth measures are planned despite positive progress in US-China trade talks, which makes us think that either China doesn't have full confidence in a trade truce or that the damages from the trade conflict cannot easily be undone," said analysts at ING. "The Chinese government is presumably cautious about the development of the trade war. And businesses are also likely to be careful about making big investment decisions until it is very clear that business risks from the trade war have ended," ING's analysts added. The FTSE 100 was 5.31 points lower, or 0.1%, at 7,129.08. The FTSE 250 was down 22.14 points, or 0.1%, at 19,389.29, while the AIM All-Share index was 0.1% lower at 915.19.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.1% at 12,102.74, while the Cboe UK 250 was 0.1% higher, at 17,355.34. The Cboe UK Small Companies was marginally lower at 11,141.32.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt climbed 0.3%.On the London Stock Exchange, GVC Holdings was the best blue chip performer, up 1.5% after the sports-betting company reported strong annual results driven by a strong World Cup performance and its acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral. For 2018, reported revenue surged to GBP2.94 from GBP789.9 million in 2017 and net gaming revenue rose to GBP2.98 billion from GBP815.9 million last year following the GBP23.2 billion acquisition of peer Ladbrokes Coral last March.On a proforma basis, revenue increased 9% to GBP3.57 billion in 2018 from GBP3.29 billion in 2017.GVC's 2018 loss narrowed to GBP18.9 million from GBP22.6 million. GVC said profit was dented by GBP322.5 million of amortisation charges linked to the acquisition of Ladbrokes Coral.Vodafone was up 1.3% after the telecommunications firm said it intends to raise approximately EUR4 billion through the issuance of convertible bonds to fund its acquisition of Liberty Global assets. The company added that it was considering a share buyback to "mitigate share dilution".At the other end of the large cap index, Intertek was down 3.0% despite hiking its 2018 dividend and posting profit growth that surpassed analyst expectations.In 2018, pretax profit widened 2.8% to GBP404.5 million from GBP393.3 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 1.1% to GBP2.80 billion from GBP2.77 billion in 2017.The testing and inspection firm proposed a 67.2 pence final dividend per share, up 41% from 47.8p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 39% to 99.1p from 71.3p the year before. Ashtead was down 2.6% despite the equipment rental firm saying it delivered a strong third-quarter performance, executing well on its strategy of organic growth supported by bolt-on acquisitions. For the nine months to January 31, revenue rose 24% to GBP1.14 billion from GBP916.1 million in the third quarter last year, and pretax profit was up 24% to GBP254.3 million from GBP205.1 million. Ashtead said it continues to experience strong end markets in North America and invested GBP1.29 billion in capital and a further GBP491 million on bolt-on acquisitions in the period which has added 112 locations and resulted in rental fleet growth of 18%. The investment was at the top end of prior guidance."Our business continues to perform well in supportive end markets. Accordingly, we expect full year results to be in line with our expectations and the board continues to look to the medium term with confidence," said Chief Executive Geoff Drabble.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended flat.In economic news, Chinese services activity slipped to a four-month low in February amid a marginal expansion of output.The Caixin Composite Purchasing Managers' Index softened to 50.7 in February from 50.9 at the start of 2019. The reading was the lowest reading in the past four months.Any score above 50 suggests expansion in activity.Elsewhere, activity in the Irish service sector saw a significant increase in February but sentiment fell to its lowest levels since May 2013, the latest AIB Ireland Services Purchasing Managers' Index data showed.The headline seasonally adjusted business activity index increased to 55.9 in February from 54.2 in January. Activity among Irish service providers has increased on a monthly basis since August 2012. The pound was flat, quoted at USD1.3174 Tuesday, against USD1.3175 at the London equities close Monday."Weaker UK construction PMI yesterday, falling to contraction territory, failed to make much of a dent to the pound, but the services survey this morning will have much greater importance. However, the currency remains sensitive to ongoing Brexit negotiations," Lloyds analysts noted. Elsewhere, UK sales growth eased in February as uncertainty around the UK's impending exit from the EU at the end of March hampered retail growth, the latest BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor figures showed on Tuesday.Data covering the four weeks to February 23 showed total sales up 0.5% from a year before, below both the three-month and 12-month averages of 0.9% and 1.2% growth respectively. This was after sales increased by 2.2% in January, the highest annual growth since June.The economic events calendar on Tuesday has services PMI readings from Italy, France, Germany the eurozone and UK at 0845 GMT, 0850 GMT, 0855 GMT, 0900 GMT and 0930 GMT respectively.Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will appear before the House of Lords select committee at 1535 GMT.