LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Wednesday, with focus on minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee released later in the day ahead of the keenly-awaited Jackson Hole symposium.In early UK company news,
Grafton Group reported a strong rise in interim profit, while
Capita,
Intertek and
Debenhams all made chief financial officer appointments.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 30.50 points lower at 7,535.20 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.3%, or 25.56 points, at 7,565.70 on Tuesday.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.3%, the S&P 500 up 0.2% - having hit a record high of 2,873.23 during Tuesday's session - and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.5%.Despite the positive close, said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group, US and European futures moved downwards "in response to heightened US political risk"A jury found one-time Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort guilty of eight counts of tax evasion and bank fraud, in the first trial to result from special counsel Robert Mueller's FBI investigation.Prosecutors had accused him of evading US taxes on millions of dollars in fees from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, then lying to get bank loans when his Ukrainian income dried up.The special counsel is leading the Justice Department's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.Meanwhile, the president's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen admitted to committing campaign finance violations in a federal courtroom in New York. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight counts, including making two payoffs with the intention of influencing an election."The overriding fear here is that something could come out linked to Trump. US domestic political issues are in danger of overshadowing the revival of the US-Chinese trade talks, which had been highlighted as the principal risk event on Wednesday," said Lawler.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%.In UK company news,
Diploma said it has bought FS Cables, which comprises Caplink and FSC Global, for an initial cash consideration of GBP17.0 million and a deferred consideration up to a maximum of GBP1.0 million."FS Cables is a long established and leading supplier of specialist cable products to installers, end-users and wholesalers for a range of industries including Electrical contracting, Home automation & building management, Rail, Marine and Telecommunications," Diploma said in a statement on Wednesday.The sellers will stay with the business until the end of February 2019 to ensure a "smooth management transition". The deal will be immediately earnings enhancing, Diploma said, and will be reported as part of its Controls Sector activities.
Grafton Group said revenue for the first half of the year grew, along with a rise in profit, as it bumped up its interim dividend.Revenue for the six months to June 30 grew 9% to GBP1.45 billion as pretax profit jumped 18% to GBP87.6 million. The company boosted its interim payout by 14% to 6.00p from 5.25p last year.Looking ahead, the company said conditions in the UK merchanting market are expected to remain "relatively flat" over the remainder of the year with competitive pricing pressure.The outlook for Ireland remains positive, with prospects for the Netherlands market "favourable" while the Belgian unit will continue to focus on improving performance. Grafton backed its annual outlook.Post the period end, revenue growth over July was 12% - with the benefit of one additional trading day - with average daily like-for-like sales up 3.3%. Within this, average daily like-for-like UK merchanting revenue was up 2.6%, Ireland up 8.1%, 5.3% in the Dutch business and 19% in the manufacturing business. Like-for-like revenue fell 1.7% in Belgium and 3.2% in Ireland.Amid a flurry of chief financial officer appointments were hires made at
Capita,
Intertek and
Debenhams.As first reported by Sky News, Go-Ahead on Wednesday confirmed Chief Financial Officer Patrick Butcher will be leaving the transport operator to take up the same role at outsourcer Capita. Butcher is expected to join Capita at the end of the year.FTSE 100-listed testing, inspection and certification services firm Intertek said that Group Financial Controller Ross McCluskey has been promoted with immediate effect to the role of chief financial officer.Meanwhile, department store Debenhams said it has appointed Rachel Osborne as its new chief financial officer effective September 17. Osborne formerly held the same role at Domino's Pizza Group.Her predecessor, Matt Smith, will leave the group on August 31.Osborne said: "I am delighted to be joining Debenhams. This is a challenging time for UK retail but Debenhams has a strong heritage, leading market positions and a credible plan for its future. I look forward to being part of the team delivering the transformation." Cybersecurity provider
Avast said it saw a "good" first half performance with its full-year expectations unchanged, except for a slightly improvement to its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin guidance.Revenue grew to USD388.6 million from USD294.0 million, as the company swung to an interim pretax profit of USD75.4 million from a USD45.8 million loss a year before. The company's adjusted Ebitda margin came in at 55.1%, up 258 basis points, with Avast now seeing its annual margin flat year-on-year."I'm pleased to report our first set of results since our IPO earlier this year that indicate the Group is performing strongly with sustained high growth, in line with market expectations, and with slightly higher Ebitda levels," said Chief Executive Vincent Steckler.He continued: "Looking ahead, we are confident that we can continue to execute the strategy we outlined at IPO and we are on track to deliver on full year guidance of high single digit revenue growth, with slight Ebitda margin improvement."In the economic calendar on Wednesday, US MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 BST while existing home sales are at 1500 BST and Federal Open Market Committee minutes released at 1900 BST."The FOMC Minutes are likely to provide the day's main talking point. Unfortunately for President Trump, there are unlikely to be any hints over looser monetary policy, despite his complaints, but they may shed some light on the Committee's debate around where the neutral rate lies. This will be viewed as a precursor to Jackson Hole," said analysts at Societe Generale.Jackson Hole, an annual gathering of central bankers in the US state of Wyoming, begins on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is slated to speak on Friday.
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