Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set for a positive start on Tuesday following a rebound by Chinese exchanges, as wealth manager Hargreaves Lansdown reported a rise in earnings prompting a special dividend payout. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open up 10.72 points at 7,674.50. The blue chip index closed up 0.1%, or 4.68 points, at 7,663.78 on Monday.In early UK corporate news, fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown reported a rise in net new business and strong growth in assets under administration.For the year ended June 30, net new business inflows rose 10% to GBP7.60 billion from GBP6.90 billion last year and total assets under administration increased 16% to GBP91.60 billion from GBP79.20 billion the year before.Net revenue increased to GBP447.5 million from GBP385.6 million and pretax profit rose to GBP292.4 million from GBP265.8 million. Following the strong earnings growth, Hargreaves Lansdown lifted its 2018 total dividend by 38% to 40.0 pence from 29.0p and reinstated a special dividend of 7.8p. "Brexit is on the horizon and the prevailing political and economic turbulence is having an effect on investor confidence. However, we believe that continuing to place our clients at the centre of what we do and establishing a lifelong relationship with them will enable us to continue to build share in a growing market. Our expertise and client service are rightly respected, and I believe the strength and scale of our business means we can continue to develop our offering to the benefit of all our stakeholders in the future," said Chief Executive Chris Hill.InterContinental Hotels Group said it delivered a strong performance across all its regions and good progress against new strategic initiatives.For the half year ended June 30, the eponymous hotel operator said revenue rose 8% to USD2.11 billion from USD1.96 billion last year, although pretax profit slipped 15% to USD303 million from USD357 million the year before. Profit was hurt by costs associated with a restructuring programme and a USD15 million one-off cost relating to the buy-out of IHG's US pension liability. Global revenue per available room - a key metric for hoteliers - increased by 3.7%. IHG lifted its interim dividend to 36.3 US cents from 33.0 cents last year. "The fundamentals for our industry are strong, we are confident in the outlook for the balance of the year and in our ability to deliver industry-leading net rooms growth over the medium term," said CEO Keith Barr. Testing and inspection company Intertek reported a rise in half-year profit and lifted its interim dividend. For the half year ended June 30, pretax profit rose 3.0% to GBP196.6 million from GBP190.8 million last year, although revenue fell to GBP1.35 billion from GBP1.37 billion. Intertek lifted its interim dividend 36% to 31.9p from 23.5p the year before."We are on track on our 'good to great' journey, making progress on both performance and strategy. We continue to be uniquely positioned to benefit from the GDP organic revenue growth prospects in the USD250 billion global Quality Assurance Industry in the medium to long term, leveraging our high quality and highly cash generative earnings model," CEO Andre Lacroix said. The pound was flat quoted at USD1.2944, compared to USD1.2941 at the London equities close Monday."Traders are terrified about the possibility of a 'no-deal' Brexit. The more we hear the phrase 'no-deal Brexit', the more likely the pound will be kept under the cosh. The British side might give off the impression off they would be content without a deal in order to force Brussel's hand, and the pound could be in for a rocky ride in the near-term," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.In early economic news, retail sales in the UK cooled last month as buoyant spending on food and drink spurred by the warm weather failed to offset a wider slowdown in consumer expenditure.Figures from the British Retail Consortium-KPMG sales monitor showed that in July, retail sales increased by 0.5% on a like-for-like basis compared to the same month in 2017. This compares to a rise of 1.1% in June, when beer, barbecues and big TVs lifted sales as the warm weather and World Cup fever delivered a fillip to a beleaguered sector.Total sales also dipped, falling from 2.3% in June to 1.6%, despite food sales having their best July in five years.Still to come in the economic calendar is French imports and exports at 0745 BST, UK Halifax house prices due at 0830 BST, with the US Redbook index in the afternoon at 1355 BST.In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, S&P 500 up 0.4% and Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 1.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.