Johnson Matthey Share News (JMAT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened higher on Thursday, building on gains from Wednesday, with CRH leading the blue chips while FirstGroup sank as its chief executive stepped down after it swung to a loss. The FTSE 100 index was up 0.2%, or 19.93 points, at 7,709.50 early Thursday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was up 0.5% at 20,925.54. The AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 1,082.22.The Cboe UK 100 was up 0.5% at 13,064.39, the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 19,084.16, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.1% at 12,652.92."[The FTSE 100] continued rebounding from last week's lows after yesterday's late rally into the market close. FTSE broke out of a week-long falling channel to potentially start a correction back towards May all-time highs of 7,903," said Accendo Markets analyst Artjom Hatsaturjants. On the London Stock Exchange, CRH was the best blue-chip performer at the open, up 3.5% after the Irish building materials firm said it will establish a new division effective from January 2019 that will bring together parts of its Europe and Americas business.CRH said the new Building Products division will combine the Europe Lightside, Europe Distribution and Americas Products divisions under the management of the latter's President Keith Haas.CRH also said it is targeting to improve its group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation margin by 300 basis points by 2021.Johnson Matthey was up 2.7% after the speciality chemicals company said 2017 was a year of "significant progress" with performance in line with expectations.For the year ending March 31, revenue rose 17% to GBP14.12 billion from GBP12.03 billion last year and revenue excluding precious metals was up 8% to GBP3.845 billion from GBP3.58 billion.Pretax profit fell to GBP320.0 million from GBP462.0 billion in financial 2017; however on an underlying basis pretax profit was GBP486.0 million, up slightly from GBP482.0 million prior.The company said it incurred impairment and restructuring charges of GBP90 million during the year and a GBP50 million charge related to a legal settlement.Johnson Matthey proposed a final dividend of 80.0 pence, up 7% from 75.0p last year."In the coming year we expect mid to high single-digit growth in operating performance. The changes we are making as we continue to develop our business give me confidence in our strategy to deliver, over the medium term, mid to high single digit earnings per share [growth], expanding return on invested capital to 20% and, as a result, a progressive dividend," said Chief Executive Robert MacLeod.Informa was up 2.2% after the the UK Competition and Markets Authority gave its blessing for the FTSE 100-listed events firm's acquisition of midcap peer UBM. The regulator said Informa's UBM acquisition doesn't qualify for investigation under merger law. UBM shares were up 2.7%.At the other end of the large cap index, National Grid was down 4.0% after going ex-dividend - meaning new buyers no longer qualify for the latest dividend payout. In the FTSE 250, Card Factory was the best performer, up 3.5% after the greeting cards retailer said it delivered a "solid seasonal performance in a tough trading environment".For the first quarter ending April 30, the retailer reported group sales growth of 3.0%, although like-for-like sales slipped by 0.4% Card Factory said it continued with its store roll out with 10 new stores opened and is on track for our target of 50 openings for the full year."We have had a solid start to the year with further sales growth despite an ongoing sector trend of subdued footfall, which impacted the like-for-like performance. We have seen a good customer reaction to our seasonal products over the quarter, with record card volumes for both Valentine's Day and Mother's Day," said Chief Executive Karen Hubbard.At the other end of the midcap index, FirstGroup was the worst performer, down 9.9% after the bus and rail operator said Chief Executive Tim O'Toole is stepping down from his position with immediate effect. Non-Executive Chairman Wolfhart Hauser will become executive chairman until a successor is found. The company said the process to find a new CEO is underway. Chief Financial Officer Matthew Gregory will be interim chief operating officer. O'Toole said it was the right time for him to step down.For the year ending March 31, FirstGroup swung to a pretax loss Of GBP326.9 million from GBP152.6 million profit last year. Adjusted pretax profit was down at GBP197.0 from GBP207.0 million. However, revenue was up 13% at GBP6.40 billion compared to GBP5.65 billion last year, though up just 1% excluding the new SWR rail franchise and a 53rd week.The company said the pretax loss reflects the "non-cash impairment of Greyhound goodwill and onerous contract provision on the TransPennine Express rail franchise". The impairment of Greyhound, a US intercity coach operator, was GBP277.3 million."Greyhound, the US business, is feeling the pain at both ends as costs are rising and passenger numbers are falling. Due to the strong labour market the company is finding it difficult to get new staff, and it is likely they will have to offer more attractive salaries in order to maintain the workforce. Given the rude health the US jobs markets is in, this trend is likely to continue," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. The US Federal Reserve said Wednesday that US economic activity expanded moderately in late April and early May with few shifts in the pattern of growth.This was the chief assessment of the Fed's Beige Book, an collection of anecdotal readings on the economy published eight times a year. The Fed said "Manufacturing shifted into higher gear" with most districts reporting a pickup in industrial activity and a third of the districts classifying activity as "strong".In a prelude to Friday's May jobs report, labor market conditions remained tight across the country, and contacts continued to report difficulty filling positions across skill levels.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3312 early Thursday, higher than USD1.3291 at the London equities close on Wednesday.In early economic news, UK house prices dropped unexpectedly in May, figures from Nationwide Building Society revealed.House prices decreased 0.2% on a monthly basis in May, in contrast to an increase of 0.1% in April. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.2% in May. On a yearly basis, house price growth eased to 2.4% in May from 2.6% a month ago. Prices were expected to gain 3%.The euro was quoted at USD1.1685 early Thursday, flat from USD1.6665 at the European equities close Wednesday.In the economic events calendar on Thursday there is Italy unemployment data at 0900 BST, UK mortgage approvals at 0930 BST and eurozone inflation and jobless data at 1000 BST. In the afternoon there is US personal consumption expenditure figures at 1330 BST.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.2% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was down 0.1% early Thursday.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.China's Purchasing Manager Index rose 0.5% in May from last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.The official PMI for May was 51.9 up from 51.4 in April. It is the highest point since October 2017, according to the bureau. A figure of about 50.0 indicates growth while below that number indicates a contraction.