Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended higher on Wednesday as US President Donald Trump planned to delay steep tariffs on auto imports.A report from CNBC, citing four sources, said Trump plans to delay imposing the auto tariffs by up to six months as negotiations continue with the EU.The FTSE 100 index closed up 55.35 points, or 0.8%, at 7,296.95. The FTSE 250 ended up 2.35 points, at 19,369.77, and the AIM All-Share closed up 2.95 points, or 0.3%, at 957.90.The Cboe UK 100 ended up 0.9% at 12,359.13, the Cboe UK 250 closed up 0.3% at 17,444.46, and the Cboe Small Companies ended up 0.3% at 11,775.30.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.6%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.9%. CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "We have seen a bit of a pullback this afternoon but that is entirely down to reports that President Trump has decided to delay the imposition of tariffs on auto imports by 6 months, in the process prompting a surge in German auto makers, as well as a rebound in the FTSE 100 and DAX.""This may be a case of delaying the inevitable, but given that the US is already at odds with China and Iran, the reasoning appears to be not to be fighting too many battles at once."In the FTSE 100, Compass Group closed up 3.3% after the contract caterer raised annual guidance on the back of a strong interim performance in which revenue and profit both increased.In the six-months to March 31, the company generated pretax profit of GBP852 million, up 7.4% from GBP793 million in the comparative period a year ago. First-half revenue improved to GBP12.33 billion from GBP11.33 billion the prior year. On an adjusted basis, revenue rose 6.6% to GBP12.5 billion."Following the very strong first half performance we now increase our organic revenue growth guidance for the full year and expect to deliver organic revenue growth and margin progression similar to 2018," Chief Executive Dominic Blakemore said.A year ago, Compass generated revenue of GBP22.96 billion and pretax profit of GBP1.52 billion. Compass declared an interim dividend of 13.1 pence per share, up 6.5% on the prior year's 12.3p payout.TUI closed up 1.8% after the Anglo-German travel company reported a widened interim loss due in part to the later timing of Easter and the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft.Furthermore, the company reiterated the impact on earnings if the aircraft remain grounded beyond the summer. For the six-month period between October 1 to March 31, the travel operator posted a pretax loss of EUR381.0 million, widened from EUR258.3 million in the comparative period a year ago.TUI's 2019 half-year included Christmas but ended before the Easter holiday period. In 2018, Easter fell on April 1, much closer to TUI's winter reporting period than this year's April 21 date.Looking forward, TUI reiterated full-year Ebitda guidance of a 17% reduction, assuming 737 MAX flight resumption mid-July, widening to a fall of 26%, if the grounding is extended throughout the summer. The year prior, Ebitda amounted to EUR1.77 billion. The company expects a EUR200 million one-off charge related to the 737 grounding, but it said it has "clear building blocks" to deliver growth in the second half."We think that a lack of a downgrade today may be a source of relief for investors given that sentiment is low and uncertainty is high (Brexit, 737 MAX, overcapacity)," analysts at Barclays said.Experian closed up 1.4% after the credit checking agency reported strong organic revenue growth in financial 2019, driven by its US business.Experian's revenue increased 6.1% in financial 2019 to USD4.86 billion from USD4.58 billion. Total organic revenue grew 9% in the year, with the Experian noting particular strength in North America and EMEA-Asia Pacific.The company upped its total dividend by 3.9% to 46.5 US cents from 44.75 US cents the year before. During financial 2019, Experian completed USD215 million in share repurchases and on Wednesday announced it is launching a new programme of up to USD400 million.Experian said it was "a very good year", and it is guiding for revenue growth of between 6% to 8% on an organic basis in its newly begun year and further earnings growth.At the other end of the large cap index, Kingfisher ended the worst performer, down 3.6% after the DIY retailer reported a marginal sales increase in the first quarter of its financial year.In the three-month period to April 30, the retailer reported a 0.3% increase in total sales to GBP2.83 billion, up 0.8% on a like-for-like basis. UK & Ireland total sales for the quarter were GBP1.28 billion, up 5.0% on the comparative period a year ago, with like-for-like sales in the region rising 3.4%. B&Q UK & Ireland sales rose 2.8% and Screwfix sales increased 9.6%.In France, - the company's Achilles heel - total sales dropped 5.1% on a reported basis and 3.7% on a like-for-like basis. Both Castorama and Brico Depot registered negative performances, down 4.1% and 6.2% respectively.In the FTSE 250, Metro Bank ended the best performer, up 15% with investors hopeful that the troubled high street bank will announce plans over its GBP350 million capital raise.The pound was quoted at USD1.2866 at the London equities close, down from USD1.2914 at the close Tuesday. Sterling slipped to a low of USD1.2826 in afternoon trade - its lowest level in three months as UK Prime Minister Theresa May's position becomes increasingly fragile. May's Brexit deal will be "dead" if lawmakers reject if for a fourth time, ministers have admitted as cross-party Brexit talks between Labour and the Tories have so far failed to find a solution on how to break the impasse.Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay acknowledged it would be the end of the road for the deal thrashed out with the EU if the Withdrawal Agreement Bill is defeated when it is brought to the House of Commons in June.May has said she will step down once the first phase of the Brexit process is completed and will meet senior Tories on the executive of the backbench 1922 Committee to discuss her future on Thursday.Both Barclay and International Trade Secretary Liam Fox warned Eurosceptics that the possibility of Brexit not happening at all would increase if the bill was defeated.This would leave two options when the October 31 deadline looms, a no-deal Brexit, which has previously been rejected by lawmakers, or the revocation of Article 50 - cancelling the entire process."Labour and Conservative talks are heading nowhere. There is absolutely no consensus to be struck and with the PM planning to bring her deal back to the House of Commons in June we see heaps of political uncertainty stoking traders into selling the pound in a defensive move. The extremes are once again the more likely outcomes - there is an increased risk of a no-deal scenario, although we seem to be inexorably heading towards a second referendum down the line. Calling the outcome is clearly extremely hard - so longs are tidying up their positions and shorts are coming back in but there is little bid to be found," said markets.com analyst Neil Wilson. The euro stood at USD1.1212 at the European equities close, flat against USD1.1208 late Tuesday. In economic news, the eurozone's quarterly economic growth rate doubled in the first three months of the year, latest figures from Eurostat showed on Wednesday, confirming the initial estimate released late April. Gross domestic product grew 0.4% from the fourth quarter of 2018, when the euro area economy expanded 0.2%.The pace of growth was the strongest since the second quarter of 2018, when the economy expanded at the same rate.On a year-on-year basis, GDP rose 1.2% in the first quarter, same as in the previous three months.Germany's economy grew by 0.4% in the first three months of 2019 compared to the previous quarter, though experts signalled the country is not yet out of the danger zone after narrowly avoiding a recession at the end of 2018.Nancy Curtin, chief investment officer of Close Brothers Asset Management, said: "Growth in the EU continues to beat expectations, proving the disastrous beginning of the year to be an anomaly. While the region has a long way to go, things are looking up; the services and housebuilding sectors are doing better than expected, eurozone unemployment is at a ten year low, and wage growth is beginning to improve. This should help consumer confidence and, in turn, consumption."Stocks in New York were higher at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.7%.In US economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales edged down by 0.2% in April after spiking by an upwardly revised 1.7% in March.Economists had expected retail sales to rise by 0.2% compared to the 1.6% jump originally reported for the previous month.Excluding a steep drop in auto sales, retail sales inched up by 0.1% in April after surging up by 1.3% in March, although ex-auto sales had been expected to climb by 0.7%.Brent oil was quoted at USD71.64 a barrel at the London equities close, higher than USD71.33 at the close Tuesday. "Iran tensions and reports of hawks flapping their wings in the Pentagon have provided the rationale for a reversal of the bearish momentum seen since late April, and a hope of Chinese economic stimulus is probably at work here too," said IG Group's Chris Beauchamp. The Energy Information Administration reported a crude oil inventory build of 5.4 million barrels for the week to May 10. This follows a 4 million barrel draw a week earlier.Gold was quoted at USD1,296.40 an ounce at the London equities close, flat against USD1,295.40 late Tuesday.The economic events calendar on Thursday has Italy inflation readings at 0900 BST, eurozone trade figures at 1000 BST and US housing starts at 1330 BST. The UK corporate calendar calendar on Thursday has annual results from UK power lines operator National Grid, private equity investor 3i Group, cyber security firm Sophos Group, Anglo-South African bank Investec and from fashion house Burberry Group.