Kingfisher Share News (KGF)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open higher on Wednesday, following US and Asian markets upwards as hope remains the US and China can come to a trade agreement. In a busy day for UK corporate news, TUI swung to an interim loss, while Compass reported a strong first half and Experian has set up a new share buyback programme. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 33.5 points higher at 7,275.10. The blue chip index closed up 77.92 points, or 1.1%, at 7,241.60 on Tuesday. US President Donald Trump accused China of violating agreements reached in trade talks, saying the issue was more serious than an attempt by Beijing to renegotiate specific aspects of a deal."We had a deal that was very close and then they broke it. More than renegotiate, they really broke it," Trump told reporters outside the White House on Tuesday."We are having a little squabble with China," Trump conceded, but insisted that the US would win in a trade war. "We always win," he said.Despite the US Treasury outlining USD300 billion of new tariffs on Chinese goods, CMC Markets UK's Michael Hewson said: "The calculation would appear to be that these will only be implemented if talks break down completely. For now, that appears unlikely, as it is neither sides interest to peer over that particular cliff edge."It also helps there are still a couple of weeks to go until China's retaliation kicks in on June 1, and similarly any new US tariffs on Chinese goods won't take effect until Chinese goods hit US shores in about 10 days' time." "This in turn helped US markets recover at least half of Monday's decline as investors calculated that any increased tariffs may only be in place for a short period of time, with a deal being concluded soon after," he continued."Time will tell as to whether that belief turns out to be anywhere near close to the truth, or just wishful thinking. Asia markets have picked up this positive vibe and run with it despite some disappointing Chinese economic data and this looks set to translate into a mildly positive European open this morning."In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 0.8%, the S&P 500 also 0.8% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite up 1.1%. In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is 2.0% higher, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 1.0% higher.China's industrial production and retail sales growth eased by more than expected in April, suggesting weak economic activity at the start of second quarter.Industrial production advanced 5.4% year-on-year in April, following March's 8.5% increase, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Wednesday. The growth rate was forecast to slow more moderately to 6.5%.Likewise, annual growth in retail sales eased to 7.2% from 8.7% a month ago. Sales were expected to expand 8.6%."Data out of China did little to stem concerns over the health of the Chinese economy, however, hopes of further stimulus prevented stocks from falling," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler."These figures show the Chinese economy is losing steam. Given the spotlight on the health of the Chinese economy amid recent US trade tariff hikes, these figures could have been received very differently."Among London stocks, Anglo-German holiday group TUI reported a 1.7% rise in revenue for the seasonally soft six months to March to EUR6.68 billion but a swing to loss. Easter fell outside the winter period this year.Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation has slumped to a GBP77.5 million loss from a GBP25.4 million profit, with an Ebitda loss of USD106.7 million from a GBP4.1 million positive Ebitda year-on-year.TUI sees "clear building blocks" for growth in the second half, but it expects a EUR300 million hit due to the grounding of the 737 MAX Boeing aircraft. Credit checking firm Experian reported a 6% rise in revenue for the 12 months to March to USD4.86 billion, with pretax profit up 1% to USD957 million. However, excluding currency movements, pretax profit rose 7%.Experian is paying a final dividend of 32.5 US cents, taking the year's total to 46.5 cents, up 4% year-on-year. It is also starting a new USD400 million share buyback. 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.Catering firm Compass Group increased its interim dividend by 6.5% to 13.1 pence, with pretax profit for the six months to March-end rising to GBP852 million from GBP793 million.The company's revenue climbed 8.8% to GBP12.33 billion on a statutory basis, with underlying revenue up 6.6% to GBP12.5 billion. The first half was a strong one, Compass said, with North America shining and Europe and the Rest of World segment also doing well. It has upgraded organic revenue growth guidance for the year to September as a result. B&Q-owner Kingfisher's revenue climbed 0.3% in the three months to April 30, reaching GBP2.84 billion. At constant currency growth was 1.7%, and like-for-like constant currency it was 0.8%. The UK did well, Kingfisher said, with revenue up 5.0%, though France was a drag with revenue falling 5.1%. The Other International division's revenue rose 0.7%.Kingfisher has held full-year guidance after what it said was a "positive" period for sales growth. British Land has reported a "robust" annual performance, with a new GBP125 million share buyback begun following GBP500 million of returns over the last two years.It is to pay a total dividend of 31p per share for its year ended March, up 3.0% year-on-year, and it plans another 3% rise in its newly started year.British Land has swung to an IFRS pretax loss of GBP319 million, however, from a GBP501 million profit, with underlying profit falling 11% to GBP380 million. The value of British Land's portfolio dipped 4.8% to GBP12.32 billion, with EPRA net asset value at the end of March down 6.4% year-on-year to 905p. The firm said it was a good year, however the retail market in the UK remains challenging. Despite this, British Land is confident headwinds will ease, with the firm well positioned. Fund supermarket Hargreaves Lansdown reported a rise in assets under administration for the four months to April, both opening and closing the period at GBP97.8 billion.Net new business was GBP2.9 billion, down from GBP3.3 billion a year prior, but revenue so far in 2019 has risen 8% year-on-year to GBP395.9 million. The year started slowly, Hargreaves Lansdown said, but momentum has since built, with a rising stock market helping the company to a positive market movement of GBP9.0 billion in the period. Thermal energy management and pumping specialist Spirax-Sarco said organic sales growth in the first four months of 2019 has remained at the same levels as the second half of 2018, despite a weakening market. Asia-Pacific has been strong, Spirax continued, due to some large one-off projects.On an organic basis, operating profit in the first four months of 2019 is ahead year-on-year, with margins meeting expectations. All guidance for 2019 is for now held. In the midcap FTSE 250, luxury carmaker Aston Martin Lagonda reported a 10% rise in first quarter wholesale units to 1,057, with revenue up 6% to GBP196.0 million.Aston Martin has posted a GBP17.3 million pretax loss for the period after a GBP2.8 million profit, and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation fell 35% to GBP28.3 million. In a seasonally quieter period, the firm said, higher depreciation and amortisation as well as an accounting change charge have led to a fall in earnings, though all 2019 guidance is held. Lender CYBG's pretax profit for the six months to March fell to GBP42 million from GBP95 million, but net interest income nearly doubled year-on-year to GBP820 million. Customer loans were up to GBP72.67 billion from GBP33.28 billion, with the net interest margin 1.71% from 1.84% the year before. CYBG's common equity tier one ration was 14.5%, from 11.3% year-on-year. CYBG said it was a resilient performance, with profit hit by the Virgin Money acquisition and subsequent integration costs. Guidance for 2019 is upheld, with the firm on course to meet expectations. Key UK legislation to ratify the prime minister's Brexit deal in law will be brought before the Commons at the beginning of next month, Downing Street has announced.The government will bring forward the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the week beginning June 3, a spokesman said, after Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn held fresh talks on Tuesday evening.May was said to have made clear to the Labour leader that she wanted to bring cross-party discussions to a conclusion and "deliver on the referendum result".The pair will face each other again on Wednesday during Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons at noon London time.In the economic calendar to come is French CPI at 0745 BST and eurozone GDP at 1000 BST. In the afternoon are US retail sales at 1330 BST.