Monks Inv Share News (MNKS)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open sharply lower on Wednesday following a slump in New York overnight that was tracked by Asian markets, with the optimism seen at the start of the week fading. In company news, Stagecoach said its interim results were ahead of expectations as it swung to a statutory loss, the UK civil aviation regulator has started enforcement action against Ryanair, and Patisserie Holdings has hired a new chief financial officer as the cafe chain works "tirelessly" to move on from its accounting scandal.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 50.06 points lower at 6,972.70 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 closed down 39.65 points, or 0.6%, at 7,022.76 on Tuesday."Monday's stock market relief rally rather surprisingly ran out of legs fairly quickly yesterday, with some blaming the differences over the detail between the US version of what transpired at the weekend and the lack of any detail from the Chinese side with which to confirm it," said CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.He added: "This weakness strikes me as being overdone, particularly when you look at recent US data, however along with concerns about slowing global growth in China and Europe, along with rising geopolitical risk in Europe as well as last night's events in the UK parliament, its perhaps not surprising that investor nerves are a little frayed."In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended deep in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 3.1%, the S&P 500 3.2% and the Nasdaq Composite 3.8%.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 1.7% lower in late trade.The declines came despite positive economic data from China.The services sector in China continued to expand in November, and at a faster-than-expected pace, data showed. The latest survey from Caixin showed a PMI score of 53.8, beating expectations for the reading to be unchanged from October's 50.8.The reading for November continued to rise further above the 50-mark, which indicates expansion in the sector. Individually, November marked the steepest increase in services activity in five months, while manufacturing production remained stable.Japan's services PMI for November also remained above the 50-line but weakened from October. The services reading of 52.3 was down marginally from 52.4 in October. Individually, business activity continued to grow at a solid rate as demand conditions remained supportive. Confidence strengthened to a 10-month peak.Shareholders of Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical approved the proposed acquisition of Irish drugmaker Shire.The acquisition remains subject to approval by Shire shareholders at a meeting to be held later on Wednesday. It is expected that completion of the acquisition will take place on January 8. The last day of dealings for Shire shares on the London Stock Exchange will be Friday, January 4. Shire will be removed from the FTSE 100 index on Monday, January 7, according to index provider FTSE Russell.In other company news, transport operator Stagecoach said adjusted earnings for its half-year were ahead of expectations, due to its Virgin Rail operations and a resolution to its former South West Trains franchise, though the firm swung to a loss on a statutory basis. Revenue for the half-year to October 27 was GBP1.23 billion, down from GBP1.79 billion a year ago, as adjusted pretax profit fell to GBP87.0 million from GBP96.7 million. Adjusted earnings per share came in at 12.9p, down from 13.6p a year before. On a statutory basis, Stagecoach swung to a pretax loss of GBP22.6 million for the half from a GBP96.7 million profit last year. Operating profit for UK Rail was highlighted as being ahead of forecasts, despite profit for the unit falling 47% to GBP11.5 million from GBP21.7 million a year ago. The company said the fall reflected the expiry of the South West Trains franchise."The group is focused on making further progress in the second half of the year and we have increased our expectation of full-year adjusted earnings per share to reflect the above-forecast rail earnings in the first half of the year," said Chief Executive Martin Griffiths.Stagecoach kept its interim dividend unchanged at 3.8 pence per share.The UK Civil Aviation Authority said it has started enforcement action against Ryanair, following the budget airline's decision that compensation is not payable for the flight disruptions caused by industrial action by its staff members over the summer. Ryanair passengers have made claims for compensation directly to the airline, but these have been rejected, the CAA said. Passengers had been able to escalate their complaints to AviationADR, a body approved by the CAA, to provide alternative resolutions for these complaints. However, Ryanair has now informed the CAA that it has terminated its agreement with AviationADR.CAA reiterated its view at the time of the industrial action that the strikes were not "extraordinary circumstances", which means consumers should be compensated in accordance with European Commission Regulation 261/2004.John Wood Group said it has been awarded at USD43 million contract by a "large-cap midstream company" to construct 80 miles of steel pipeline in west Texas. Monks Investment Trust said it underperformed the FTSE World Index in its first half, with media investor Naspers and financial services firm Prudential among the larger drags on the portfolio. Monks Investment said it produced a negative net asset value total return of 0.9% in the six months to October 31, compared with a 4.5% increase for the FTSE World Index. Health insurer Anthem and online retail platform Amazon were "notable positive contributors" to absolute returns, while Naspers and Prudential dragged. Embattled cake maker Patisserie Holdings has appointed former CVS Group Finance Director Nick Perrin as interim chief financial officer."I am pleased to welcome Nick to Patisserie Holdings. He brings with him the necessary experience to help strengthen the team as the company works tirelessly to put the events of the past months behind it and look forward to the future," said Chief Executive Steve Francis. The cafe chain has been struggling since discovering in October a GBP20 million black hole in its financial accounts due to potentially fraudulent accounting irregularities. Former Finance Director Chris Marsh was suspended by the company after the irregularities were found. He since was arrested and released on bail. Marsh subsequently resigned from Patisserie.To come in the economic calendar on Wednesday, there are services PMIs from France, Germany, the eurozone and the UK at 0850 GMT, 0855 GMT, 0900 GMT and 0930 GMT respectively. There are also eurozone retail sales at 1000 GMT.Markets in the US will be closed on Wednesday in honour of former US President George HW Bush, whose funeral is taking place.In the UK, Theresa May is battling to keep her Brexit agenda on track as MPs are again set to clash over the UK prime minister's EU withdrawal plan after inflicting major defeats on the government.As the Commons prepares for a second of five days of debate on May's controversial Brexit deal on Wednesday, a Tory former chief whip broke ranks and said he would vote against the proposals.Mark Harper, who backed Remain in the referendum, insisted the EU agreement would leave the UK worse off. Forecasting that May would lose the crunch Brexit vote next Tuesday by more than 80 votes, Harper urged the PM to renegotiate the deal.The comments came in the wake of a humiliating set of Commons defeats for May which saw the government forced to allow MPs to have a say in what happens next if the Brexit deal is voted down next week.Ministers also had to agree to publish the "final and full" legal advice to Cabinet on the withdrawal agreement as the government was found to be in contempt of Parliament for not already doing so.