NewRiver Share News (NRR)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 is set to open at an all-time high on Monday, coming after trade tensions between the US and China eased over the weekend.In early UK company news on Monday, AstraZeneca said the US Food & Drug Administration has approved Lokelma, NewRiver REIT confirmed it is in talks to buy Hawthorn Leisure Holdings, and Ryanair reported a strong rise in annual profit but was cautious on its outlook for the year ahead.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 41.01 points higher at 7,819.80 on Monday. The blue-chip index closed down 0.1%, or 9.18 points, at 7,778.79 on Friday. The index's current record intraday high stands at 7,792.56, a level which was reached in January of this year."The continued buoyancy in European markets is being helped in no small part by the weakness in both the euro and the pound against the US dollar, while concerns about an escalation in tensions between China and the US appear to have been deferred in the short term after progress in trade talks at the weekend," says CMC Markets chief market analyst Michael Hewson.In early UK company news on Monday, drugmaker AstraZeneca said the US FDS has approved Lokelma, formerly ZS-9, for the treatment of adults with hyperkalaemia.Hyperkalaemia is characterised by elevated potassium levels in the blood, associated with cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases. The FDA approval is supported by data from three double-blind, placebo-controlled trials and two open-label trials."We are pleased by today's FDA approval of Lokelma as it enables us to help address a long-standing clinical need with a new medicine that offers rapid and sustained treatment for adults with hyperkalaemia," said Sean Bohen, executive vice president, global medicines development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca.Seperately, the blue-chip pharmaceutical firm said it has submitted a supplemental new drug application to Japan's Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Agency for the use of Forxiga - a selective sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitor - as an oral adjunct treatment to insulin in adults with type-1 diabetes.Forxiga is also under regulatory review in Europe.Noting press reports, FTSE 250-listed NewRiver REIT confirmed it has entered a period of exclusivity with pub company Hawthorn Leisure Holdings and its major shareholder regarding a potential acquisition of the business. "A transaction, if completed, would be funded from NewRiver's existing resources. There can be no certainty that a transaction will be concluded and a further announcement, as appropriate, will be made as soon as practicable," NewRiver said.Online gaming firm Playtech said it has received formal consent from the Italian gaming regulatory authority, Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, for its purchase of a 70.6% stake in Snaitech.The deal, first announced in April, will see Playtech subsequently make a mandatory takeover offer for the remaining shares in Snaitech after buying its 70.6% stake.Budget airline Ryanair Holdings reported a 10% increase in annual profit after tax to EUR1.45 billion, saying that lower fares - which were down 3% - stimulated 9% traffic growth to over 130 million passengers. Full year 2018 total operating revenue from continuing operations rose 8% year-over-year to EUR7.15 billion. Traffic grew 9% with Germany, Italy and Spain being the company's largest growth markets.However, the airline said its outlook for the year ahead is "on the pessimistic side of cautious". The company expects to grow traffic by 7% to 139 million, at flat load factors of 95%. Unit costs in the current year will rise 9%.In addition, Ryanair said it has "limited" first half and "zero" second half fare visibility, with forward booking strong but pricing soft."Since only half of Easter fell in April, we expect a 5% fare decline in Q1 but a 4% rise in Q2 fares. While still too early to accurately forecast close-in summer bookings or H2 fares, we are cautiously guiding broadly flat average fares for FY19," Ryanair said.Elsewhere on the Main Market, 4D Pharma said the UK Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has cleared a Clinical Trial Application for MRx0518, a live biotherapeutic cancer treatment. Enrolment in the Phase 1b study is expected to commence in the second half of 2018, 4D said."This groundbreaking study is set to be the world's first live biotherapeutic clinical trial in oncology and the first of a number of studies we have planned to investigate MRx0518 in multiple cancer settings," said Chief Executive Duncan PeytonIn the US on Friday, Wall Street ended mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending flat, the S&P 500 down 0.3% and Nasdaq Composite closing 0.4% lower.Chinese Vice Premier Liu, who travelled to the US on Tuesday for negotiations, told Chinese news outlet Xinhua that both countries had agreed to "not to engage in a trade war" and "stop slapping tariffs against each other".He said that both countries had pledged to cooperate further in a "win-win choice" that would promote the "high-quality development of the Chinese economy".Liu's comments follow a joint statement released by the White House Saturday that China would begin buying more US goods and services to reduce the US trade deficit and meet Chinese consumption needs.Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday said the US is "putting the trade war on hold" and won't impose tariffs for now while it works on a framework for trade with China. In Asia on Monday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.3%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.9%.Released early Monday, Japan's trade surplus for April came in at JPY626.0 billion, or around USD5.6 billion, boosted by strong demand for Japanese cars and manufacturing equipment overseas.Exports were up 7.8% to JPY6.822 trillion, outpacing a 5.9% rise in imports to JPY6.196 trillion, according to a preliminary report by the Finance Ministry. By region, Japan saw its trade surplus against the US rising 4.7% to JPY615.7 billion thanks to a rise in car exports.In the UK on Monday, Rightmove said house prices were up 0.8% on month in May, which follows a 0.4% rise in April. On a yearly basis, house prices advanced 1.1%, slowing from 1.6% in the previous month.Meanwhile, a survey by IHS Markit and Ipsos Mori showed British households' current financial pressures softened in May, helped by a combination of lower inflation and higher income from employment this spring.The seasonally adjusted Household Finance Index, or HFI, rose to 44.7 in May from 43.4 in April. The figure signaled a softer budget squeeze, with the latest deterioration being the least marked since the end of 2016. However, any score below 50 suggests pessimism regarding finances among the UK households."Following the accurate prediction by the majority of households of no base rate change in May, the forecast has since remained broadly unchanged," Sam Teague, an economist at IHS Markit, said."Over half of all households are expecting a rate hike over the course of 2018, though only one-in four expect to see rates rise by August."To come in a thin economic events calendar on Monday there is the Chicago Fed National Activity Index at 1330 BST. Markets in Germany and Switzerland are closed for the Whit Monday holiday on Monday.