Northgate Share News (NTG)

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening in the red on Tuesday, tracking Asian equity markets lower, as investors look cautiously ahead to a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit later this week.In company news, Petrofac said trading has been in line with expectations, retailer Carpetright said its turnaround plan is making progress, and IWG's boss made another significant series of share purchases. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 19.59 points lower at 7,397.10. The blue chip index closed up 9.19 points, or 0.1%, at 7,416.69 on Monday.Oilfield services firm Petrofac said current trading is in line with prior guidance, and the company is delivering a solid operational performance.New order intake for the half year ending on Sunday, stood at USD1.7 billion in the year to date and net debt is expected to be around USD0.1 billion at the end of the first half.Looking forward, Petrofac said it is well positioned for the second half of the year with around USD15 billion of bid opportunities due for award.Chief Executive Ayman Asfari said: "We continue to maintain excellent client relationships in all of our markets, although new order intake in the year to date reflects our recent challenges in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. We are making good progress delivering our strategic objectives. "We continue to target best-in-class delivery for our clients and are improving our competitiveness by reducing costs, driving digitalisation, increasing local content and investing in talent. Furthermore, we are well positioned in the second half with good revenue visibility, a strong balance sheet and high levels of tendering activity." Vehicle hire company Northgate said it delivered an annual financial performance in line with guidance, continuing progress with its strategic objectives. For the financial year ended April 30, revenue increased 6.2% to GBP745.5 million from GBP701.7 million in financial 2018, and pretax profit rose 15% to GBP60.4 million from GBP52.7 million. Northgate proposed a final dividend of 12.1 pence per share. This takes the total dividend for the year to 18.3p per share, an increase of 3.4% from 17.7p in 2018.CEO Kevin Bradshaw said: "Steady state cash generation for the group remains strong, and has enabled us to increase the dividend and fund attractive minimum-term growth opportunities. Our progressive dividend reflects the confidence of the Board in the future prospects of the Group. Through continued performance improvement in our core rental business and extending our penetration into complementary services to broaden the fleet solutions we provide, I am confident that our strategy will deliver our medium-term objectives of further profitable growth, strong cash generation and attractive returns for shareholders."We are disappointed with the share price performance and remain focussed on addressing the undervaluation of the group. The search for our new chairman is well advanced with an exceptionally strong shortlist. The board and management look forward to working alongside a new chair appointment to maximise value for shareholders."Troubled floor coverings retailer Carpetright said its business turnaround is on track to deliver GBP19 million of annualised savings as part of its company voluntary arrangement.For the financial year ended April 27, revenue fell to GBP386.4 million from GBP446.3 million in 2018, while its pretax loss narrowed to GBP24.8 million from GBP69.8 million. Carpetright said it saw a significant improvement in trading in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter, with a return to like-for-like sales growth in the new financial yearIn the UK, like for like sales in the first 8 weeks of financial 2020 were up 8.5% and in Europe like-for-like sales in the same period were up 4.3%.CEO Wilf Walsh said: "2018-19 was a transitional year for the business as we took tough but necessary action to address our legacy property issues and restructure the UK store estate. This difficult task was carried out against the backdrop of a challenging trading environment but was essential to put the business back on the path to sustainable profitability."We remain the clear number one player in floor coverings, having maintained our market leadership during an exceptionally challenging period, and our brand attributes remain strong. Our work is far from finished, and while economic and political uncertainties cloud the near term outlook for the retail sector, our turnaround plan is very much on track."Miner Anglo American said its De Beers rough diamonds sales in its fifth sales cycle of 2019 dropped on a year-on-year basis due to higher inventories and a tough sales environment in China.De Beers's fifth sales cycle in 2019 - as of Tuesday - was at a provisional USD390 million. This was down 6.3% from USD416 million in the fourth sales cycle of this year, and a 32% drop from the USD581 million sales reported for the fifth cycle of 2018.Office provider IWG said CEO Mark Dixon bought 207,039 shares at an average of GBP3.388 each, in a series of transactions worth GBP701,448 in total. Last week, Dixon made a series of share purchases worth GBP836,769.Board members at Smith & Nephew have talked about moving the company's share listing to the US, the FT reported on Tuesday, in a bid to boost pay for new chief executive Namal Nawana.The FT reported that, "according to two people familiar with the matter", the company was considering the US listing in order to "narrow the gap" between Nawana's pay at his previous company Alere and his pay at Smith & Nephew.Nawana, who joined the medical device company as CEO in May last year, earned USD2.8 million for the seven months he headed Smith & Nephew in 2018, according to the newspaper. The FT pointed out that, at Alere, Nawana's pay package was USD8.6 million in 2016 and USD11.1 million in 2015.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.4%.The US and China's top trade negotiators spoke on the phone ahead of a planned meeting between the countries' presidents, state media said Tuesday.Chinese Vice Premier Liu He spoke on the phone with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday, news agency Xinhua reported.The call was held at the US's initiative, days before Trump and Xi are set to meet at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. The meeting could determine whether the trade war ends or continues indefinitely.The US and China announced last week they have resumed talks, after negotiations to end the protracted trade war failed last month.In addition, worries about US-Iran tensions weighed on sentiment as Iran's foreign ministry on Tuesday condemned the fresh US sanctions on the country that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several military commanders as well as Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif.Trump on Monday signed an executive order imposing what he called "hard-hitting" new sanctions.The pound was quoted at USD1.2746 early Tuesday, higher than USD1.2729 at the London equities close Monday.Kantar releases its UK grocery market share report for the 12 weeks ended June 16 at 0800 BST.A light economic events calendar on Tuesday has US home sales and consumer confidence readings at 1500 BST.