Next Share News (NXT)

(Alliance News) - It was a tepid start for stocks in London on Wednesday as traders pondered the likely size of an anticipated US interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve after the UK market close.Among big London listings, a decline in Lloyds Banking shares - as the lender reported a fall in interim profit - was offsetting a rise for clothing retailer Next, which upped its guidance after an upbeat second quarter.The large-cap index was 21.36 points, or 0.3%, lower at 7,625.41 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index down 14.58 points, or 0.1%, at 19,760.24, while the AIM All-Share was flat at 932.43.The Cboe UK 100 index was down down 0.4% at 12,926.13. The Cboe UK 250 was down down 0.1% at 17,607.59, while the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.4% at 10,993.54.In Paris, the CAC 40 stock index was down 0.1% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.1% higher in early trade."We're seeing some cautious trade at the open in Europe as traders sit back in anticipation of this evenings Fed event," said Craig Erlam at Oanda. "It's been hard to look past the US interest rate decision given that investors seem so hung up on it."The US Federal Reserve releases its latest interest rate decision at 1900 BST, followed by a press conference with Chair Jerome Powell at 1930 BST."The time has come and traders are going to see if the Fed is really to back their words," said Naeem Aslam at ThinkMarkets. "The Fed has always said that their monetary policy is dependent on the strength or the weakness of economic data. Now, given that the Fed has acknowledged the weakness in the economic data and also communicated their intentions towards their monetary policy, market participants are ready to act."What is expected and largely priced into the market is that the Fed is going to lower the interest rate by 25 basis points," said Aslam. Ahead of the Fed's anticipated rate cut, the dollar was softer. The pound was quoted at USD1.2174 in early trade, up from USD1.2150 late Tuesday.Aside from the Fed on Wednesday, there is German unemployment is at 0855 BST and eurozone GDP at 1000 BST. In the US, ADP employment is at 1315 BST.Already released, China's manufacturing activity contracted for a third month in a row in July, official data showed.The Purchasing Managers' Index, a gauge of Chinese factory conditions, came in at 49.7 for the month, slightly up from June's figure of 49.4, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. This is still below the neutral 50 mark.The economic reading comes as Chinese and US trade negotiators met in Shanghai on Wednesday in a bid to bring an end to a year-long trade war. Washington and Beijing have so far hit each other with punitive tariffs covering more than USD360 billion in two-way trade, damaging manufacturers in both countries.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.9%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 1.3% lower in late trade.In London at the top of the FTSE 100 was Next, up 7.6% after the clothing retailer raised its annual guidance.Full price sales in the second quarter were up 4.0% on a year ago, having been expected to fall 0.5%. This lead to full price sales growth in the first half coming in at 4.3%. Online lead the way in the half, with sales up 12%, while bricks-and-mortar stores saw sales fell 3.9%.July was particularly strong, Next said, with full price sales up 6.8% on last year. Sales in May and June combined were up 3.0%, which the retailer said it thinks is a better indicator of underlying growth, seeing as July benefited from the end-of-season sale.For the financial year ending in January 2020, Next now expects full price sales to grow 3.6% year-on-year, versus previous guidance of a 1.7% rise. Accordingly, Next has lifted its pretax profit guidance to GBP725 million from previous guidance of GBP715 million. Just Eat was up 2.5% despite seeing profit all but evaporate in the first half on planned investments.Revenue for the first half of 2019 was up 30% to GBP464.5 million, but pretax profit was all but wiped out, coming in at just GBP800,000 from GBP48.1 million a year ago. The takeaway platform put the 98% drop in profit down to planned investments in delivery and iFood.UK order growth was 11% in the second quarter following a stronger May and June, leading to 9.3% growth in the first half as a whole. Australia returned to revenue and order growth in the second quarter, while Canada was profitable in the first half.Just Eat said it is confident in its current performance and reconfirmed its annual guidance.At the start of the week, Just Eat and Dutch rival Takeaway.com confirmed a preliminary agreement for a possible all-share merger between the two. Just Eat made no reference to this in its interim results.Meanwhile, Lloyds Banking fell 4.2% after reporting a dip in interim profit and income as it upped its payment protection insurance provisions. In the six months to June 30, Lloyd's pretax profit slipped 7.1% to GBP2.90 billion from GBP3.12 billion a year before. The bank's net interest income declined 3.0% to GBP6.15 billion from GBP6.34 billion. Total net income slipped 1.7% to GBP8.82 billion.Lloyd's operating costs in the first half improved to GBP3.91 billion from GBP4.02 billion. Lloyds restructuring costs were halved to GBP182 million.The bank upped its PPI provisions, however, to GBP650 million from GBP550 million last year. Lloyds said it took a PPI charge of GBP550 million in the second quarter - following a GBP100 million provision in the first - due to a "significant increase in information request volumes" ahead of the August 29 claims deadline.In the FTSE 250, Intu Properties sank 14%. The shopping centre owner axed its interim dividend as it looked to strengthen its balance sheet amid intense pressure on its assets and income performance. For the six months ended June, net asset value per share fell 19% to 252 pence from 312 pence the year prior. Meanwhile, net rental income fell 8.0% to GBP205.2 million from GBP223.1 million the year before. Intu skipped its interim dividend for 2019, having paid out 4.6 pence per share the year prior. This is in line with its decision to not pay a final dividend for 2018 in order to reduce debt levels. Aston Martin shares skid 12% as the car maker swung to an interim loss. For the first half of 2019, total wholesale vehicle volumes were 2,442, up 6% year-on-year, though revenue fell 4% to GBP407.1 million. The company sank to a pretax loss of GBP78.8 million from a profit of GBP20.8 million a year ago. "As described in our trading statement on 24 July, both our retail and wholesale volumes have increased year-on-year. However, we are disappointed that our projections for wholesales have fallen short or our original targets impacted by weakness in two of our key markets as well as continued macro-economic uncertainty," said President & Chief Executive Andy Palmer.