Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set for a marginally higher open on Thursday after the US central bank predicted no rate increases in 2019, and ahead of the Bank of England's own policy decision at midday.In early company news, Next delivered an annual profit exactly in line with guidance and backed its outlook for the coming year. Halma also said trading has been in line with expectations, but Ted Baker reported a slump in profit and reduced its dividend amid tough trading conditions, while low market volatility hit IG's third-quarter revenue.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 2.99 points higher at 7,294.00 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 32.99 points, or 0.5%, at 7,291.01 on Wednesday.On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged, holding the target range for the Federal Funds Rate at 2.25% to 2.50%.Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the US economy "is in a good place" and cited "solid underlying economic fundamentals" of unemployment below 4% and inflation below 2% in announcing the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee after a two-day meeting in Washington.The positive outlook that Powell described includes the committee's estimate that US economic growth this year will be about to 2%, which is lower than its previous forecast and less than the White House's rosier estimate of about 3%.Part of the reason for the Fed's lower growth rate projection is that a global economic tailwind that helped lift the US economy last year is gone, he said, noting that the European and Chinese economies have slowed.The central bank's forward projections also indicated the US interest rates are likely to remain unchanged for the remainder of the year. The forecast for interest rates to be unchanged at the end of the current year compares to the December projections indicating two rate hikes in 2019."Wall Street wasn't quite sure what to make of another dovish surprise by the Fed; the second so far this year. Whilst US stocks initially erased earlier losses, the rebound was short lived," said Jasper Lawler at London Capital Group.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended lower following the decision, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.6%, the S&P 500 down 0.3% but Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.1%.In Asia on Thursday, the Shanghai Composite in China closed up 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.6%. Financial markets in Japan are closed on Thursday for the Vernal Equinox Day holiday."Asian markets pushed higher on the more dovish Fed. European and US futures are also pointing to a stronger start on the opening bell. The dollar initially dived 0.5% versus a basket of currencies and is clawing back some losses in early trade on Thursday," said Lawler.The pound was quoted at USD1.3218 early Thursday, firm versus USD1.3205 at the London equities close on Wednesday.Top US trade negotiators will head to China next week for another round of talks aimed at settling a months-long trade war.US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will make the trip, an administration official confirmed to dpa on Wednesday.President Donald Trump said Wednesday the US trade negotiators would leave over the coming weekend. Their job is to "further the deal," Trump said as he left the White House for Ohio, referring to a hoped-for trade deal between the two countries.Trump also said the deal is "coming along nicely" but added that the US will leave tariffs in place for a "substantial period of time" while Washington makes sure China follows whatever agreement is reached.The economic events calendar on Thursday has UK retail sales numbers at 0930 GMT and Japanese inflation readings at 2330 GMT. In UK company news, clothing and homewares retailer Next said it delivered profit "exactly in line with guidance" amid a challenging year. Revenue for the year to January 26 increased to GBP4.17 billion from GBP4.09 billion the year before, as pretax profit edged down to GBP722.9 million from GBP726.1 million, though this was bang on January's guidance of GBP723 million.Full price sales were up 3.1%, with online sales jumping 15% and sales from brick-and-mortar sales falling 7.3%. For the year ahead, retail sales are forecast to fall 8.5% year-on-year, while online is set for an 11% rise, and total full price sales are expected to increase 1.7%. Next forecasts profit to fall to GBP715 million in the recently commenced financial year. Safety and environmental technology firm Halma said it expects annual results in line with market forecasts following "widespread" growth in the year-to-date. The US and the UK have seen the strongest growth geographically, Halma said, with the performance in mainland Europe and Asia Pacific more moderate. Order intakes remained ahead of revenue and the same period last year, the company said.The safety sectors have performed in line with expectations, while Process Safety is expected to deliver a "satisfactory" performance despite planned reorganisation costs in the second half. The Medical and Environmental & Analysis units remain on track to deliver "good" full-year performances.Fashion retailer Ted Baker said it delivered a resilient performance against "very difficult trading conditions". Revenue for the year to January 26 rose 4.4% to GBP617.4 million, but pretax profit slumped 26% to GBP50.9 million. "Performance has been impacted by the very difficult trading conditions throughout the year including competitive discounting across the retail sector, consumer uncertainty, the well-publicised challenges facing some of our UK trading partners and the unseasonable weather across our global markets at different points throughout the period," Ted Baker said. The FTSE 250 constituent lowered its dividend to 58.6p from the 60.1p paid out the year before.Ted Baker added that the independent investigation conducted by law firm Herbert Smith Freehills into allegations of misconduct against Chief Executive & Founder Ray Kelvin is expected to conclude in the second quarter of 2019.Ted Baker said it is confident in its Spring/Summer collection, though noted that trading continues to be knocked by ongoing consumer uncertainty and high levels of promotional activity across the sector.Online trading platform IG Group Holdings said third-quarter revenue fell on a year before, and the level of revenue expected in the final quarter of the year is "difficult to predict accurately". Net trading revenue was GBP108.0 million in the third quarter, down 12% on the previous quarter. This was due to lower revenue per client, said IG, reflecting "reducing levels of volatility in financial markets throughout the quarter, culminating in persistently low levels of volatility and market activity in February".In the year-to-date, net trading revenue of GBP359 million is down 15% on a year ago, due to European regulation and an "exceptional" performance in the third quarter of last year. IG said it continues to expect revenue for the 2019 financial year to be lower than that achieved the year before, though said the level of revenue in the final quarter of the year is "difficult to predict accurately" as the company's performance is affected by market volatility.In the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May is to appeal to EU leaders to grant her a delay to Brexit as she makes a further attempt to get her withdrawal deal through Parliament.With just eight days before the UK is due to leave the EU, the prime minister will make the case for extending the Article 50 withdrawal process to June 30 at a Brussels summit on Thursday.Ahead of the meeting, European Council President Donald Tusk said a "short" delay should be possible - but only if MPs finally back her deal before the deadline day on March 29.May formally made the request for an extension to the end of June in a letter to Tusk on Wednesday.The prime minister had previously indicated she would seek a longer delay after her deal went down to a 149-vote defeat in last week's second "meaningful vote".However, she reportedly backed down after the threat of Cabinet resignations by Brexiteer ministers, who feared it could spell the end of their hopes of leaving the EU."The Bank of England meeting will be a minor distraction from Brexit with no policy change a certainty," said Societe Generale. The BoE will announce its latest monetary policy decision, alongside the release of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting minutes, at midday on Thursday. There will be no press conference with BoE Governor Mark Carney following the decision.It is widely expected the nine-strong MPC will vote to maintain the UK Bank Rate at 0.75%.