Next Share News (NXT)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Thursday.
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COMPANIES
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Next reported growth in profit in its recently ended financial year, as it grew sales in both the directory and retail businesses, but said that 2016 will be a challenging year due to an uncertain global economic environment and changing patterns in consumer spending. The fashion and homewares retailer said pretax profit in the year to January 30 grew to GBP836.1 million from GBP794.8 million the year before, as revenue rose to GBP4.18 billion from GBP4.00 billion. By division, sales in the online and catalogue business Next Directory increased by 8%, while sales in the store business Next Retail were up by 1%. Full price sales demonstrated growth of 3.9%, above the 3.5% guidance issued at the beginning of the year. "The year ahead may well be the toughest we have faced since 2008," said Chief Executive Simon Wolfson.
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SSE said it expects adjusted earnings per share to have fallen in the current financial year and said those earnings continue to face "significant uncertainties", but said it will raise its dividend. The utility firm said it expects to report adjusted earnings per share, which excludes certain exceptional items, to be in the range of 117.0 to 119.0 pence for the financial year to the end of March, which would be down from the 124.1p reported in the previous year. On a more positive note, SSE said the increase in its dividend for the year is expected to be "at least" equal to RPI inflation, which is currently expected to be around 1%.
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Smurfit Kappa Group said it will transfer to a premium listing in London, which would make the Irish corrugated packaging company eligible to join the FTSE 100 index. Smurfit said it has proposed transferring the listing category of its ordinary, London-listed shares from a standard to a premium listing on April 25 and, at the same time, change the category of its Ireland-listed shares to a standard from a premium listing. Smurfit said the move follows the review of its London listing Smurfit that took earlier this year, and the change in the denomination of its shares in London to sterling from euros.
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Construction and infrastructure company Balfour Beatty said it has secured a two-year, GBP170.0 million extension to its Track Partnership contract for London Underground. The partnership handles essential track renewal work across the London Underground network, Balfour said.
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Outsourcer Mitie Group said profit for the full year will meet market expectations, but revenue will fall short following a softer second half. Mitie said it has seen some revenue shortfalls emerge in the second half of the financial year to the end of March, meaning revenue will miss market expectations. The company has been cutting costs to preserve margins, which will mean profit will be "within the range" of current market expectations, it said.
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Engineer Renishaw trimmed its profit and revenue guidance for its financial year to the end of June due to weaker trading conditions in the second half. Renishaw has consistently warned profit and revenue for the current financial year would fall against the prior year owing to large one-off orders not repeating. On Thursday, however, Renishaw said trading conditions have weakened in the second half, leaving it now expecting pretax profit of GBP67.0 million to GBP83.0 million for the full year, down from its previous guidance of GBP85.0 million to GBP105.0 million.
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Defence services company QinetiQ Group affirmed it is on course to meet its expectations for the full year. QinetiQ said its EMEA Services division has traded in line in the fourth quarter to the end of March thus far, with a boost coming from its Australian arm winning a five-year follow-on deal to provide aircraft structural integrity services to the Australian Defence Force's Directorate General Technical Airworthiness. Trading in QinetiQ's Global Products arm also was trading in line with expectations, with its US arm winning small robot contracts and survivability orders secured both in the US and internationally.
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Galliford Try said its building division will be involved in a major framework in the North of England and has also secured two public sector contracts in Croydon, south of London. The house builder and construction group said it has secured a place on the construction framework, YORbuild2, a collaborative framework covering 91 local authorities in the north of the country. Galliford also has secured a contract from Education Funding Agency to build the GBP21.7 million Harris Invictus Academy in Croydon. The other public sector contract has been secured from Croydon Health Services NHS Trust to build the new GBP21.3 million Accident and Emergency facility for Croydon University Hospital.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were in the red, with Next leading the decliners. Commodity prices were lower, putting pressure on London's resource stocks. Wall Street was pointed to a lower open.
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FTSE 100: down 1.4% at 6,113.87
FTSE 250: down 1.1% at 16,686.91
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 708.91

GBP: up at USD1.4133 (USD1.4092)
EUR: flat at USD1.1176 (USD1.1164)

GOLD: down at USD1,218.30 per ounce (USD1,221.50)
OIL (Brent): down at USD39.69 a barrel (USD40.71)

(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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British retail sales declined at a slower than expected pace in February, data from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Retail sales volume dropped 0.4% month-on-month reversing January's 2.3% growth. This was slower than an expected 0.7% decrease. Food store sales decreased 0.3% and non-food store sales edged down 0.1% in February. Sales excluding auto fuel slid 0.2% in contrast to a 2.3% rise a month ago and smaller than a 1% decline forecast by economists.
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UK mortgage approvals declined in February, defying expectations for a modest increase, figures from the British Bankers' Association showed. The number of loans approved for house purchase fell to 45,892 from 46,916 in January, which was highest in nearly two years. Economists had forecast 47,900 approvals for February. The January figure was revised down from from 47,509. Mortgage approvals grew 26% from a year ago.
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Belgian authorities were working to investigate how wide a network of attackers who carried out the deadly bombings in Brussels reached, as the state broadcaster reported that a second man likely took part in the subway explosion. RTBF said it was unclear whether the unidentified man, who was captured on surveillance camera carrying a large bag, was still alive. Prosecutors did not immediately comment on the report. Khalid El Bakraoui, 27, died after exploding a suicide bomb in the second car of a subway as it was pulling out from a station in central Brussels on Tuesday. The blast was the more deadly of two attacks, including an earlier series of explosions at the Brussels airport departure hall in which two bombers were killed. One of those bombers was El Bakraoui's brother, Ibrahim.
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The top diplomats of the EU and Germany urged Syria's conflict parties to start substantial talks on political transition, as a first round of revived peace talks neared its end without tangible results. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini travelled to Geneva, where she met the Syrian government and opposition delegations that have been holding indirect UN-brokered talks since last week. Mogherini said political change in Damascus would not only bring peace to Syrians but was also "the only way" to defeat the Islamic State extremist, who have claimed responsibility for the attacks in Brussels.
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Energy costs could "rocket" by half a billion pounds a year if the UK quits the European Union, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd will warn on Thursday. Pointing to a report by National Grid on the consequences of leaving the EU, she will say that the "massive electric shock" of Brexit could push up British bills by the equivalent of around GBP1.5 million a day.
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The Easter getaway is set to begin with millions of people setting off for UK breaks and holidays overseas. The roads will be busiest on Thursday when 55% of drivers intend to take their car out, according to an AA poll of more than 24,000 drivers. Holidaymakers heading overseas have been advised to allow extra time for security checks at transport hubs in the wake of the Brussels attacks. Travel organisation Abta estimates that two million Britons will go abroad over the four-day weekend.
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In a largely party-line vote, the US House of Representatives approved legislation to eliminate differences in the merger and acquisition review processes by the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The House voted 235 to 171 in favour of the bill, known as the Standard Merger and Acquisition Reviews Through Equal Rules Act or the SMARTER Act. The SMARTER Act requires the FTC and the Justice Department to abide by the same merger standards when reviewing proposed mergers for compliance with antitrust laws.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com; @ArvindBhunjun

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