Ocado Share News (OCDO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London opened mixed on Tuesday, with Antofagasta, Ocado and Hikma Pharmaceuticals driving gains in the FTSE 100.Still ahead on Tuesday are UK unemployed figures at 0930 GMT and the start of the two-day US Federal Reserve meeting.The FTSE 100 index was 31.44 points higher, or 0.4%, at 7,330.63 early Tuesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 20.43 points, or 0.1%, at 19,466.27, while the AIM All-Share index was 0.3% lower at 918.10.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.2% at 12,401.11. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.1% at 17,468.07 and the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.2% at 11,148.01.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended up 0.1%.In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.1% and up 0.2% respectively.The US Fed begins its two-day policy meeting later Tuesday, though no changes to monetary policy are expected given previous indications from Chair Jerome Powell of a "patient" approach to interest rate adjustments.In the FTSE 100, Hikma Pharmaceuticals was the best performer, up 3.0% after Citigroup raised the drugmaker to Buy from Neutral. Ocado Group was up 2.0% after the online grocer reported continued revenue growth in the first quarter of the year, despite a fire at its Andover automated warehouse taking a toll on the company's sales. For the 13 weeks to March 3, the company reported an 11% rise in revenue to GBP404.0 million from GBP363.4 million a year prior. This was despite the fire at the customer fulfilment centre at the beginning of February reducing revenue by 1.2% in the quarter, the company said. The average number of orders in the period rose 11% to 314,000 a week from 282,000 the prior year, while the average order size dipped by a miniscule 0.2% to GBP110.24 from GBP110.45. Antofagasta was up 2.0% despite the Chilean copper miner cutting its dividend and reporting a drop in annual earnings amid lower realised copper prices and higher exploration costs. In 2018, Antofagasta's revenue declined 0.3% to USD4.73 billion. This, the company said, reflects a 6.3% fall in the copper price, though this was "almost" offset by higher copper sales and increased revenue from molybdenum.Pretax profit for 2018 was USD1.25 billion, 32% lower than in 2017, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation declined 14% to USD2.23 billion.Copper sales in 2018 were 717,600 tonnes, 1.2% higher year-on-year, while molybdenum sales soared 46% to 14,000 tonnes. The firm is paying a final dividend of 37 US cents, taking the year's figure to 43.8 cents, down 14% from 50.9 cents in 2017. However, the payout ratio is similar year-on-year at 67% of underlying earnings per share and well above its 35% minimum. Informa was up 1.5% after Morgan Stanley raised the business publishing and events group to Overweight from Equal Weight. In the FTSE 250, Softcat was the best performer, up 7.5% after the IT infrastructure products and services company said it expects to report annual results slightly ahead of forecasts following strong growth in profit in the first half. Softcat said pretax profit in the six months to the end of January grew to GBP34.0 million from GBP24.2 million reported for the same period a year earlier.Softcat's revenue rose by 21% to GBP434.20 million from GBP358.3 million the year before, helped by improved cloud-based software sales. Customer numbers also grew by 6.5% to 10,100 from 9,500.The company declared an interim dividend of 4.5p per share, up 36% from 3.3p paid the year prior.TP ICAP was up 2.5%. The interdealer broker reported "resilient" results in a "mixed" 2018 as the company continued its integration programme and prepares for "all Brexit eventualities".In 2018, TP ICAP's pretax profit decreased 14% to GBP62 million from GBP72 million. The company's revenue was flat at GBP1.76 billion. Underlying profit increased 5.2% to GBP245 million from GBP233 million in 2017. The adjusted figures remove acquisition, disposal & integration costs, and exceptional items.TP ICAP declared a final dividend of 11.25 pence per share, along with an interim dividend of 5.6p, gives a total dividend for 2018 of 16.85p, in line with the year before.At the other end of the midcaps, Ferrexpo was the worst performer, down 8.9%. The iron pellet producer said it would delay the release of its annual results after an independent review on charitable donations found more discrepancies, suggesting funds may not have been used for their stated purpose.Ferrexpo said it intends to announce its 2018 results on or before April 3. The pound was quoted at USD1.3267 Tuesday, up from USD1.3227 at the London equities close Monday. UK Prime Minister Theresa May will convene a meeting of her Cabinet after her Brexit plans were dealt a significant blow by the Commons Speaker.John Bercow scuppered the chance of another Commons vote on the prime minister's deal before Thursday's EU summit, leading one minister to warn that the government faces a "major constitutional crisis".Bercow ruled that May cannot bring her EU Withdrawal Agreement back before MPs unless it is substantially different from the package that was decisively defeated last week.The speaker's ruling, announced in an unexpected statement to the Commons, throws a further obstacle in the way of the prime minister's scramble to get a deal agreed by the scheduled date of Brexit of March 29."This marks a significant blow for the government, effectively closing off another vote this week unless May can pull off a miracle. The Speaker will only allow a third vote if the proposition changes significantly - which seems rather unlikely ahead of the European Council meeting this week," said Markets.com analyst Neil Wilson. The economic events calendar on Tuesday has UK unemployment data at 0930 GMT and eurozone construction output at 1000 GMT.The UK unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 40-year lows of 4.0%, while average weekly wages, excluding bonuses are expected to come in at 3.4%, unchanged from December.