Ocado Share News (OCDO)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London's FTSE 100 index dived more than 70 points in opening trade on Wednesday as risk-off trade took hold, with gold miner Fresnillo shining as investors fled to the safe-haven metal.The FTSE 100 was down 71.06 points, or 1.0%, at 7,197.89 early Wednesday. The FTSE 250 was down 141.79 points, or 0.7%, at 19,063.14. The AIM All-Share was down 0.5% at 960.80.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 1.0% at 12,203.85. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.5% at 17,176.73 with the Cboe UK Small Companies 0.1% lower at 11,835.81.Over in mainland Europe, the CAC 40 index in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 1.2% and 1.0%, respectively.The health of the global economy and trade war fears were weighing on markets on Wednesday."Government bond yields in most countries continue to fall as investors look for safe havens amidst fears that US-China trade tensions could lead to weaker global growth," commented Lloyds Banking.Chinese tech giant Huawei has filed a motion in a US court challenging the constitutionality of a law that limits its sales of telecoms equipment, the latest action in an ongoing clash with Washington.Huawei's chief legal officer Song Liuping said the firm had filed a motion for summary judgment asking the court to rule on whether it is constitutional for the US to implement a military spending provision that bars the government and its contractors from using its equipment."Politicians in the US are using the strength of an entire nation to come after a private company," Song said. "This is not normal."The US and China are embroiled in a protracted trade dispute and tariff war that began last July following complaints from US President Donald Trump that China steals from or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology while unfairly subsidising Chinese businesses.Amid few gainers in the FTSE 100 on Wednesday, gold miner Fresnillo was the top performer, up 1.4%. An ounce of gold was quoted at USD1,283.95 early Wednesday, up USD5 from USD1,278.69 late Tuesday.FTSE 250-listed AVEVA was up 1.5% after the engineer delivered a "strong performance" in its first full year as an enlarged company, boosting its total payout.On a proforma basis, revenue rose 12% in the year to March 31 to GBP775.2 million with adjusted earnings before interest and tax up 20% to GBP184.5 million.On a statutory basis, revenue jumped 58% to GBP766.6 million and pretax profit rose 35% to GBP46.7 million.AVEVA and France's Schneider Electric in September 2017 reached an agreement to combine AVEVA with Schneider's industrial software businesses.AVEVA said its outlook remains positive, and it is on-track to meet its medium-term targets. These are delivering revenue growth at least in line with the industrial software market, increasing recurring revenue as a percentage of overall revenue to 60%, and improving the company's adjusted Ebit margin to 30%.For the recently ended financial year, recurring revenue made up 54% of sales and the adjusted Ebit margin came in at 23.8%.The total dividend for the year amounted to 43p, up 59% from the 27p paid out a year ago.For the 2018 financial year, AVEVA had paid out a 27p final dividend and, in place of an interim dividend, returned GBP10.15 per share following the merger with the Schneider industrial software businesses.The combination, which was agreed after two previous failed attempts, saw Schneider Electric contribute software assets to AVEVA and make a GBP550 million cash payment to AVEVA shareholders in exchange for a 60% shareholding in the combined company.Stobart Group gained 1.2% after saying it had a "transformational" year, with trading in line with expectations as it put legacy issues behind it.Revenue for the year to February 28 rose 39% to GBP146.9 million, though Stobart swung to a pretax loss of GBP42.1 million from a GBP109.3 million profit the year before. In the 2018 financial year, the company received GBP133.5 million in 'other' operating income, which was not repeated in the recently-ended year.On an underlying basis, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the Aviation business nearly tripled, while the Energy arm saw Ebitda up 60% to GBP19.2 million."The increase in underlying Ebitda from our two main operating divisions has been achieved against a challenging backdrop. Sadly, it was necessary for the board to devote significant time to the dispute with former CEO Andrew Tinkler, which gathered pace ahead of the company's AGM," commented Chair Ian Ferguson.Stobart said it has entered the new financial year with "increased confidence", with a more de-risked balance sheet.Provident Financial was down 0.4% while Non-Standard Finance was trading flat.The UK Competition & Markets Authority said it is mulling whether the merger of Provident Financial and Non-Standard Finance will lessen competition.The regulator noted that Non-Standard has acknowledged the deal could result in a lessening of competition due to a home credit overlap, and has proposed a demerger of the operating company of Loans at Home - Non-Standard's entire home credit business - to create a separate listed company.Shares in the demerged Loans at Home would be allocated to Non-Standard shareholders."The CMA is inviting comments on whether the proposed demerger would remove the overlap in home credit and remedy the realistic prospect of an substantial lessening of competition that Non-Standard Finance has acknowledged," the CMA said.In other news, rail and coach ticket booking website Trainline will go ahead with a listing on the London Stock Exchange, looking to raise around GBP75 million.Admission will likely take place in June and, following this, Trainline will be eligible for inclusion in FTSE indices. The firm has engaged JP Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co International as joint sponsors.The Financial Times previously reported Trainline's owner Victoria Investments SCA - a part of private equity firm KKR - is targeting a GBP1.5 billion valuation, which would safely land the firm in London's FTSE 250 index.The final offer price will be determined following a book-building process, Victoria Investments said on Wednesday.In the economic calendar on Wednesday, German unemployment figures for May are at 0855 BST. The Redbook index in the US is at 1355 BST.Already out, UK shop prices increased in May, reaching the second highest growth rate in the last six years, figures from the British Retail Consortium-Nielsen Shop Price Index showed on Wednesday.The latest figures from the BRC-Nielsen Index, covering the first week of May, showed that shop price inflation accelerated to 0.8% on the prior year, up from 0.4% in April, marking the second highest inflation rate in the past six years. Non-food prices rose 0.2% compared to April, when they decreased by 0.6%.Meanwhile, the latest data from Kantar showed the UK grocery sector remained resilient in the face of a record-breaking May a year ago, which was boosted by hot weather and a royal wedding. Tesco's market share slipped to 27.3% in the 12 weeks to May 19 from 27.7% a year ago, while Sainsbury's was down to 15.2% from 15.7% and Wm Morrison Supermarkets to 10.4% from 10.5%. Online grocer Ocado's market share inched up to 1.3% from 1.2%. German discounters Lidl and Aldi both managed to increase their market share, with Aldi up to 8.0% from 7.3% and Lidl to 5.8% from 5.4%."The discounters continue to attract customers with nearly one million more households visiting Aldi compared with last year and an additional 630,000 shopping at Lidl," commented Chris Hayward, consumer specialist at Kantar.Ocado shares were down 2.2%, Tesco shares down 1.3%, Morrisons down 1.1% and J Sainsbury down 0.7%.