LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called for a lower open on Wednesday, as miner Glencore reported a record interim earnings performance, as did newly-spun out wealth manager Quilter.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 19.5 points lower at 7,707.80 Wednesday, having been called to open 1.3 points lower earlier on.
The blue chip index closed 0.7% higher, or 54.70 points, at 7,718.48 on Tuesday, its best closing price for a week.
In early UK corporate news, miner Glencore reported a 23% rise in interim adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation to a "record" USD8.27 billion for the six months to June-end, with net income climbing 13% year-on-year to GBP2.78 billion.
The growth in earnings was attributed to higher commodity prices, high-margin volume growth, as well as a focus on costs.
Glencore said it was "another" period of strong financial performance. Funds from operations rose 8% year-on-year to USD5.6 billion, while net debt is down 16% to USD9.0 billion.
Revenue increased to USD108.55 billion from USD100.29 billion, while pretax profit rose to USD3.72 billion from USD2.87 billion.
Glencore said Marketing was "strong", with adjusted earnings before interest and taxes up 12% year-on-year to USD1.5 billion, while Industrial Ebitda increased 26% to USD6.7 billion.
Glencore said notwithstanding a volatile climate, it is confident in its prospects and that it can continue returning cash to shareholders.
Also in the FTSE 100, wealth manager Quilter, formerly Old Mutual Wealth Management, posted a 16% year-on-year rise in adjusted pretax profit for the six months to June-end to GBP110 million.
Quilter is paying a special interim dividend of 12 pence per share, which it said comes after repaying a GBP300 million term loan in June - it had not planned initially on returning cash to shareholders at the halfway point.
Assets under management or administration rose 2% from December's end to GBP116.5 billion, with positive net inflows of GBP2.2 billion slightly offset by a weaker overall market performance.
Quilter's interim revenue came in at GBP857 million, down from GBP3.15 billion due to a far lower investment return, while pretax profit from continuing operations was up to GBP17 million from GBP5 million.
Bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair reported 7% interim revenue growth year-on-year to GBP867 million at constant currency, and 5% at reported rates.
Paddy Power's first quarter revenue was flat year-on-year, but the second quarter figure was up 13%, 9% before the football world cup, which began mid-June.
Underlying Ebitda fell 1% at reported rates to GBP217 million, but increased 1% at constant currency. Pretax profit rose 4% year-on-year to GBP106 million.
Paddy Power has increased its interim dividend by 3% to 67p.
Paddy Power now expects 2018 underlying Ebitda between GBP460 million and GBP480 million, "reflecting recent trading momentum", further tax in Australia, and losses from its FanDuel fantasy sports business.
Underlying Ebitda in 2017 came in at GBP473 million.
In the FTSE 250, engineer Spirax-Sarco boosted its interim dividend by 14% to 29 pence per share, as it recorded solid profit and revenue growth for the six months to June.
Spirax-Sarco's revenue increased 28%, and 7% organically, to GBP547.6 million, while adjusted pretax profit increased 22% to GBP120.6 million. On a statutory basis, pretax profit was up 21% to GBP106.8 million.
The company said its organic growth was ahead of global industrial growth during the period, with the company "very pleased" with its performance.
Full year expectations remain unchanged, despite Spirax-Sarco's second half facing tough comparable figures from the second half of 2017.
It expects a "relatively stable" macroeconomic environment for the rest of the year, but expects global industrial production for the second half to dip from the first six months.
Infrastructure products and galvanising company Hill & Smith posted a 1% interim revenue rise for the six months to June, and 4% at constant currency, to GBP295.4 million.
Reported pretax profit fell 14% to GBP28.9 million, and on an underlying basis it dipped 12% to GBP33.0 million, with performance hit by short-term project delays in the UK's roads programme and in utilities markets.
Despite the weakness in the UK, Hill & Smith did well in the US and other international businesses, following strong investment in both new and replacement infrastructure projects.
Hill & Smith has increased its interim payout by 6% to 10p a share.
The company said despite the disappointing first half, its market fundamentals remain strong, and it is confident it can keep growing going ahead.
Recruiter PageGroup's interim revenue rose 12% to GBP751.6 million, and 13% at constant currency, while pretax profit was up 18% to GBP67.2 million.
It has declared a special dividend once again of 12.73p per share, flat on the same period a year prior, while its normal interim payout is 4.10p, up from 3.90p a year prior.
PageGroup said the results reflect improved performance and operational efficiencies, but going forward warned issues such as Brexit and trading in Catalonia remain challenges.
TI Fluid Systems posted a 0.5% drop in interim revenue for the six months to June to EUR1.77 billion, though it rose 4.5% at constant currency, while pretax profit rose 7.0% to EUR76.2 million and 23% at constant currency.
TI Fluid said revenue growth was driven by a combination of new business, higher volumes, and mix, though foreign exchange did provide a headwind. Its interim dividend is 3.02 euro cents.
The outlook for 2018 remains unchanged, with revenue growth still expected excluding the impact of currency movements.
The pound was flat early Wednesday, quoted at USD1.2934 compared to USD1.2953 at the London equities close Tuesday.
US-China trade showed strong year-on-year growth in July, suggesting companies are rushing to fill orders as the trade war escalates, Chinese customs data showed Wednesday.
Chinese exports to the US jumped 11% year-on-year to USD41.5 billion, while imports grew 11% to USD13.4 billion. Overall trade between the world's two largest economies also grew 11%.
Nevertheless, compared to June, US-China trade narrowed slightly in July, by 2.3%, to USD55 billion.
The US-China trade deficit - long criticized by US President Donald Trump - also narrowed month-to-month, by 3.1%, to USD28.1 billion.
China's overall foreign trade was strong last month, with exports growing 12% year-on-year, and imports jumping 27%.
The US announced Tuesday it would impose 25% tariffs on USD16 billion worth of Chinese goods on August 23.
It is the second tranche of duties following tariffs on approximately USD34 billion of Chinese imports that went into effect last month. Beijing has already retaliated with tit-for-tat measures.
Trump has pressed China to slash the trade deficit, which reached USD375 billion last year. Additionally, Trump wants to curb Beijing's state support for high-tech firms and alleged intellectual property theft.
Looking ahead, Julian Evans-Pritchard, an economist at Capital Economics, said he expects export growth to cool in the coming months, though this will primarily reflect softer global growth rather than US tariffs, the direct impact of which will continue to be mostly offset by the renminbi's recent depreciation.
In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 1.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 index is 0.1% lower.
In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5%, S&P 500 up 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.3%.
The euro stood at USD1.1611 early Wednesday, against USD1.1590 at the the close on Tuesday.
Coming up in a fairly quiet economic calendar on Wednesday are US weekly mortgage applications at 1200 BST, and the EIA weekly petroleum status report at 1530 BST.
