Rolls-Royce Share News (RR.)

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set for a lower open on Tuesday following US accusations of alleged currency manipulation by China amid the two powers' ongoing trade spat. In UK corporate news, Rolls-Royce reported a first half of solid progress, while Domino's Pizza Group's chief executive will retire when a replacement is found. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 18 points lower, at 7,205.85. The blue-chip index closed down 183.21 points, or 2.5%, at 7,223.85 on Monday, its lowest in two months. The US Treasury Department has labelled China a currency manipulator after Beijing pushed down the value of the yuan in a dramatic escalation of the trade conflict between the world's two biggest economies.The decision, which came hours after Trump accused China of unfairly devaluing its currency, marks a reversal for the Treasury. In May, it declined to sanction China for manipulating its currency.The US has not put China on the currency blacklist since 1994. The designation could pave the way for more sanctions against China.Earlier on Monday, China allowed its currency to weaken to an 11-year low, giving its exporters a price edge in world markets and easing some of the damage from US tariffs on Chinese products.Trump had gone on Twitter to denounce China's move as "currency manipulation", adding: "This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time.""President Trump accused the China of currency manipulation, as a weaker yuan will help with their exports," said David Madden at CMC Markets UK."In 2015, the People's Bank of China intentionally devalued the yuan as the economy was cooling down, and that sparked a huge sell-off in worldwide stocks, and should the yuan fall further, it might play on traders' minds that something similar might happen.""Beijing also instructed state owned companies to halt importing US agricultural goods, and that added to the deteriorating relationship between the US and China, and in turn it hit stocks hard," Madded added. In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended deeply in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing down 767.27 points, 2.9%, the S&P 500 down 3.0%, and the Nasdaq Composite 3.5% lower.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 0.7% lower on Tuesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.1%.In early UK corporate news, FTSE 100 engine maker Rolls-Royce is on track for full-year expectations, as it reported interim revenue growth and a narrowed pretax loss.Revenue for the six months to June climbed 5% to GBP7.88 billion, with the pretax loss shrinking to GBP791 million from GBP1.23 billion year-on-year. Rolls-Royce posted an operating profit of GBP83 million, swinging from a loss of GBP747 million a year before, with underlying operating profit up 32% to GBP203 million. The firm half-year saw "further progress", Chief Executive Warren East said, and Rolls-Royce has reiterated 2019 guidance for core underlying operating profit of approximately GBP700 million, and, overall, "the outlook remains positive". InterContinental Hotels Group reported solid interim profit growth, with revenue also rising, in a half of "significant" progress. Pretax profit climbed 25% on a year before to GBP375 million, with revenue climbing 8% to USD2.28 billion. Revenue per available room, a key industry metric, climbed by 0.1% in the Americas and by 0.2% in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, & Africa, though it fell 0.3% in China. IHG boosted its interim dividend by 10% on a year before to 39.9 US cents. IHG opened 30,000 new rooms in the period, its fastest pace in over a decade, with the pipeline now standing at over 282,000 rooms. The outlook, it said, is "confident". In the FTSE 250, Domino's Pizza Group posted 4.7% growth in system sales for the 26 weeks to June 30 to GBP645.8 million. In the UK & Ireland, sales were up 5.5%, and 3.9% on a like-for-like basis, slowing from the year before's 5.9% like-for-like growth. Pretax profit fell 27% to GBP30.5 million, and the underlying pretax profit figure declined 7.4% to GBP42.3 million. Domino's increased its interim dividend by 3.7% to 4.20 pence per share. Chief Executive David Wild said the core UK & Ireland market did well, but the company warned talks with franchisees are "complex", meaning new store openings are going to be delayed into 2020. Furthermore, Wild is to retire, though he will stay until a new CEO is found. Internationally, performance is "very challenging", with trading visibility limited. Chemicals firm Synthomer reported a 34% drop in pretax profit for the six months to June, reaching GBP56.6 million, as revenue fell 8.5% to GBP762.7 million. Volumes fell 5.7% to 750,800 tonnes. On an underlying basis, Synthomer's pretax profit fell 7.9% to GBP70.2 million.The dividend was increased 8.1% to 4.0p per share.Chair Neil Johnson said the company met expectations in a difficult market, but conditions are set to improve in the rest of 2019. Expectations are unchanged for 2019, Johnson added, and the firm is confident on further progress.Defence firm Meggitt upgraded its 2019 outlook, following a 12% rise in revenue for the six months to June to GBP1.07 billion. Organic growth was 9%, and Meggitt's orders climbed 10%, and 7% organically, to GBP1.19 billion. Pretax profit fell 31% to GBP73 million, and on an underlying basis climbed 7% to GBP145 million. Meggitt boosted the interim dividend by 5% to 5.55 pence per share. Meggitt said the Civil Aerospace and Defence businesses did well, and, following the better than expected first half, it has upgraded revenue growth guidance for 2019 to 4% to 6%. Office firm IWG reported a 12% rise in revenue for the first half of 2019, to GBP1.30 billion, with pretax profit from continuing operations down 4% to GBP42.8 million. IWG increased the interim dividend 10% to 2.15p and also announced a share buyback programme worth GBP100 million. IWG said it was a "strong" half, and it expects good full-year results, and the performance is reflected in the increased dividend and share buyback. Flow control equipment firm Rotork posted a 3.7% drop in revenue for the first half of 2019, to GBP318.6 million, with orders down 0.6% to GBP362.5 million. Rotork's pretax profit fell 4.5% to GBP52.2 million, with the adjusted figure up 2.2% to GBP65.8 million. The company increased its dividend by 4.5%, to 2.30p.Rotork is "pleased" with the first half performance, despite the expected sales decline, and it now expects flat annual sales on an organic constant currency basis following good recent order intake. Interdealer broker TP ICAP's pretax profit for the six months to June more than doubled, to GBP83 million from GBP34 million, as revenue on an underlying basis, which strips out acquisition and sale costs and other exceptionals, rose 1.3% to GBP922 million. Underlying pretax profit fell 3.6% to GBP134 million. TP ICAP said it was a "resilient performance", and it has kept the interim dividend flat at 5.6p per share. On the London Main Market, Ryanair reported 9% growth in July passenger numbers, to 14.8 million, with the Ryanair airline growing 8% and Lauda by 20%. The rolling annual figure to July rose 10% to 148.2 million passengers. Load factor in July was 97% for the group and Ryanair but 96% for Lauda.In overnight UK economic news, shops suffered the worst July consumer spending since the British Retail Consortium-KPMG retail sales monitor began, data showed on Tuesday.On a total basis, sales in July were up just 0.3% year-on-year, coming up against an increase of 1.6% in July a year ago."This is the lowest figure recorded for the month of July since our records began in 1995 and comes after the worst June on records," the BRC and KPMG said.On a like-for-like basis, sales were up 0.1% year-on-year in July."Whereas last year's glorious sunshine and World Cup Finals led to strong consumer demand over the summer, this year has been weak in comparison, with both June and July showing the lowest sales on record for their respective months. And it is not just high streets that are suffering, with non-food online growth also one percentage point below the 12-month average," commented BRC Chief Executive Helen Dickinson.In a quiet economic calendar, the US Redbook index comes at 1355 BST.