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LONDON (Alliance News) - UK shares have opened flat Friday, with European markets on hold ahead of a key European Central Bank meeting next week.
FTSE 250 polymer products maker Fenner PLC said underlying pretax profit for the year to August 31 could fall by 10% to 15%, as trading conditions in the US continue to deteriorate while its Australian arm suffered a setback following the loss of a profitable contract. Its shares are down 15%.
On AIM, Ferrum Crescent shares are down 24% after revealing that investment funds it expected to receive have not been paid.
Here is what you need to know at the UK market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,863.86
FTSE 250: flat at 15,957.15
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 812.29
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Hang Seng: up 0.2% at 23,054.54
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.3% at 14,632.38
DJIA: closed up 0.4% at 16,698.74
S&P 500: closed up 0.5% at 1,920.03
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6747
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3612
GOLD: up at USD1,257.29 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD109.85 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Friday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times British Summer Time)
09:00 Italy Producer Price Index
10:00 Italy Consumer Price Index
13:30 Canada Gross Domestic Product
13:30 US Personal Income and Spending
14:45 US Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index
14:55 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index
19:00 US Fed's Lacker speech
22:00 US FOMC Member Williams speech
22:00 US Philadelphia Fed's Plosser speech
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An index measuring consumer sentiment in the UK came in with a score of 0 in May, polling company GfK said. That beat forecasts for a score of -2 and was up from -3 in April. The May reading represents a nine-year high score for the index. All the five sub-indicators, used to calculate the total index, witnessed growth in May.
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Germany's retail sales fell unexpectedly in April after rising for three consecutive months, official figures revealed. Retail sales turnover declined by a real 0.9% from March, when it was up 0.1%, Destatis reported. Sales were expected to rise by 0.2%. Meanwhile, on a yearly basis, retail sales grew 3.4%, reversing the 1.1% drop in March. The rate also exceeded 1.5% rise expected by economists.
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Industrial output in Japan dipped 2.5% on month in April, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. That missed forecasts for a decline of 2.0% following the 0.7% increase in March. On a yearly basis, industrial production added 4.1% - also missing expectations for 4.5% and down from 7.4% in the previous month.
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Nationwide core inflation in Japan was up 3.2% on year in April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said. That topped forecasts for 3.1% and was up sharply from 1.3% in March. Overall nationwide CPI climbed 3.4% - in line with expectations and up from 1.6% in the previous month. Meanwhile, the same government ministry said average of household spending in Japan was down 4.6% on year in April, standing at 302,141. That missed forecasts for a decline of 3.4% following the 7.2% jump in March. It also said the unemployment rate in Japan was a seasonally adjusted 3.6% in April, unchanged from the previous month and in line with expectations.
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Former army chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi has won a landslide victory in Egypt's presidential election with 96.9% of valid ballots, unofficial results showed Thursday. His only opponent, leftist politician Hamdeen Sabahy, conceded defeat and vowed to respect the result, though he cast doubt on the reported turnout of almost half the electorate. Al-Sissi, who has been lionized in the media since he ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last year, won 23.9 million votes, according to the independent newspaper al-Masry al-Youm. Sabahy gained only 754,757 votes, or 3.1%, while there were 1.28 million spoiled votes, the newspaper said. Despite media reporting low turnout at many polling stations, especially on the second and third days of voting, the paper reported that participation was 47.7%.
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Massive flooding in the Balkans last week caused billions of euros in direct damage and may adversely affect economic growth while fueling inflation, the European bank for Reconstruction and Development said Thursday. According to "very rough preliminary estimates," Serbia suffered EUR1.5 billion-EUR2 billion and Bosnia EUR1.3 billion euros in direct damage, EBRD said. The flooding has hit the agriculture, which accounts for about 10% of gross domestic product in Serbia and 6% in Bosnia, hard and is expected to cause losses measured in the hundreds of millions of euros.
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Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has announced an amnesty for members of the Islamist group Boko Haram who abandon arms, Punch and other news websites reported Thursday. Minister of Youth Development Boni Haruna said integration programme had been lined up for Boko Haram members w
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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TRADERS: MORGAN STANLEY INITIATES ROYAL MAIL WITH 'UNDERWEIGHT'
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TRADERS: MERRILL LYNCH RESUMES REED ELSEVIER WITH 'BUY'
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BARCLAYS CUTS KINGFISHER TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERW.') - TARGET 420 (460) PENCE
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UBS REMOVES RANDGOLD RESOURCES FROM 'MOST PREFERRED LIST'
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CITIGROUP RAISES MITCHELLS & BUTLERS TO 'BUY' ('NEUTRAL') - TARGET 500 PENCE
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MERRILL LYNCH RESUMES INFORMA WITH 'BUY'
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TRADERS: CREDIT SUISSE CUTS TATE & LYLE TO 'UNDERPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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TRADERS: CREDIT SUISSE RAISES SHANKS GROUP TO 'OUTPERFORM' ('NEUTRAL')
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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GlaxoSmithKline PLC has invited private equity firms to bid for some of its older drugs in the latest step by Chief Executive Andrew Witty to reshape the UK’s biggest drugmaker, the Financial Times reports, citing people familiar with the situation. Private equity companies including Advent International, Blackstone and KKR are among those to have been alerted to the opportunity, The FT quoted the people as saying.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Unite Group PLC said it has agreed to acquire and redevelop a 0.77 acre site from Portsmouth City Council, which subject to planning permission will be turned into a 830 bed student halls of residence. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
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Polymer products manufacturer Fenner PLC said underlying pretax profit for the year to August 31 could fall by 10% to 15%, as trading conditions in the US continue to deteriorate while its Australian arm suffered a setback following the loss of a profitable contract. The company, which reported a fall in profit and revenue for the first half earlier this year, said trading conditions in the US have shown no sign of imminent improvement, while the coal industry remains cautious. It therefore expects its Engineered Conveyor Solutions arm to report significantly weaker results in the US than previously expected for the rest of the financial year.
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Howden Joinery Names Mark Robson As Deputy Chief Executive, Remains CFO; COO Caroline Bishop To Leave, Matthew Ingle Remains CEO
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Vedanta Resources PLC has seen hundreds of marchers protest outside its offices in Zambia after Chairman Anil Agarwal made comments online about how the company has made up to USD1 billion every year for nearly a decade from its Konkola Copper Mines subsidiary, the Daily Mail reported Thursday.
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COMPANIES - ALL-SHARE AND AIM
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P2P Global Investments PLC started trading on the London Stock Exchange's main market after its initial public offering, while Clipper Logistics PLC has priced its IPO at 100 pence a share, meaning it will raise about GBP100 million. P2P closed its placing and intermediaries offer on Wednesday, ahead of its admission. It had offered 20 million shares at 1,000 pence a share, meaning it will have an initial market capitalisation of GBP200 million. Retail logistics company Clipper, meanwhile, said it will place 49.9 million shares in its IPO, with conditional dealings also starting Friday. It will have 100 million shares in issue in total.
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Caffyns PLC reported higher profit and revenue for its last financial year, as it took advantage of the continued increase in new and used car buying in the UK and boosted its operational efficiency by trading from larger sites. The chain of car dealerships reported a pretax profit of GBP1.6 million in the year to end-March, up from GBP1.1 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP193.2 million, from GBP165.0 million. It sold nearly 19% more new cars on a like-for-like basis, and nearly 18% more used cars.
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Petroceltic Says Final Two Drill Stem Tests On Sharkrok Licence Drilling Did Not Flow Hydrocarbons; Dikirnis-1 Exploration Well In Egypt Found Water Bearing Sandstone Reservoirs; Muridava-1 Exploration Well In Romania Failed To Find Commercial Levels Of Hydrocarbons
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Rurelec PLC said it has signed a final agreement with the government of Bolivia which releases an immediate payment of USD31.5 million to the company, ending a four-year compensation battle over Empresa Guaracachi SA. The power generation company said the agreement, which represents full and final settlement of the liabilities to Rurelec, was signed by Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy Juan Jose Sosa.
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Ferrum Crescent Ltd said it has failed to receive the second funding payment of GBP500,000 from Anvwar Asian Investment, as part of a deal to sell 35% interest in a subsidiary that holds its Moonlight iron ore assets in South Africa for USD10 million, within a requested extension period. The iron ore developer was paid USD500,000 as part of the deal during March, and expected a second USD500,000 payment by the end of April. However, earlier in May, the company said Anvwar has failed to make this payment and noted that the investor had requested a delay until May 26. On Friday, the company said that, although it did not agree to a revised timetable, the payment had still not been received, and it is in discussions with Anvwar over its breach of contract.
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First Derivatives PLC moved to put together its foreign exchange execution services and surveillance software for regulators and exchanges. First Derivatives, which sells software to financial institutions such as banks, asset managers, hedge funds and brokers, said it is launching the integrated trade execution, risk management and surveillance software for FX markets.
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Tritax Big Box REIT To Place 20.0M Shares Representing Almost 10% Of Issued Share Capital
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Rare Earth Minerals Identifies One Main Rare Earth Element At Greenland Exploration
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Friday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Polyus Gold International
Capital & Regional
Trifast
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com; @thomaslwaite
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