Sophos Group Share News (SOPH)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London ended mixed on Thursday with gains in the FTSE 100 impeded by the impending imposition of tariffs, although investors were offered a modicum of relief as Germany appeared willing to submit a conciliatory measure. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4%, or 30.13 points at 7,603.22. The FTSE 250 ended down 0.2%, or 31.42 points, at 20,621.09, and the AIM All-Share closed up 0.3%, or 3.00 points, at 1,083.32.The Cboe UK 100 closed up 0.4% at 12,883.63, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.1% at 18,837.69, and the Cboe UK Small Companies closed down 0.2% at 12,571.62.In Paris the CAC 40 ended up 0.9%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 1.2%. "Equity markets are in positive territory as it was reported that the US might not impose a 20% tariff on EU cars. Traders welcomed the news as it suggests the trade talks are moving in the right direction," said David Madden, market analyst at CMC Markets.German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated willingness to discuss trade tariff reductions, particularly in the automotive sector, as part of a possible route to defuse a growing trade conflict with the US."Negotiations over the reduction of tariffs, which I would be willing to hold, would mean that we would not be able to have them only with the US," Merkel said in Berlin.German daily Handelsblatt reported that the Trump administration might suspend threats to impose tariffs on cars imported from the EU if the block lifted duties on US cars. European automakers rallied in response. The US is scheduled to impose tariffs on USD34 billion worth of goods from China on Friday. Beijing pledged to fight back with its own USD34 billion of tariffs on US goods.On the London Stock Exchange, Glencore ended among the best blue chip performers up 2.3% after the miner and commodity trader unveiled a USD1 billion share buyback as it faces a subpoena in the US. Glencore is to buy GBP350 million worth of stock back from shareholders up to August 7 and will then go ahead with further buybacks. The news comes just two days after Glencore received a subpoena from the US Department of Justice to produce documents in compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and US money laundering law.At the other end of the large cap index, Associated British Foods ended as the worst performer down 4.2% after the Primark owner and sugar producer following a disappointing performance from its sugar division. For the third quarter, AB Sugar revenue was down 17%, as expected. This was "entirely the result of significantly lower EU prices which adversely affected our UK and Spanish businesses", the company said."The sugar business has been struggling in recent times, and unfortunately there's no sign of a let up. Lower EU prices and a supply glut mean profits look even weaker than previously thought. Obviously shareholders would want AB Foods to be firing on all cylinders, but given the sprawling nature of the business, that's not always possible," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst George Salmon. In the FTSE 250, Superdry closed as the best performer up 6.1% after the fashion retailer delighted investors by announcing a special dividend. The company declared annual dividend of 31.20 pence per share, up 11%. Superdry said it will also pay a special dividend of 25.00p as a result of continued strong cash generation. The prior year, special dividend totalled 20.00p.Languishing at the other end of the midcap index, Sophos closed down 20%, losing a fifth of its total market value in the process, after the cyber security firm reported a slowdown in billings growth. Billings growth its a key metric for software-as-a-service companies and measures the value of products and services invoiced to customers.The Oxfordshire-headquartered company reported billings growth of 6%, up 2% at constant currency, for the quarter ended June. Sophos said it had a "strong performance" in revenue and cash flow, and expects to report mid-teens growth in new customer and network security billings in the period.In the first quarter last year, billings growth was up 16%, and was 19% higher on a constant currency basis.According to Sophos, the lower billings were driven by its Enduser security business, which faced a "particularly challenging comparable" period. The pound was flat against the dollar at quoted at USD1.3214 at the London equities close, compared to USD1.3218 at the close Wednesday. Sterling touched an intraday high of USD1.3275 following a speech at the Northern Powerhouse Summit in Newcastle by Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. The BoE chief said the UK economy is evolving largely in line with the May Inflation Report projections, but higher tariffs could weigh on growth for years to come."Whilst Carney didn't go as far as saying that the central bank should raise interest rates, he pointed in that direction, which was sufficient for trader's certainty upped the possibility for a hike later this month, boosting the pound," said City Index's Fiona Cincotta. The euro was higher at USD1.1700 at the European equities close, against USD1.1645 late Wednesday, following positive economic data from the bloc. Germany's factory orders rebounded at a faster than expected pace in May, data from Destatis showed. Factory orders grew 2.6% month-on-month in May, in contrast to a revised 1.6% drop in April. Orders were expected to climb 1.1%. Excluding major orders, manufacturing orders climbed 2.2% in May. Domestic orders grew 4.3% and foreign orders gained 1.6%. On a yearly basis, new orders in manufacturing advanced 4.4%, much bigger than the revised 0.8% rise seen in April. Economists forecast orders to grow 1.7%.Stocks in New York higher at the London equities close after trading resumed following the Independence Day holiday.The DJIA was up 0.6%, the S&P 500 index up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.6%.In economic news, a day ahead of the release of the more closely watched monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing a modest uptick in first-time claims for US unemployment benefits in the week ended June 30.The report said initial jobless claims inched up to 231,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised level of 228,000. The modest increase came as a surprise to economists, who had expected jobless claims to edge down to 225,000 from the 227,000 originally reported for the previous week.On Friday at 1330 BST, the Labor Department is scheduled to release a separate report on US employment in the month of June, which includes both private and public sector jobs.Employment is expected to increase by 195,000 jobs in June, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.8%.Still to come, the US Federal Reserve is scheduled to release the minutes of its monetary policy meeting held last month.Brent oil was quoted higher at USD78.32 a barrel at the equities close from USD77.77 at the close Wednesday. Gold was quoted marginally higher at USD1,257.09 an ounce at the London equities close against USD1,256.33 late Wednesday.The economic events calendar on Friday there is Germany industrial production data at 0700 BST, UK Halifax House Price Index data at 0830 BST and US EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report at 1530 BST.The UK corporate calendar on Friday has full year results from SVM UK Emerging Fund.