Sophos Group Share News (SOPH)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Thursday after markets perceived a move by the US to protect its communication networks as an effort to thwart Chinese tech firm Huawei.In early UK company news, Lloyds Banking will move to quarterly dividends next year, fashion house Burberry saw annual profit rise as it progressed its transformation plan, Anglo-South African bank Investec said it delivered a "sound" annual performance, and Thomas Cook warned on further pressure to key summer trading.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 32.05 points lower at 7,264.90 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 55.35 points, or 0.8%, 7,296.95 on Wednesday.The lower open in London on Thursday comes after US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency aimed at protecting US communication networks. It is widely thought the move is part of a broader effort to keep the Chinese telecom giant Huawei out of the US market.The move is consistent with Trump's commitment to protect the information and communications technology and services of the US, a White House statement said. While the order doesn't expressly mention China or Huawei - a major player in the rollout of the next-generation 5G network - they are widely perceived as the target.A separate action by the Department of Commerce adding Huawei and its affiliates to the "entity list" - a list of companies considered to potentially pose a risk to national security or foreign policy interests - reinforced that perception.This latest move from Trump comes after the US just last week increased tariffs to 25% on USD200 billion worth of Chinese products, and the president said he is looking "very strongly" at imposing another round that would affect USD325 billion worth of Chinese goods."This executive order appears to have curbed some of the exuberance of the late rebound in stocks yesterday with Asia markets reacting much more cautiously," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. "While the suspension of auto tariffs is welcome it certainly doesn't mean that President Trump can't create ripples in other ways, and this is reflected in the more mixed reaction amongst Asia markets," said Hewson. "This in turn is expected to translate into a lower European open later this morning."A report from CNBC on Wednesday, citing four sources, said Trump plans to delay imposing the auto tariffs by up to six months as negotiations continue with the EU.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.6% and Nasdaq Composite gaining 1.1%.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.1%.In UK company news, Lloyds Banking said it will move to a system of quarterly dividends in 2020 in order to provide a "more regular" flow of income to shareholders. The lender noted the vast majority of its shareholders are retail investors. Lloyds said it will pay three equal interim dividends for the first three quarters of the year followed by, subject to performance, a "larger final" dividend for the fourth quarter. The first three dividends each will equal 20% of the previous year's total payout.Luxury goods retailer Burberry said it made "excellent progress" in the first year of its transformation plan as annual profit rose. For the financial year that ended March 30, the retailer, known for its checked print and trench coats, posted pretax profit of GBP440.6 million, compared to GBP412.6 million a year ago. This was achieved on the back of lower operating expenses, reducing to GBP1.42 billion from GBP1.49 billion. Revenue met analyst expectations, coming in broadly flat at GBP2.72 billion from GBP2.73 billion. However, adjusted operating profit lagged slightly behind market consensus, coming in at GBP438 million, down 6% year-on-year from GBP467 million. Analysts had seen this registering at GBP442 million.Comparable retail store sales met analyst forecasts, rising 2% in the full-year, slowing from the 3% posted for 2018.National Grid reported a lower annual profit, and separately warned on risks from the plan of the Labour party, were it to get into power, to nationalise UK energy networks.National Grid said revenue for the year to March 31 fell to GBP14.93 billion from GBP15.25 billion the year before, with pretax profit declining to GBP1.84 billion from GBP2.66 billion. This hit to profit was in part due to GBP648 million taken in respect of exceptional items and remeasurements.The UK power lines operator recommended a 31.26p final dividend, bringing the full-year payout to 47.34p, up 3.1% on the year before. For the financial year ahead, National Grid said it expects a good performance in the US following the agreement of a number of regulatory filings, while the UK remains on track to deliver "continued outperformance". The Labour Party's plans to bring UK energy networks under public ownership will delay efforts to move to green energy, a spokeswoman from National Grid told the Press Association.Miner Anglo American said its off-shore diamond joint venture with the Namibian government has received the thumbs up.Debmarine Namibia, a project held equally by Anglo American's De Beers diamond business and Namibia, has approved the construction of a new diamond recovery vessel.This will cost USD468 million, with Anglo American paying half, and will become the seventh in Debmarine's fleet.Cybersecurity software firm Sophos achieved revenue growth and a swing to profit despite a "challenging" year. Total revenue for the year to March 31 was up 11% to USD711 million, with subscription revenue up 16% but billings down 1.1%. Sophos swung to a pretax profit of USD53.6 million from a loss of USD41.0 million the year before. Sophos declared a final dividend of 3.7 cents, bringing the total payout for the year to 5.2 cents, up 6% year-on-year."Despite the challenges we faced in FY19, we are pleased with the strategic progress we made during the year. The demand environment for cybersecurity solutions continues to be robust, and we are confident that we are well positioned competitively," said Chief Executive Kris Hagerman.Investec said it delivered a "sound" performance in its recently ended financial year, supported by net inflows, good loan book growth and an improved showing from its UK Specialist Banking unit. Net interest income grew to GBP815.4 million from GBP760.4 million, while fee & commission income was up to GBP1.59 billion from GBP1.54 billion, leading to profit rising to GBP687.2 million from GBP637.5 million. Investec lifted its dividend for the year by 2.1% to 24.5p.The bank added that it is on track with the proposed demerger and separate listing of Investec Asset Management.Elsewhere on the Main Market, travel agent Thomas Cook reported a widened interim loss and warned on challenging summer trading. Revenue for the half to March 31 was down to GBP3.02 billion from GBP3.23 billion. The company's pretax loss widened to GBP1.46 billion from just GBP303 million a year ago.As well as the lower revenue, a GBP1.1 billion impairment charge recognised in respect of goodwill and brand names associated with the UK Tour Operator cash-generating unit dented profit.The company's underlying gross margin in the half was 19.8%, 100 basis points lower than 20.8% a year ago. "As we look ahead to the remainder of the year, it's clear that, notwithstanding our early decision to mitigate our exposure in the 'lates' market by reducing capacity, the continued competitive pressure resulting from consumer uncertainty is putting further pressure on margins," said Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser."This, combined with higher fuel and hotel costs, is creating further headwinds to our progress over the remainder of the year," he added.As a result, underlying earnings before interest and tax in the second half is expected to be behind that achieved in the same period a year ago. For the first half, the company posted an underlying Ebit loss of GBP245 million. Thomas Cook said it has received multiple bids for all or part of its airline.The economic events calendar on Thursday has Italy inflation readings at 0900 BST, eurozone trade figures at 1000 BST and US housing starts at 1330 BST.In the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a showdown meeting with senior Tories demanding she sets a firm resignation date.May is holding talks with members of the executive of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs on Thursday as the clamour for her to make clear when she will exit Number 10 grows.The meeting with the Tory grandees comes after May announced the Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be brought to the House of Commons, for a fourth time, in early June.The legislation writes the Brexit agreement into law and represents a fresh attempt to secure Parliament's support for a deal which has already been rejected three times by MPs, including the heaviest defeat ever suffered by a government.The pound was quoted at USD1.2838 early Thursday, down from USD1.2866 late Wednesday.