Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks struggled on Monday following the sell-off seen on Friday sparked by global growth worries, with the FTSE 100 starting the week on a soft note amid losses for United Utilities and John Wood Group weighing on the mid-cap index. Monday's risk-off atmosphere did however, boost the price of safe haven asset gold, leading Mexican miner Fresnillo to gain.The pound, meanwhile, traded lower ahead of yet another vote in parliament on the direction of Brexit.The FTSE 100 index closed down 30.01 points, or 0.4%, at 7,177.58 on Monday. London's blue-chip index had shed 2.0% on Friday.The FTSE 250 ended down 198.90 points, or 1.1%, at 18,799.56, and the AIM All-Share closed down 11.18 points, or 1.2%, at 898.79.The Cboe UK 100 ended down 0.3% at 12,192.05, the Cboe UK 250 closed down 0.9% at 16,874.94, and the Cboe Small Companies ended down 0.5% at 11,142.66.In European equities on Monday, the CAC 40 in Paris ended down 0.2%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended down 0.2%."Concerns over the health of the global economy continued to weigh on sentiment at the start of the new week. European bourses fell southwards, following in the footsteps of Asian markets overnight and amid a softer start on Wall Street this afternoon," said Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.She explained: "Worries over the economic outlook had been building following a surprisingly dovish Fed, last week. These fears were stoked on Friday following poor European output data and the inversion of the US yield curve for the first time in over a decade."As a result, Cincotta continued, demand has fallen for risk assets while safe havens like gold have gained. The precious metal was quoted at USD1,321.35 an ounce at the London equities close Monday against USD1,312.05 at the close on Friday.On the back of the increase in the gold price Mexican miner Fresnillo rose, closing up 2.2%.In other commodities, Brent oil was quoted at USD67.14 a barrel at the London equities close Monday from USD66.32 late Friday.In the UK, Prime Minister Theresa May has said there is "still not enough support" for her to hold a third vote on the deal she has agreed for Britain to leave the EU.However, she hopes to submit a motion this week.May says her Conservative government will oppose a popular amendment to its motion on the Brexit process, in voting scheduled later Monday.The amendment, backed by Conservative and opposition lawmakers, would allow parliament to hold a series of "indicative votes" on possible alternatives to May's deal.If the amendment is passed, the government will allow time for the indicative votes but will not commit itself to acting on the results, May said."[Monday evening's vote] is expected to be too close to call, and while MPs putting aside party politics in the pursuit of progress would be warmly welcomed it is unlikely to provide the panacea that proponents hope," said David Cheetham, chief market analyst at XTB.The pound was quoted at USD1.3168 at the London equities close Monday, down compared to USD1.3207 at the close on Friday.Meanwhile, euro stood at USD1.1311 at the European equities close Monday, up against USD1.1283 at the same time on Friday.Stocks in New York were mixed at the London equities close, with the DJIA up 0.1%, the S&P 500 index flat and the Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%. Apple will shift its business further toward the services side Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported, with the unveiling of its highly anticipated streaming-video service.Apple will announce details at a "special event" at its Cupertino, California, headquarters Monday at 1300 EDT.While Apple staff have reportedly been calling the service a Netflix-killer, preliminary details make it sound more like a cable-killer, with the ability to subscribe to other streaming providers with a single click, making the process easier for consumers.In London, United Utilities ended towards the bottom of the FTSE 100, down 3.0%, after Deutsche Bank cut the water firm to Hold from Buy. Engine maker Rolls-Royce closed down 1.0% after activist investor ValueAct Capital Management cut its stake in the FTSE 100 constituent.ValueAct lowered its holding to 9.4% from 10.9%. Following the sale, the activist investor remains the largest individual shareholder in Rolls-Royce.Satellite operator Inmarsat ended up 9.6% at 555.00 pence after agreeing to be taken over in a deal worth around USD3.4 billion. Last week, Inmarsat had said it had received a non-binding offer at USD7.21 per share from a consortium, led by Apax, also consisting of Warburg Pincus International, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.The USD7.21 price has now been agreed and is worth about 546 pence. It is a 46% premium to Inmarsat's closing price on January 30, when the proposal was first made, with shares closing at 535p on Friday last week.Dechra Pharmaceuticals gained 3.3% after the veterinary services provider was initiated with an Overweight rating by JPMorgan. At the bottom of the mid-caps was John Wood Group, sliding 7.6% after Jefferies downgraded the oilfield services firm to Underperform from Hold. Just Group slipped 5.2% to 67.14 pence. The retirement insurer raised GBP375 million through an equity placing and bond issue.Earlier in March, Just Group said it had placed 94.0 million shares at a price of 80 pence each. Meanwhile, a restricted tier 1 bond issue raised GBP300 million, from perpetual bonds with a first call date in April 2024.Elsewhere on the Main Market, struggling department store Debenhams closed down 2.6%. Sports Direct International on Monday criticised a lack of engagement from Debenhams as it pursues a GBP100 million deal for Debenhams' Magasin Du Nord business in Denmark.Sports Direct, as a condition of the deal wants its own chief executive, Mike Ashley, put in charge of Debenhams, but Debenhams has previously expressed concerns as Sports Direct owns a direct competitor to Debenhams, department store chain House of Fraser.Sports Direct stressed its belief House of Fraser is not a competitor to Debenhams. Sports Direct shares closed down 1.3%.On London's junior AIM market, Majestic Wine slumped 12% as it laid out plans to restructure and rename itself under its Naked Wines brand. Majestic bought online wine retailer Naked Wines in 2015 for GBP70 million, with Naked Wines founder Rowan Gormley given the role of chief executive at Majestic.The wine seller's new group transformation plan will be announced in June and will create a single model and management team, with the entire company renamed as Naked Wines.Majestic will recognise restructuring charges of as much as GBP10 million in its financial 2019 results relating to the transformation plan, which will be largely non-cash. The financial year ends on Monday.The company intends to fund its transformation and investment by releasing value from Majestic Wine by selling assets and closing stores, and will also migrate Majestic customers to the Naked brand. This is expect to largely offset cash restructuring charges.In Tuesday's UK corporate calendar are interim results from plumbing firm Ferguson, annual results from tonic water maker Fevertree and menswear retailer Moss Bros, and a trading statement from water firm United Utilities. In the afternoon, at 1400 GMT, are first quarter results from cruise operator Carnival.In the economic calendar on Tuesday is French GDP at 0745 GMT, UK BBA mortgage approvals at 0930 GMT and US housing starts at 1230 GMT. Later, the Redbook index is at 1255 GMT and the S&P/Case-Shiller house price index at 1300 GMT.