Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stock prices traded down on Wednesday at midday amid caution ahead of this evening's vote in Westminster, where members of Parliament will mull a raft of options for the future of Brexit.Weighing on the FTSE 100 index was cigarette maker Imperial Brands, offsetting a positive contribution by housebuilders after a robust set of interim results from Bellway.The blule-chip index was down 32.59 points, or 0.5% at 7,163.70 on Wednesday. The FTSE 250 was down 10.32 points, or 0.1%, at 18,885.92, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.1% at 906.05.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.5% at 12,163.68. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.2% at 16,928.76, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.2% at 11,134.92.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt both were down 0.3%.There was some "mid-week tension" on Wednesday ahead of this evening's indicative Brexit votes, said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell. "Though Wednesday is (another, ostensibly) big day in the Brexit process, the indicative votes likely won't actually take place until 7pm this evening, meaning any reaction to the results will have to wait until Thursday morning," he noted.Parliament will be asked to consider a range of alternative Brexit options on Wednesday, after MPs seized control of the Commons agenda to force a series of "indicative votes".The options for the vote include a 'common market 2.0', a confirmatory public vote, and a customs union, as well as revoking Article 50 altogether and the no-deal Brexit option.Labour has tabled its alternative Brexit plan - featuring a permanent customs union with a UK say on trade deals and close alignment with the single market - as one of the indicative vote options.Immediately before the votes, Prime Minister Theresa May will address Tory MPs at a meeting of the backbench 1922 Committee, where she is expected to seek further support for her agreement with the EU, rejected by 230 votes in January and 149 in March.The agreement, and a political declaration on future EU/UK relations, must be passed by Friday if the UK is to benefit from an automatic delay in the date of Brexit to May 22. If not, it has until April 12 to make new proposals or leave without a deal.Sterling was quoted at USD1.3225 Wednesday midday ahead of the votes, steady compared to USD1.3219 at the London equities close on Thursday.In the US, futures indicate a downbeat start to trade with the Dow Jones called down 0.3%, S&P 500 down 0.2% and Nasdaq Composite down 0.1%.To come in the US economic calendar, the trade balance is at 1230 GMT followed by EIA crude oil stocks at 1430 GMT. In London, FTSE-100 listed Imperial Brands was down 1.1% despite trading in line with expectations in the first half. The tobacco company confirmed that it is on track to meet constant currency net revenue and earnings expectations for its full financial year to September 30. Imperial Brands expects to deliver the upper end, or above, of its 1% to 4% revenue growth range and earnings per share growth within 4% to 8% guidance range. "For the first half, the investment behind [next-gen smoking product] myblu will hold back profit growth, but Imperial expect a stronger second half. All in all, this looks a solid performance and Imperial's policy of raising the dividend by 10% per annum looks unlikely to change," said Steve Clayton, manager of the HL Select UK Income Shares fund.Meanwhile, housebuilding stocks were enjoying an upbeat session after robust interim results from mid-cap construction firm Bellway.The residential property developer reported an improvement in interim profit as the number of homes sold and average prices both rose, leading to an increased payout to shareholders.In the six months to January 31, Bellway's pretax profit increased 8.7% to GBP313.9 million from GBP288.7 million. Revenue rose 13% to GBP1.49 billion from GBP1.32 billion in the same period a year before. Bellway declared an interim dividend of 50.4p, 5.0% higher than the 48.0p interim payout for the same period a year before.Bellway said its trading in the first six weeks since February 1 has been "strong", with 259 reservations per week, compared to 248 per week in the same period the year before.Bellway shares were up 2.3% at midday. Blue-chip housebuilders rose on a positive read across, with Taylor Wimpey up 1.5%, Barratt Developments up 1.1% and Persimmon up 1.0%.Also higher in the FTSE 250 was Pets At Home, up 3.2% after Citigroup upgraded the animal goods retailer to Buy from Neutral. Avast was down 4.9% at 282.15 pence after Sybil Holdings nearly halved its stake in the FTSE 250-listed cybersecurity firm.Sybil has sold 95.4 million Avast shares, worth 10% of the company, at 284 pence each, netting it GBP271 million. It now holds a stake just under 13%. Avast will not get any proceeds from the sale, after which Sybil has agreed not to sell any more shares for 90 days.Elsewhere on the London Main Market, Debenhams shares shot up 56% to 3.42 pence after a potential 5p-per-share takeover bid from shareholder Sports Direct International.The possible offer values the embattled department store operator at GBP61.4 million. Sports Direct already owns just under a 30% stake in Debenhams. Shares in Debenhams closed at 2.198 pence on Tuesday, which had given the company a market capitalisation of just under GBP27 million. This is less than half what Sports Direct is considering offering.The FTSE 250-listed sportswear retailer said the offer is conditional on Debenhams appointing Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley to its own board in the role of chief executive officer. Sports Direct shares were broadly flat at midday.In other mergers and acquisitions news, RDI REIT shares were up 12% at 144.38 pence - giving it a market capitalisation of GBP548.8 million - after receiving an unsolicited takeover approach from Cromwell Property Group.It added that no offer had been made and there was not certainty an offer would be made. Under UK takeover rules, Cromwell has until April 23 to either make an offer or announce its intention to not do so.In a separate announcement, Cromwell added that "discussions are ongoing" and that any transaction to buy RDI would "be consistent with Cromwell's strategy to work with its capital partners to grow funds under management and continue to expand its investment footprint in the UK and Europe."By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com; additional reporting by Idris Nur; idrisnur@alliancenews.com