Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks started the week on the front foot amid hopes for a US-China trade detente, with Rightmove among the best performers in the FTSE 100 and shares in Ted Baker rising on the departure of suspended boss Ray Kelvin.The FTSE 100 index was 46.16 points higher, up 0.7%, at 7,152.89 Monday midday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 28.40 points, or 0.2%, at 19,428.05, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 918.43.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,143.12, while the Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 17,380.34, but the Cboe UK Small Companies was down 0.1% at 11,126.23."It is a quiet morning across markets, although the carrot of a trade deal is being dangled in front of investors once again," said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG."Hopes that [US President Donald] Trump and [Chinese President] Xi [Jinping] will sit down later in the month to hammer out a resolution have buoyed equities, but given the outcome of last week's US-NK chit-chat perhaps a more sanguine approach would make sense," Beauchamp commented, referring to the failure of the summit in Vietnam to reach an agreement on denuclearisation of North Korea. The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that talks have progressed far enough that the two sides could reach a formal agreement at a potential meeting around March 27.Trade friction between China and the US is expected to occupy centre stage at China's annual parliamentary session, with a spokesman hailing "substantive progress" on negotiations on Monday, a day before the session begins.The session opens Tuesday and is scheduled to go until March 15, with some 3,000 delegates in attendance.China-US economic ties are "mutually beneficial by nature", said Zhang Yesui, a spokesman for this year's parliamentary session, the National People's Congress.US and Chinese trade teams wrapped up the latest round of negotiations last week, with the talks "intensive and productive," and achieving "substantive progress on issues of mutual interest," Zhang said.Trump agreed following the negotiations to delay raising tariffs on USD250 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10% currently to 25%. The increase had been scheduled to go into effect on March 1.Meanwhile, the UK currency was quoted at USD1.3204 at midday, softer than USD1.3222 late Friday.This was after the latest IHS Markit/CIPS UK Construction Purchasing Managers' Index showed activity in the UK construction sector in February shrank for the first time in 11 months.The PMI came in at 49.5 in February, down from 50.6 in January and slipping below the no-change mark of 50 for the first time since March 2018, when the sector had been disrupted by snow storms.A reading below 50 indicates a softening in sector activity, while one above signals expansion.Aside from the "brief" weather-related decline in output in March 2018, the latest reading marked the worst showing since September 2017, Markit said.In data from the eurozone, producer prices rose in January, reversing the decline registered in the last month of 2018, data from Eurostat showed.For the first month of 2019, the eurozone producer price index increased by 0.4% month-on-month, compared to a decrease of 0.8% in December. The January reading exceeded the market expectation cited by FXstreet of 0.3%. On an annual basis, in January producer prices rose by 3.0%, the same as reported for December 2018 and beating expectations of a 2.9% increase. In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.2% higher at midday.Wall Street is pointed to an upbeat start to the week, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average called up 0.3%, the S&P up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq up 0.4%.In London, Rightmove was contributing to the FTSE 100's gains on Monday, the property portal up 5.2% as it recovered Friday's losses. The stock closed down 2.1% on Friday despite delivering a strong annual performance with revenue and profit rising on the prior year.Insurer Aviva was up 1.4% as it appointed insider Maurice Tulloch to the role of chief executive with immediate effective. Tulloch has been part of the blue-chip insurer for 27 years since 1992, holding several senior positions. He replaces Mark Wilson, who stepped down from the role in October after five years in the role since 2013.Among the losers was Rolls-Royce Holdings, down 2.5% after the Financial Times reported the engine maker has reined in efforts to join a fighter jet programme being developed by Turkey.The FTSE 100-listed aerospace firm had been working with Turkish industrial company Kale Group to bid for the contract to develop the TF-X jet. The jet would have been the first locally made jet in Turkey.Rolls-Royce Chief Executive Warren East explained the firm had "substantially ramped down" its TF-X project effort and has "been re-assigning people" to other schemes. In the FTSE 250, fashion retailer Ted Baker rose 3.9%. Chief Executive Officer Ray Kelvin has resigned with immediate effect following allegations of misconduct made against him.Kelvin took a voluntary leave of absence from his role as CEO of Ted Baker in December last year after he was accused by the company's staff of forced "hugging" and inappropriate touching and comments. Kelvin has denied all allegations of misconduct.Since then, Ted Baker commissioned the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP to investigate the allegations. It is expected that Herbert Smith Freehills will conclude its investigation at the end of the first quarter or early in the second quarter of 2019."Ray has decided that it is in the best interests of the company for him to resign so that the business can move forward under new leadership," said David Bernstein, who has become executive chair to support acting CEO Lindsay Page.Senior was up 2.4% after the aerospace and defence engineer raised its final dividend amid growth in annual profit and revenue. In 2018, pretax profit rose 17% to GBP61.3 million from GBP52.2 million the year prior, as revenue rose 5.9% to GBP1.08 billion from GBP1.02 billion the year before.Excluding one-off charges, including those related to acquisitions, pension charges and lawsuits, adjusted pretax profit climbed 14% to GBP83.0 million from GBP73.1 million. Senior proposed a 5.23 pence per share final dividend, up 6.7% from 4.90p the year prior. For the full year the dividend was increased 6.8% to 7.42p from 6.95p the year before. Synthomer was the worst performer in the FTSE 250, down 7.0% despite reporting profit rose for the fourth consecutive year.In 2018, pretax profit widened 39% to GBP120.3 million from GBP86.4 million the year prior. This was after revenue rose 9.5% to GBP1.62 billion from GBP1.48 billion in 2017. Reported profit performance was helped by a steep fall in one-off charges during 2018. Special costs fell to GBP14.8 million from GBP43.6 million the year before. Elsewhere on the London Main Market, Findel was up 6.8% to 173.00 pence after Sports Direct International agreed to increase its stake in the home shopping retailer and and education business, and is now required to put in a bid for the entire business under UK takeover rules. The FTSE 250-listed sportswear retailer acquired 6.0 million shares at 161p each from City Financial Absolute Equity Fund, for a total of GBP9.7 million. Following the acquisition, Sports Direct will hold 31.9 million Findel shares, raising its interest to 36.8% from 29.9%.Under UK takeover code rules, following the purchase, Sports Direct will be required to make a cash offer for the entire share capital of Findel, at no less than 161.00p per share - which would value Findel at GBP139.2 million. Sports Direct shares were up 1.0% at midday.