Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening in the green on Monday, tracking strong gains by equity markets in Asia and weakness in the pound.In corporate news, Charter Court confirmed it is in "advanced discussions" with larger peer OneSavings Bank over a potential merger, Clarkson reported mixed annual results, and Debenhams announced a larger refinancing. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 45.09 points higher at 7,149.40. The blue chip index closed down 53.24 points, or 0.7% at 7,104.31 on Friday.The Japanese Nikkei 225 stock index closed up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.9%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.6%."Asia markets have managed to rebound modestly at the start of the new week, and this should see markets here in Europe open higher this morning, however after several weeks of gains, last week's losses have sown a few doubts, about the longer term economic outlook," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.In economic news, China's consumer price index rose 1.5% year-on-year in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said Saturday. The increase was down from 1.7% in January.Charter Court Financial Services Group, confirming press reports over the weekend, said it is in "advanced discussions" with fellow UK lender OneSavings Bank over an all-share combination of the two companies.Under the proposed terms, OneSavings would acquire the entire share capital of Charter Court on the basis of an exchange ratio of 0.8253 new OneSavings share for each Charter Court share. On this basis, OneSavings Bank shareholders would hold approximately 55% and Charter Court shareholders would hold approximately 45% of the combined group. Charter Court said the new group would be led by OneSavings Bank Chief Executive Andy Golding and that both boards would recommend the "compelling" merger.Shipping services firm Clarkson said it delivered a robust performance in line with expectations, despite a challenging start to the year.For 2018, revenue was up 4.2% to GBP337.6 million from GBP324.0 million in 2017 but pretax profit was marginally lower at GBP42.9 million from GBP45.4 million, due to acquisition related costs. Clarkson said it has started 2019 with a strong forward order book but expects earnings to be weighted to the second half due to economic uncertainty. Clarkson raised its total dividend to 75 pence from 73p in 2017. "Geo-political uncertainty and natural disasters are currently affecting global sentiment and exchange rates, which in part offsets the better visibility from an improved forward order book. These headwinds are having an impact, in particular within our financial segment, but as the year progresses, we expect these to diminish and the impact from changes in regulation around sulphur emissions to begin. Consequently, we believe that the strength and breadth of Clarkson, enhanced by technology platforms which continue to be rolled out to our clients, positions the Group well for the future," Clarkson Chief Executive Officer Andi Case said. Debenhams said it is in advanced negotiations with its current lenders about additional facilities of around GBP150 million. In February, the struggling department store chain agreed a GBP40 million credit facility for 12 months with its existing lenders. Last week, large shareholder Sports Direct proposed putting boss Mike Ashley on the Debenhams board in an executive role and oust nearly all its current board members. Xaar said underlying trading in 2018 is in line with previous expectations announced on December 28. The inkjet technology company said revenue is expected to come in at GBP63.5 million and net cash at year-end is expected to amount to GBP27.9 million.Xaar will also increase inventory and debtor provisions by GBP7 million due to delays in in ramp up of new product volumes in China which resulted in an "unfavourable working capital ageing profile".The pound was quoted at USD1.2988 early Monday, lower than USD1.3000 at the London equities close Monday.UK Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to save her Brexit strategy amid warnings she is heading for another crushing defeat in Tuesday's crunch Commons vote.Tory Brexiteers said rejection of the Withdrawal Agreement was "inevitable" unless the prime minister was able to secure significant changes to the Northern Ireland backstop."Technical" talks between officials took place in Brussels over the weekend, although a Downing Street source said the negotiations were "deadlocked".Some senior Conservatives said on Sunday that the PM should postpone the "meaningful vote" rather than risk another damaging reverse. Instead May was being urged to table a "conditional" motion setting out the terms for dealing with the backstop issue which Parliament would be prepared to accept.On Wednesday, Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond will deliver his spring statement.The economic events calendar on Monday has US retail sales figures at 1230 GMT.