Sports Direct Share News (SPD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to open lower on Thursday amid persisting global growth fears as minutes from the Federal Reserve showed the US central bank continues to be cautious in its outlook.In early company news, Royal Shell Dutch is to sell its interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset for USD965 million, WH Smith boosted its dividend after a pleasing first half and Fresnillo said it has approved a joint venture, as the miner also posted a fall in first-quarter silver and gold production. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 13.81 points lower at 7,408.10 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.1%, or 3.66 points, at 7,421.91 on Wednesday."Wall Street gained and Asian markets slipped following cautious words from central banks. A dovish ECB, milder US core inflation and a growing number of Fed policymakers who now see policy moving in either direction have investors increasingly convinced that interest rate rises will be kept on hold," said Jasper Lawler at London Capital Group."On the one hand, global central banks sitting tight keeping a patient wait and see approach is a positive backdrop for stocks," said Lawler. "However, on the other hand the global growth slowdown story is a complication and is weighing on sentiment."In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended broadly higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending flat, the S&P 500 up 0.4% and Nasdaq Composite closing 0.7% higher.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 1.0%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.7%.While projections provided by the Federal Reserve following the March monetary policy meeting suggested the central bank no longer expects to raise interest rates this year, the minutes of the meeting note the outlook for rates remains fluid.The minutes said a majority of meeting participants expected that the evolution of the economic outlook and risks to the outlook would likely warrant leaving rates unchanged for the remainder of the year.Several of these participants saw the current target range for rates of 2.25% to 2.50% as close to their estimates of its longer-run neutral level.However, the minutes noted participants continued to emphasize that future rate decisions would depend on their ongoing assessments of the economic outlook and potential risks."The dollar held near two-week lows as Fed minutes reinforced a patient approach to raising interest rates. Meanwhile the pound held its recent range as Brussels extended the Brexit deadline," commented Lawler. The pound was broadly steady, quoted at USD1.3083 early Thursday from USD1.3095 late Wednesday after EU leaders agreed to delay Brexit until end of October. The second extension to the Brexit process - initially intended to conclude on March 29 - stopped the clock on a no-deal withdrawal on Friday with less than 48 hours to go.In an early-hours press conference, European Council president Donald Tusk did not rule out further extensions beyond October.Tusk sent a message to the UK: "This extension is as flexible as I expected, and a little bit shorter than I expected, but it's still enough to find the best possible solution."UK PM Theresa May said if a withdrawal deal could be ratified within the first three weeks of May the UK could still avoid participation in that month's European Parliament elections and leave the EU in June.In UK company news, a subsidiary of Shell is to sell its 22.45% non-operated interest in the Caesar-Tonga asset in the US Gulf of Mexico for USD965 million. "This transaction represents our continued focus on strategically positioning our deep-water business for growth and is consistent with our Upstream strategy of pursuing competitive projects that deliver value in the 2020s and beyond," said Andy Brown, Upstream director at Shell.Shell Offshore will sell the interest to Delek CT Investment in cash, and the transaction is likely to close by the end of the third quarter. Miner Fresnillo said its silver-gold Juanicipio project with MAG Silver Corp has received approval from shareholders. Fresnillo will be the operator of Juanicipio, holding a 56% stake in the venture, while MAG will own the remaining 44%. Construction is expected to start immediately, with completion expected in late 2020. At full capacity, Juanicipio is expected to produce 11.7 million ounces of silver and 43,500 ounces of gold, with an initial life of mine of 12 years. The project has estimated pre-operative capital expenditure of USD395 million. Meanwhile, Fresnillo produced 13.1 million ounces of silver in the first quarter of 2018, down 15% on a year ago due to lower ore grade and throughput. Quarterly gold production of 211,100 ounces was down 8.8% on the same period a year ago.The Mexican miner backed its annual outlook, still on track to produce 58 million to 61 million ounces of silver and 910,000 to 930,000 ounces of gold in 2019. Books and stationery retailer WH Smith said it had one of its best High Street performances in a decade as it boosted its interim dividend.Group revenue was up 8% to GBP695 million in the six months to February 28, up 1% on a like-for-like basis. However, pretax profit slipped to GBP65 million from GBP82 million.Travel revenue was up 18%, rising 3% on a like-for-like basis, while High Street revenue fell 1%, with like-for-like sales 2% lower. This High Street performance, WH Smith highlighted, was its second best sales performance in the past decade.There was strong profit growth in Travel, with profit up 7% to GBP44 million. WH Smith expects this momentum to continue into the second half, with profit to grow slightly ahead of expectations. The retailer raised its interim dividend by 8% to 17.2p per share. "While there is uncertainty in the broader economic and political environment, we have made a good start to the second half of the financial year and the increase in the interim dividend by 8% reflects the board's confidence in the outcome for the full year," said Chief Executive Stephen Clarke.Fashion retailer Ted Baker said it has identified areas for improvement following an independent investigation into allegations against former chief executive Ray Kelvin. Ted Baker said it has begun a "refresh" of its human resource policies and further cations will be considered.Separately, Ted Baker said it has appointed Lindsay Page as chief executive officer with immediate effect. Page joined as finance director in 1997 and took on the additional role of chief operating officer in 2014, before being appointed acting CEO at the end of 2018. 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 FTSE 250-listed company's staff of forced "hugging" and inappropriate touching and comments. Kelvin has denied all allegations of misconduct.Sports Direct International said it will start a share buyback programme worth GBP15 million in order to reduce the company's share capital. The maximum number of shares to be purchase under the programme will be 5.0 million, the sportswear retailer added. The economic events calendar on Thursday has inflation data Germany, France and Ireland at 0700 BST, 0745 BST and 1100 BST. In the afternoon there are US producer prices at 1330 BST.