(Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 pulled back from a recent string of wins on Wednesday, with Reckitt Benckiser, British American Tobacco and Auto Trader weighing on London's leading stock index.The FTSE 100 was down 21.54 points, or 0.3%, at 7,376.91 early Wednesday. The FTSE 250 was up down 40.02 points, or 0.2%, at 19,285.70 while the AIM All-Share was down 0.3% at 942.80.The Cboe UK 100 index was down 0.3% at 12,509.13. The Cboe UK 250 was down 0.1% at 17,313.86 with the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 11,711.24.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was down 0.5% while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was 0.3% lower."A lot of the recent gains appear to have been predicated on the basis that central banks have shifted focus in the past few weeks to a much more dovish tilt, when it comes to the next move on interest rates, rather than any overriding optimism over the trade talks, and this may help explain the inability of markets to push on to fresh new highs," commented Michael Hewson at CMC Markets."Simply speaking the trade risk is still a key limiting factor, at a time when the global economy continues to slow," he explained. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump urged China to agree to terms of a trade deal allegedly reached earlier this year, ahead of talks in Japan with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month."We had a deal with China and unless they go back to the deal I have no interest," Trump said outside the White House before flying to Iowa.Trump lauded tariffs imposed on China - a 25% levy on some USD250 billion worth of goods - saying they have created a "level playing field" for the first time since Beijing joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 1.9% lower in late trade.Reckitt Benckiser was the worst performer in the FTSE 100, down 1.9% after the Nurofen painkiller maker said it has appointed the chief commercial officer of US soda and snacks maker PepsiCo as its new boss.Laxman Narasimhan will be appointed chief executive designate on July 16 and will formally take over Rakesh Kapoor's role at the beginning of September. As well as taking up the role of group CEO, Narasimhan will also "directly" lead the Health Business unit."Laxman's initial priorities will be to focus on delivering outperformance, especially in the Health business unit, and to drive RB2.0," said Reckitt Chair Chris Sinclair.British American Tobacco was down 1.5% despite saying Wednesday it continues to "perform well" with both traditional and new products delivering.BAT described itself as "on track" to deliver constant currency revenue growth in the "mid-upper half" of its 3% to 5% long-term guidance range for 2019. This was despite global industry volumes being expected to fall by around 3.5% on the year prior. BAT also anticipated "good" operating margin improvement in 2019. This is despite further investment in its New Categories, which includes vaping, heat-not-burn and other new products lines. All told, BAT forecasts constant-currency adjusted operating profit to deliver growth in the "upper half" of its 5% to 7% guidance range.Also towards the bottom of the FTSE 100 was Auto Trader, slipping 1.2% after UBS cut the digital automotive marketplace firm to Sell from Neutral. Also in the car retail sector, Pendragon shares were down 26% in early trade after the firm warned of an annual loss. Pendragon now expects to generate an underlying loss for the current financial year, with the first half to be "significantly loss making" before returning to profit in the remainder of the year.This is due to accelerated Car Store losses, an increase in used car stock at the end of the previous financial year, lower than anticipated new car margins, and increases in costs, particularly in aftersales."Notwithstanding the challenging market and uncertain macro outlook, the expected loss for the year is still disappointing," said Chief Executive Mark Herbert. "That said, we see significant addressable opportunities to improve the business and return to profitable growth."In the FTSE 250, Sirius Minerals was up 2.2% after signing a take-or-pay supply agreement with Indian Farmers Fertilisers Cooperative for the supply of POLY4 in India.Volumes will ramp up to one million tonnes per annum in year eight, with an option to increase this to around 1.3 million tonnes.De La Rue was up 2.6% as it agreed to sell its International Identity Solutions business for GBP42 million in cash.HID Corp - part of ASSA ABLOY - will acquire De La Rue's international identity solutions contracts, associated software, passport assembly facilities in Malta and certain printing contracts of security documents. The agreement also includes De La Rue providing printing services to HID until March 2022.The UK passport contract is outside the scope of the agreement, De La Rue added."This transaction will allow the group to refocus on identity-related security features and components where the market opportunities are more accessible," De La Rue explained. boohoo shares dipped 4.3% despite a "strong" first quarter. Group revenue was up 39% year-on-year to GBP254.3 million, though the gross margin slipped to 55.0% from 55.2%.Within divisions, the eponymous boohoo brand saw sales up 27% to GBP123.5 million, while PrettyLittleThing's revenue wasn't far behind at GBP112.1 million, marking 42% growth on a year ago. Nasty Gal's revenue more than doubled to GBP18.2 million."The group has made a strong start to the year as we continue to disrupt and capture market share in the UK and internationally across all our brands," said Chief Executive John Lyttle.For the year as a whole, boohoo expects to record revenue growth of around 25% to 30%, with an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of 10%.
30 Jul 2015 08:49
