Thomas Cook Share News (TCG)

LONDON (Alliance News) - The FTSE 100 posted its third consecutive day of gains on a quiet Thursday, but poorly received corporate news from mid-cap companies meant the FTSE 250 underperformed.

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.6%, or 40.68 points, at 7,229.50. The FTSE 250, however, ended up 0.1%, or 21.52 points, at 18,627.59. The AIM All-Share ended up 0.2 %, or 1.53 points, at 899.38.

The BATS UK 100 closed up 0.6% at 12,248.77, the BATS 250 ended up 0.1% at 16,941.66, and the BATS Small Companies closed up 0.5% at 10,929.21.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris closed up 1.3% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt ended up 0.9%.

On Wall Street at the London close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.7%, the S&P 500 was up 0.6% and the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.7%.

The pound traded the dollar at USD1.2532 at the end of European equity trade, largely unchanged from the USD1.2530 seen at the same time on Wednesday. The euro fell to USD1.0668 at the close on Thursday from USD1.0701 at the close on Wednesday.

Thomas Cook Group ended as the worst performer in the FTSE 250, down 8.9%. The travel operator adopted a cautious stance on the rest of its financial year as its first quarter results met expectations despite a drag from a decline in demand for holidays to Turkey.

Later in the day, Thomas Cook also revealed a significant backlash from its shareholders concerning its executive pay plans, following from reports last week that investors are concerned about the bonus Chief Executive Peter Fankhauser will receive later this year.

Thomas Cook said 22% of its shareholders voted against approving its remuneration policy at its annual general meeting on Thursday, while 23% voted against approving its remuneration report. In addition to that, 33% of shareholders voted against approving the company's 2017 Strategic Share Incentive Plan.

Dairy Crest Group was another notable faller in the FTSE 250, down 6.4%. The company reiterated its outlook for the full year, saying it had continued to make progress in its third quarter, including seeing an improvement in its Cathedral City cheese brand.

It added it has seen "significant improvements" in the percentage of demineralised whey hitting the "important infant formula grade". This underpins Dairy Crest's confidence that it will hit its target of 80% of demineralised whey meeting that grade by the end of March.

"However, given the delay in getting the project to this level, we anticipate only a small profit in the 2017 financial year, much below the initially indicated GBP5 million [earnings before interest and taxes] contribution," Investec analyst Nicola Mallard said after trimming the bank's forecasts for Dairy Crest.

RPC Group said it will pay up to USD640.0 million for US plastic packaging company Letica and will back the deal with a GBP552.0 million one-for-four rights issue.

The plastic products maker will conduct a fully-underwritten rights issue of 83.0 million shares at 665.00 pence each on a one-for-four basis, raising gross proceeds of GBP552.0 million. The issue price is at a 37% discount to the middle market closing price of 1,059.00p per RPC share on Wednesday. On Thursday, the stock ended down 4.7% at 1,009.11p.

RPC also said on Thursday that trading in the third quarter to the end of December was robust, with revenue significantly higher thanks to the acquisitions it has made, benefits from translating overseas sales into a weak pound, and good organic growth.

Adjusted operating profit in the quarter was ahead year-on-year and better than RPC's expectations, it said. The fourth quarter of its financial year, to the end of March, has also started well, the firm said.

In more positive news, Ashmore Group ended at the biggest gainer in the FTSE 250, up 5.1%. The emerging-markets focused asset manager said Donald Trump's election to US president caused only a short-lived hesitation in improving market sentiment, as it almost doubled its half-year profit.

Ashmore reported pretax profit of GBP121.5 million in the six months to December 31, compared to GBP62.7 million profit in the same period the prior year. Ashmore also declared an interim dividend of 4.55 pence per share, unchanged from the prior year.

The price of gold slipped, having reached a three month high on Wednesday. The metal traded at USD1,233.85 an ounce at the London stock market close on Thursday, compared to USD1,241.82 an ounce on Wednesday.

Oil prices edged higher, with Brent trading at USD55.48 a barrel at the close on Thursday, compared to USD55.26 a barrel on Wednesday.

In the economic calendar for Friday there are Chinese trade data, UK industrial and manufacturing production and trade balances at 0930 GMT and US import and export price indexes at 1330 GMT. The Michigan consumer sentiment index and the the National Institute of Economic and Social Research's UK GDP estimate are both at 1500 GMT and the Baker Hughes US oil rig count is at 1800 GMT.

In the UK corporate calendar, there are trading statements from real estate investor Shaftesbury, pub operator Greene King, components distributor Electrocomponents, motor finance lender S&U and pharmaceutical company Quantum Pharma.

By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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