Vodafone Share News (VOD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London were higher on Tuesday with investors shrugging off China's retaliation in the ongoing trade war with the US, while Vodafone gained despite cutting its annual dividend. The FTSE 100 was up 26.80 points, or 0.4% at 7,190.48. The FTSE 250 was up 75.59 points, or 0.4% at 19,202.47. The AIM All-Share was up 0.1% at 952.33.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.3% at 12,196.11. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.2% at 17,242.17, and the Cboe UK Small Companies was flat at 11,707.56.In European equities, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.5% and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.8%. In the FTSE 100, Vodafone was up 2.8% despite the telecommunications firm - as widely expected - cutting its annual dividend as it swung to an annual loss.Vodafone also announced it is set to unveil 5G services across the UK and elsewhere.Vodafone has returned a final dividend of 4.16 euro cents for the 12 months to March 31, taking the year's total to 9.00 cents, down 40%. In its prior year, Vodafone paid 15.07 cents, and consensus had been for a cut to 15 cents.Vodafone's loss from continuing operations for the 12 months to March was EUR4.11 billion, after a EUR4.76 billion profit the year before. During the year, Vodafone booked a loss on the sale of Vodafone India, as well as EUR3.50 billion in impairments as announced back in November.Vodafone's 5G service is to go live in seven cities on July 3 in the UK, and then 12 others by the end of 2019. It is also to start in Germany, Italy, and Spain during the summer, making Vodafone the first company to offer 5G in four countries.Interactive Investor's Richard Hunter said: "Whether today proves to be an inflection point remains to be seen, but Vodafone is setting its sights high. Much of the negative news over the last year seems to have been absorbed into a share price which has declined 37%, as compared to a dip of 7% for the wider FTSE 100. Now that the challenges are in plain sight, perhaps investors will give consideration to some of the potential for the company, and with the market consensus remaining stubbornly at a Buy, there is clearly already an optimistic following."DCC was up 0.9% after the Irish distribution group reported annual earnings above consensus for financial 2019 and said it expects financial 2020 to see more profit growth and development.For the year ended March 31, revenue came in at GBP15.22, up 16% from GBP13.12 last year, while adjusted operating profit was GBP460.5 million, up 21% from GBP383.4 the year before. Company-compiled consensus had anticipated operating profit of GBP451.8 million.DCC declared a final dividend of 93.37 pence, bringing the total payout to 138.35p, up 12% from 122.98p last year. At the other end of the large cap index, Land Securities was down 0.5% after the commercial property developer said financial 2019 was a challenging year against a backdrop of political uncertainty and well-documented difficulties in the UK retail sector.For the year ended March 31, LandSec's pretax loss widened to GBP123 million from a GBP43 million loss the year before. However, adjusted pretax profit was up 8.9% to GBP442 million from GBP406 million last year, reflecting the benefit of income from completed developments, high occupancy, and the effect of refinancing bonds in the previous financial year.Land Securities said its net asset value as at March 31 was 1,341 pence per share down from 1,404p the same time last year. In the FTSE 250, Greggs was the best performer, up 13% after the bakery chain said total sales total in the first 19 weeks of 2019 grew by 15.1% compared to 4.7% at the same time last year. Buoyed by the success of its vegan sausage rolls company said, the "exceptional level" of like-for-like sales growth that began in January has been sustained through the following months, and forecasts sales and profits will be "materially higher" than previously anticipated.At the other end of the midcap index, Renishaw was the worst performer, down 7.5% after the precsion instruments maker trimmed its annual guidance.For the nine months to March 31, pretax profit was GBP84.8 million, down 19% From GBP104.4 million last year. The company said that, based on recent order trends and customer feedback, it now expect full year revenue to be in the range of GBP580 million to GBP600 million. In March, Renishaw had said revenue for the year to the end of June was expected to be in a range of GBP595 million to GBP620 million.The US is in a "very strong position" in trade negotiations with China and there is still a chance to complete a deal, US President Donald Trump said Monday.Trump spoke after China announced a retaliatory increase of up to 25% in tariffs on USD60 billion worth of US imports starting June 1 as an ongoing trade war between the world's two largest economies widened, rattling financial markets around the world.China said the increase would affect products already included in initial tariffs of 5% to 25%. The State Council's Customs Tariffs Commission did not make clear, however, which tariffs will be increased by how much, but nearly 2,500 US products will be hit by the 25% tariff.The increased duties are a reaction to US unilateralism and trade protectionism, the Beijing authorities said.Trump said the US is in a better position than China to withstand economic pressure from trade tensions, and added that he still has leverage in the form of tariffs on another USD325 billion worth of goods.In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 1.7%. Markets in Hong Kong reopened after being closed for a public holiday on Monday.CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "European stocks have stabilised this morning as investors wait for the next shoe to drop in the tit for tat tariff war between the US and China."It would appear that for now the US may well hold back from implementing further tariffs on USD325 billion worth of Chinese goods after President Trump suggested that a deal could come in the next three to four weeks."In the US on Monday, Wall Street ended sharply lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 down 2.4% and Nasdaq Composite ending 3.4% lower.The economic events calendar on Tuesday has UK unemployment data at 0930 BST and eurozone industrial production figures at 1000 BST.The pound was quoted at USD1.2958 early Tuesday, flat against USD1.2960 at the London equities close Monday.UK Prime Minister Theresa May is under renewed pressure to abandon Brexit talks with Labour amid warnings she risks losing the "loyal middle" of the Tory Party if she gives ground on a customs union.Some 13 former ministers, together with the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee, Graham Brady, have written to the prime minister urging her not to concede Labour's key demand, The Times reported.Their intervention comes as May prepared to brief senior ministers on the state of the talks - which began in April - at the weekly meeting of the Cabinet in Downing Street on Tuesday.