Vodafone Share News (VOD)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London on Wednesday are seen pulling back slightly from Tuesday's gains ahead of a meeting between European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and US President Donald Trump.In early UK company news, Vodafone reported a fall in first-quarter revenue, Fresnillo tweaked its annual production guidance, and ITV saw interim profit edge higher as it planned a GBP60 million investment across its business.IG said futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 6.55 points lower at 7,702.50 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.7%, or 53.26 points at 7,709.05 on Tuesday."Today the focus will switch to the more worrying scenario of a US-EU trade war, which, under a worst-case scenario has the potential to spark a crisis, if not a full-blown recession," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.Lawler continued: "Juncker is widely expected to try to de-escalate the current tensions between the EU and the US by focusing on areas of common ground. The EU will not want to travel down any line of discussion with Trump which could end in tariffs on its autos."Trump raised import duties on steel and aluminium products and threatened a similar move against Europe's automotive sector, which would carry far greater consequences.The EU has already imposed counter-tariffs in response to the US metals duties and is preparing a new list of US exports to target if its automotive industry is also hit.While Juncker is in Washington, Brexit talks will continue in Brussels in a bid to strike a deal for the UK's departure from the bloc. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is to hold a meeting with Michel Barnier.The meetings come after Theresa May confirmed she had taken personal charge of the negotiations, with Raab "deputising" for her in Brussels.In London company news, telecommunications firm Vodafone said first-quarter trading was in line with expectations as it reported a fall in revenue.Revenue fell 4.9% to EUR10.9 billion, reflecting the adoption of the IFRS 15 accounting standard and forex headwinds. Organic service revenue in the three months to June 30 grew 0.3% on an IAS 18 basis or 1.1% based on IFRS 15."The group's organic service revenue growth slowed during the first quarter, in line with expectations. The majority of our operations performed well, with ongoing momentum in Germany, further underlying recovery in the UK," said Chief Executive Vittorio Colao.Gold miner Fresnillo tweaked its annual production guidance, raising gold guidance but lowering silver, following its second quarter production report.Silver production in the second quarter of the year was up 5.7%, up 9.7% over the first six months of 2018, due to the start up of operations at San Julian JM in July last year. Gold production in the quarter was up 4.6%, up 4.4% to 465,000 ounces over the half.Looking to 2018 as a whole, Frensillo sees total gold production between 900,000 ounces to 930,000 ounces - previously guided between 870,000 ounces and 900,000 ounces - while silver is seen slightly lower, between 64.5 million ounces to 67.5 million ounces, from the previously guided 67 million ounces to 70 million ounces."We have adjusted our full-year production guidance to reflect a better than anticipated gold performance due mainly to the ongoing reduction of inventories at Herradura and slightly lower than expected silver production due mainly to issues associated with less availability of process water at San Julian," said Chief Executive Octavio Alvidrez.Broadcaster ITV said it delivered a "strong operational performance in an uncertain market environment" during the first half of the year.Total external revenue rose 8% over the six months to June 30 to GBP1.59 billion, with non-advertising revenue up 14% to GBP958 million. Total ITV Studios revenue was up 16% to GBP803 million with ITV total advertising revenue up 2%, "as expected", with 48% growth in Online.Pretax profit for the period edged up to GBP265 million from GBP259 million last year. The company declared an interim dividend of 2.6p, up 3% on last year, remaining committed to "at least" an 8p full-year dividend.ITV said it will inject GBP40 million across the business in 2019 as it looks to invest in strengthening integrated producer broadcaster, growing UK and global production, and creating a scaled Direct to Consumer business. Over the three years to 2021, ITV is looking to invest GBP60 million."This [investment in 2019] will be offset by GBP35 to GBP40 million of cost savings which we will achieve without impacting the culture and creative and commercial strength of the business. In 2020 and 2021 the in year investments will be totally offset by cost savings," said ITV.Defence firm QinetiQ said underlying trading was in line with expectations during the first quarter, with Global Products and EMEA Services continuing to grow orders. QinetiQ backed its annual guidance.Informa said revenue rose 4.6% over the first half of 2018 to GBP957.1 million, though pretax profit fell to GBP120.3 million from GBP148.6 million. Informa booked acquisition & integration costs of GBP52.2 million in the period, up sharply from GBP12.1 million last year due to its takeover of UBM.On an adjusted basis, pretax profit grew 3.3% to GBP264.7 million from GBP256.2 million. The publisher and business events organiser raised its interim dividend by 6.0% to 7.05p from 6.65p.In the FTSE 250, drugmaker Indivior said first half net revenue fell 5% to USD524 million, as operating profit dropped 18% to USD200 million. The company said it is still unable to issue new annual guidance - having withdrawn this earlier in July due to the brief market entry of Dr Reddy's Laboratories generic buprenorphine/naloxone sublingual film before a temporary restraining order was granted - with Indivior aiming to provide it no later than its third quarter results.Late Tuesday, challenger bank Metro Bank reported a rise in first-half profit and revenue, as it set out an intention to raise funds via a placing.Metro Bank's underlying pretax profit for the six months ended June multiplied to GBP24.1 million from GBP6.0 million a year before, as total revenue rose 45% to GBP189.8 million.On Wednesday, Metro Bank said it managed to raise GBP303 million by placing 8.6 million shares, 10% of its total, at a price of 3,422 pence each.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.8%, the S&P 500 up 0.5% but the Nasdaq Composite closing flat.After markets in New York closed, semiconductor manufacturer Texas Instruments said second-quarter earnings climbed 33% compared to last year, the company's bottom line coming in at USD1.41 billion, or USD1.40 per share. This compares with USD1.06 billion, or USD1.03 per share last year.Analysts had expected the company to earn USD1.32 per share, according to figures compiled by Thomson Reuters. The company's revenue for the quarter rose 8.6% to USD4.02 billion from USD3.70 billion last year.Meanwhile, telecommunications firm AT&T said its own second quarter profit was up 31% on last year, beating Wall Street estimates, despite a fall in revenue.Second-quarter profit rose to USD5.25 billion from USD4.01 billion last year, with adjusted earnings per share of USD0.91, up from USD0.79 last year and beating expectations for USD0.85. However, AT&T's revenue for the quarter dropped to USD39.0 billion from USD39.8 billion.Looking ahead, AT&T raised its full-year 2018 adjusted earnings guidance to "the high end of the USD3.50 range."Already out Wednesday morning, Deutsche Bank reported net income of EUR401 million in the second quarter of 2018, down 14% year-on-year. Profit before tax or income before income taxes under IFRS was EUR711 million, down 13% year-on-year. Net revenue was EUR6.6 billion, essentially unchanged versus the second quarter of 2017 on a reported basis. Deutsche Bank said it is on track to reduce the workforce, as previously announced, to below 93,000 by the end of 2018 and well below 90,000 by the end of 2019.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.5%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.8%.The economic events calendar on Wednesday has Germany's Ifo business climate results at 0800 BST, eurozone money supply data at 0900 BST, UK mortgage approvals figures at 0930 BST and US new home sales numbers at 1500 BST.