(Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Tuesday.
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COMPANIES
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Link Fund Solutions is to return cash to investors after winding up the LF Woodford Equity Income Fund, it said. Link has decided not to re-open the fund and will be winding it up "as soon as practicable", being January 2020. The LF Woodford Equity Income Fund also will drop the Woodford name and will be called LF Equity Income Fund. Woodford Investment Management will cease with immediate effect to be the investment manager of LF Woodford Equity Income Fund. Woodford Investment Management also manages closed-ended Woodford Patient Capital Trust, which repeated Tuesday it is reviewing its own management arrangements and will make an announcement "in due course".
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J Sainsbury was the best performing of the big four UK grocers and the only one to achieve sales growth in the 12 weeks to October 6, Kantar said. Total grocery sales in the UK in the 12-week period grew 1.3% year-on-year to GBP26.61 billion from GBP26.28 billion, according to the latest Kantar grocery market survey. Sainsbury's sales grew 0.6% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to GBP4.07 billion, but its market share slipped slightly to 15.3% to 15.4%. Tesco's sales fell by 0.2% to GBP7.17 billion from GBP7.19 billion, with its market share slipping to 27.0% from 27.3%. Asda, a unit of Walmart, had a 0.9% year-on-year sales fall to GBP3.99 billion and its market share shrank to 15.0% from 15.3%. Meanwhile, Morrison sales were down 1.8% during the period to GBP2.67 billion and market share fell to 9.9% from 10.3%. German discount grocery chains Lidl and Aldi continued to gain share in the 12-week period, Kantar said.
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Schroders reported a substantial rise in its assets under management over the first nine months of 2019. The FTSE 100 fund manager said as at September 30, total assets under management was GBP450.8 billion, up 11% from GBP407.2 billion at the start of January. Schroder's core Asset Management unit had GBP398.8 million in funds under management at the end of September, up 9.7% from GBP363.5 billion as at January 1.
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Helios Towers announced the pricing of its London Main Market listing, giving the company a market capitalisation of more than GBP1 billion. The African mobile phone masts operator set its IPO price at 115 pence per share, giving it an equity value of GBP1.15 billion. This ranks the IPO as one of the biggest of the year in London, just behind Airtel Africa, Network International Holdings, Trainline, and Finablr. The global offer comprises 86.4 million shares issued by the company to raise GBP99 million and 131.0 million existing shares sold by shareholders, bringing the total offer size to 217.4 million shares worth around GBP250 million. An additional 32.6 million shares reflecting 15% of the shares in the global offer has been made available under the over-allotment option. Helios Towers will have an issued share capital of 1.00 billion shares on admission.
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BlackRock said quarterly inflows show the strength of its strategies in a volatile market, but earnings have fallen nonetheless. The asset management giant's net inflows for the three months to September were USD84 billion, compared to an outflow of USD3.11 billion the year before. Assets under management have reached USD6.96 trillion, 8% higher than a year prior, and organic asset growth was 5%, driven by "continued momentum in fixed income and cash". BlackRock's revenue for the quarter rose 3% to USD3.69 billion, driven by higher base fees and technology services revenue, offset by lower performance fees.
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MARKETS
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London shares were mixed with the FTSE 100 lower due to strength in the pound. Sterling was higher amid rising optimism over a Brexit deal. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open as US earnings season begins in earnest. Major banks Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Wells Fargo will report earnings before the market open in New York, with BlackRock already out.
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 7,210.88
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 19,954.75
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.2% at 868.59
GBP: up at USD1.2638 (USD1.2584)
EUR: soft at USD1.1010 (USD1.1022)
GOLD: firm at USD1,494.39 per ounce (USD1,491.04)
OIL (Brent): down at USD58.30 a barrel (USD58.98)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The headline UK unemployment rate edged higher in the three months to August, according to the Office for National Statistics. The unemployment rate was 3.9% in the three months to August, slightly higher than the 3.8% seen in the three months to July. Market consensus expected the reading to hold steady at 3.8%. UK average weekly earnings, excluding and including bonuses, grew 3.8% on an annual basis in the three months to August.
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A Brexit deal could be clinched within days, according to the EU's chief negotiator who said reaching an agreement this week is "still possible". The glimmer of hope comes as the UK government rejected claims that a deal cannot be negotiated in time for a crucial EU summit after the Finnish prime minister said "more time" is needed. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in a race against the clock to secure a fresh agreement for the meeting of European leaders starting in Brussels on Thursday. Speaking on Tuesday morning as he arrived at the General Affairs Council, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said work to secure a deal has been "intense", after talks which are understood to have gone on until 11pm on Monday. Barnier said: "Because even if an agreement will be difficult, more and more difficult to be frank, it is still possible this week." He added: "Reaching an agreement is still possible. Obviously any agreement must work for everyone, the whole of the UK and the whole of the EU." The optimism coincided with Irish broadcaster RTE reporting that two sources confirmed that British negotiators will bring forward an updated plan on Tuesday to deal with the issue of customs and the Irish border.
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US President Donald Trump imposed a raft of sanctions and doubled tariffs on Turkey on Monday over Ankara's assault on north-east Syria. The US announcement followed a rare and vocal bipartisan barrage of criticism for the Republican president's withdrawal of US troops from Syria, which critics say paved the way for the Turkish incursion and could lead to a resurgence of the Islamic State. Trump's moves cap a flurry of action on Monday as the conflict escalates between Turkey and the Syrian Kurds, who were once a key US ally. Trump ordered Vice President Mike Pence to lead a delegation to Turkey in search of an ceasefire, hours after saying he would be happy if Russia, China "or Napoleon Bonaparte" took responsibility for the Kurds.
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China's consumer inflation accelerated at its fastest pace in almost six years in September as African swine fever sent pork prices soaring nearly 70%, official data showed. Authorities have gone as far as tapping the nation's pork reserve to control prices of the staple meat, as the swine fever crisis could become a political and economic liability for the state. The consumer price index, a key gauge of retail inflation, hit 3.0% last month, the National Bureau of Statistics said, up from 2.8% in August and the highest since November 2013. The producer price index, an important barometer of the industrial sector that measures the cost of goods at the factory gate, contracted 1.2% in September from the previous year, the NBS said.
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