WPP Share News (WPP)

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are called to open in the green on Friday, following a positive economic reading from China, as WPP warned on a difficult start to 2019 and London Stock Exchange reported growth in line with expectations.IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 28 points higher at 7,102.63. The blue-chip index closed down 32.47 points, or 0.5%, at 7,074.73 Thursday.China's manufacturing output staged a slight improvement in February, but the sector remains in contraction territory, IHS Markit's latest Caixin general manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index showed on Friday.The PMI came in at 49.9 in February, slightly below the no-change mark of 50, but up from January's reading of 48.3.Though February's reading marked the highest score in three months, any reading under 50 indicates contraction in the sector."Encouragingly, both output and total new orders expanded slightly, despite export sales slipping back into contraction. At the same time, capacity pressures continued to build, with backlogs of work rising further. However, efforts to contain costs contributed to a further decline in employment and inventories," said Markit.CMC Markets UK's David Madden said: "It was the third month in a row that the survey was in negative territory, but stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong are showing small gains."The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed 1.0% higher Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 1.8%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.5% higher.Japan also had manufacturing data out overnight, with the sector falling into contraction in February, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed, with a 32-month low manufacturing PMI score of 48.9. That's down from 50.3 in January, and it slips beneath the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.In UK corporate news, London Stock Exchange Group on Friday said it "navigated" a difficult 2018 to post strong growth in what was Chief Executive David Schwimmer's first set of results at the helm of the stock exchange and clearing operator and market indices provider. LSE also hiked its total dividend. It proposed a final dividend of 43.2 pence, 16% higher than the year before, taking its total dividend to 60.4p, a 17% increase on the 51.6p distributed in 2017.LSE reported that pretax profit rose by 27% to GBP685.0 million from GBP541.0 million in 2017, with gross profit increasing 9.8% to GBP1.91 billion compared to GBP1.74 billion in 2017.Analyst consensus had LSE recording GBP1.91 billion gross profit, meaning the result was exactly as expected. Total revenue grew by 7.9% to GBP1.91 billion from GBP1.77 billion in 2017, marginally ahead of analyst consensus. Total income increased by 9.2% to GBP2.14 billion from GBP1.96 billion in 2017. Again, this was marginally ahead of consensus.FTSE 100 advertiser WPP confirmed 2019 will again be a challenging year after client losses in 2018.Revenue in 2018 fell 1.3%, but rose 0.8% like-for-like, to GBP15.60 billion, as pretax profit slumped 31% to GBP1.46 billion. Billings were up 0.4%, and 3.2% like-for-like, to GBP55.80 billion. Revenue without pass-through costs fell 2.6%, and 0.4% like-for-like, to GBP12.83 billion. This result, WPP said, was at the upper end of guidance given in October.WPP's total dividend for 2018 was flat at 60.0 pence per share. It paid a final dividend of 37.3p, and an interim of 22.7p, meaning its payout ratio was 56% compared to 50% in 2017. WPP's main focus in 2019 will be addressing problems in North America, and it is guiding for like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to fall between 1.5% to 2.0% due to 2018's lost clients, with the first half to be particularly difficult. In the FTSE 250, bookmaker William Hill has taken a GBP882.2 million impairment in its Retail unit due to the UK government's decision to cap stakes in fixed-odds betting machines at GBP2.This had led to a GBP721.9 million pretax loss in its year ended January 1, which had an extra week from the prior year, in which William Hill posted a GBP146.5 million pretax profit.On an adjusted basis, stripping out this impairment and other items, pretax profit declined 16% to GBP200.2 million, though net revenue climbed 2% to GBP1.62 billion. William Hill is to pay a 7.74p final dividend, taking the year's total to 12.0p, down from 13.2p a year before.The company said its Online and US businesses have both done well, while Retail was "resilient" in a difficult UK environment, and it is confident it can navigate regulatory changes over the next few years. Engineer IMI reported strong profit growth in 2018, while it has also announced a change of leadership.Chief Executive Mark Selway is to leave on May 9 after five years, to be replaced by Roy Twite, who is current managing director of IMI's Critical Engineering arm. IMI's pretax profit rose 18% to GBP213 million in 2018, and increased 12% on an adjusted basis to GBP251 million. Revenue was up 9%, and 5% organically, to GBP1.91 billion. IMI is to pay a final dividend of 26p, taking the year's total to 40.6p, up from 39.4p in 2017. IMI, which said 2018 was a year of "important" progress, has warned first half organic revenue in 2019 will be lower year-on-year due to its Critical Engineering order book's phasing and slower demand in Precision Engineering, though margins will be "broadly" similar. Industrial components maker Essentra swung to a pretax profit in 2018 of GBP36 million, after a loss of GBP5 million in 2016, with adjusted pretax profit rising 8% to GBP80 million. Revenue was flat at GBP1.03 billion, and Essentra's Chief Executive Paul Forman said the firm has now "turned a corner".Packaging returned to growth in 2018, and though he did caution the macroeconomic environment in 2019 in uncertain, Forman expects Essentra to achieve further progress.Essentra will pay a final dividend of 14.4p for the year, meaning its total is 20.7p, the same as a year prior. Thread maker Coats Group's pretax profit came in at USD122.8 million for 2018, from USD129.5 million in 2019. Revenue rose 4% to USD1.42 billion, and organic growth was 3%. On an adjusted basis, the company's pretax profit rose to USD170.6 million from USD138.6 million.The final dividend is 1.16 US cents, meaning the total for 2018 will be 1.66 cents, up from 1.44 cents a year before.Coats is cautious for 2019 on the back of macroeconomic uncertainty, but did say the company enters the year in a strong position. Man Group reported a drop in net inflows to USD10.8 billion for 2018, from USD12.8 billion in 2019, while funds under management dipped slightly to USD108.5 billion from USD109.1 billion. Man also reported a negative investment movement of USD7.7 billion, after a positive USD10.7 billion in 2017. Adjusted pretax profit was USD251 million, from USD384 million a yea prior, while on a statutory basis the figure rose to USD278 million from USD272 million.Man is paying a final dividend of 5.4 US cents, taking the total 9% higher year-on-year to 11.8 cents. There are further manufacturing PMIs due from Italy, France, Germany and the UK at 0845 GMT, 0850 GMT, 0855 GMT and 0930 GMT, respectively on Friday."This morning Italy, France, and Germany will release their manufacturing reports between 0815 GMT and 0855 GMT, and traders are expecting 47.2, 51.4 and 47.6 respectively," added Madden.There are also German unemployment figures at 0855 GMT and UK mortgage approval numbers at 0930 GMT.Ireland already has a manufacturing PMI reading out, with February seeing a "solid improvement" in manufacturing conditions, Markit said.The seasonally adjusted PMI was 54.0 in February, up from 52.6 in January, and Markit said February was the 69th consecutive month business conditions have improved in Ireland.In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq Composite all ending 0.3% down.North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump agreed at their second summit in Hanoi to continue dialogue "in order to realize denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula and improvement in bilateral relations", the South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted Pyongyang's official news agency KCNA as saying on Friday.The leaders saw their second summit as an "important chance" to deepen mutual respect and trust and upgrade relations and promised to meet again for productive discussions, according to KCNA.KCNA, however, made no mention of the Trump-Kim summit ending on Thursday without a signed agreement or declaration, according to the report.Earlier, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said North Korea only asked for partial sanctions relief during negotiations with Trump, countering the US president's version of the nuclear talks in Hanoi."What we proposed was not the removal of all sanctions, but the partial removal," Ri told reporters.The pound was quoted at USD1.3249 early Friday, down from USD1.3286 at the close Thursday.