LONDON MARKET OPEN: Micro Focus, Burberry Up; Crest Nicholson Slumps

LONDON (Alliance News) - Gains for Micro Focus International, Burberry and Mondi saw the FTSE 100 climb early Wednesday, despite lower finishes in the US and Asia overnight as Kim Jong Un's threat to withdraw from a US summit weighed on sentiment.Among those falling on Wednesday were London-listed housebuilders, after Crest Nicholson said its operating margin for the full year is expected at the bottom of its guided range due to "generally flat pricing".The FTSE 100 index was up 0.2%, or 14.24 points at 7,737.22 early Wednesday. The mid-cap FTSE 250 index was broadly flat, down 0.97 of a point, at 20,783.95. The AIM All-Share index was also flat at 1,083.02.The Cboe UK 100 index was flat at 13,124.24. The Cboe UK 250 was flat at 19,037.38, and the Cboe UK Small Companies up 0.2% at 12,812.22.The higher open in London came despite the US finishing firmly in the red overnight, and equities in Asia trading lower.North Korea on Wednesday threatened to abandon a landmark summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump if the US insisted that it completely abandon its nuclear weapons.Kim earlier Wednesday abruptly cancelled talks with Seoul and threatened to call off the Trump summit - set to take place on June 12 - due to the US-South Korean joint military exercises which began on Friday.The US and South Korea have insisted the drills are purely for defence purposes. But North Korea's leadership described them as a "military provocation running counter to the positive political development on the Korean peninsula", KCNA reported.Wednesday's summit had been intended as a follow-up to the historic meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae In last month, during which the leaders agreed to work toward a permanent peace treaty and the elimination of nuclear weapons on the peninsula.US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the department had "received no formal or even informal notification of anything" relating to the tests or the summit from North Korean officials. Seoul described North Korea's decision to cancel the talks as "regrettable".In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed down 0.4%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.4%.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended firmly in the red, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 0.8%, the S&P 500 down 0.7% and Nasdaq Composite closing 0.8% lower.In mainland Europe early Wednesday, the CAC 40 in Paris and DAX 30 in Frankfurt were flat and up 0.1% respectively.In data from Germany, final figures from Destatis showed the country's consumer price inflation held steady in April, as expected, at 1.6%. On a month-on-month basis, the consumer price index remained unchanged in April, after rising 0.4% in March. The harmonized index of consumer prices, or HICP, increased 1.4% annually, as estimated, slightly slower than the 1.5% rise in March.At the top of the FTSE 100 early Wednesday was Micro Focus, 6.0% higher. The software firm said it expects to report better revenue than previous guidance for the six months to April 30.Revenue is expected to be better than guidance of minus 9% to minus 12% on a constant currency basis, though this includes an "unusually large licence deal" of approximately USD40 million, which closed earlier than expected.Excluding this deal, the group's underlying revenue was "towards the better end of the guidance range", the company said.Micro Focus reiterated its full-year guidance of a constant currency revenue decline between 6% to 9%, with an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin of 37%.Burberry was 2.1% higher after reporting a set of in-line results, Marco Gobbetti's first as chief executive at the blue-chip fashion house.Revenue declined 1% both at reported rates and constant currency to GBP2.73 billion, with comparable retail stores sales up 3%, as adjusted operating profit rose 2% at reported rates to GBP467 million. Pretax profit came in at GBP412.6 for the year, up from GBP394.8 last year.The luxury fashion retailer raised its total dividend 6% to 41.3p from 38.9p last year.The company said there is no change to its guidance of "broadly stable revenue and operating profit margin" at constant currencies in 2019 and 2020. Burberry will initiate a GBP150 million share buyback in its recently-commenced financial year.Mondi was up 2.0% after it said underlying operating profit for its first quarter was EUR295.0 million, up 15% year-on-year and 6% quarter-on-quarter. Like-for-like sales volumes were "stable" year-on-year, with growth in Packaging Paper being offset by lower volumes in Uncoated Fine Paper due to Richards Bay.Paddy Power Betfair, up 1.0%. The bookmaker, noting press reports, confirmed it is in discussions regarding a potential combination of its US business and FanDuel to create a combined entity to target the prospective US sports betting market.FanDuel is a US-based fantasy sports site."Discussions are ongoing and there is no certainty as to whether agreement will be reached, or as to the terms or timing of any transaction," Paddy Power said.This comes after the US Supreme Court on Monday struck down a federal law banning the practice of legalised sports gambling in New Jersey.At the bottom of the index was Centrica, 1.6% lower as Morgan Stanley cut the British Gas parent to Underweight from Equal Weight.In the FTSE 250, Crest Nicholson sank 12% after it said "generally flat pricing" against a backdrop of continuing build-cost inflation means its operating margins for the full year are expected around 18%, at the bottom end of its 18% to 20% guided range."Sales at higher price points will continue to be impacted by a slow second-hand market and this is likely to restrain overall price growth in the near term. As a result, margins for next year are expected to be at a similar level to this year," Crest Nicholson said.For the six months to April 30, the housebuilder said unit completions rose 18% to 1,251 and forward sales stood at GBP441.7 million, up 6% on last year.The update saw housebuilding peers trade lower, such as blue-chips Barratt Developments, down 1.4%, Persimmon, down 1.2%, and Berkeley Group Holdings, also down 1.0%.In Wednesday's economic calendar, there is eurozone CPI due at 1000 BST. In the US, MBA mortgage applications are at 1200 BST with housing starts at 1330 BST and industrial production at 1415 BST.