LONDON MARKET OPEN: TUI Slides After Profit Warning, AstraZeneca Falls

LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London opened in the green on Friday, ahead another key day for the UK's future with the EU, with the FTSE 100 higher despite declines by TUI and AstraZeneca. The FTSE 100 index was up 47.02 points higher, or 0.7%, at 7,281.35.The FTSE 250 was up 116.83 points, or 0.7%, at 19,025.42, while the AIM All-Share index was up 0.3% at 913.93.The Cboe UK 100 index was up 0.7% at 12,357.87. The Cboe UK 250 was up 0.4% at 17,039.56, though the Cboe UK Small Companies was 0.1% lower at 11,142.32.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were up 1.0% and 0.6% respectively in early trade.In the FTSE 100, German holiday firm TUI slumped 9.7% after it guided for a EUR200 million earnings before interest, tax, and amortisation hit due to the grounding of Boeing's 737 MAX planes.TUI said the impact is due to costs of replacing the aircraft, increased fuel spend, and "other costs" related to the grounding. As a result, TUI expects underlying Ebita for its financial year ending September to fall 17%, changed from guidance previously of it being flat on EUR1.18 billion the year before.Further, if the situation regarding the aircraft - involved in two recent fatal crashes - is not resolved by the summer, Ebita could fall as much as 26% year-on-year. AstraZeneca slipped 3.6% as it plans a USD3.5 billion equity placing as part of a USD6.9 billion collaboration with Daiichi Sankyo.The global development and commercialisation agreement covers the potential cancer treatment trastuzumab deruxtecan.Under the agreement, Astra will make an upfront USD1.35 billion payment to Daiichi Sankyo, half due on execution and half 12 months later, followed by contingent payments of as much as USD5.55 billion for a total of up to USD6.9 billion.Of the USD5.55 billion, USD3.80 billion will be paid out to the Japanese company for regulatory milestones and USD1.75 billion will be for sales-related milestones.The upfront USD1.35 billion payment and near-term milestones are to be covered by a new equity placing to raise approximately USD3.5 billion - more than half of which will be used to fund the transaction and ongoing collaboration.Miners were higher early on, with BHP Group rising 1.8%, Glencore 2.2%, Antofagasta 2.2%, Rio Tinto 2.3% and Anglo American 2.0%. FTSE 250-listed Ferrexpo, an iron ore pellet maker, rose 4.0%, amid a report from Reuters that Rio Tinto has declared force majeure on some of its contract due to damage caused by cyclone Veronica in Australia. A rising iron ore price has helped Ferrexpo shares gain 30% over the past three months, driven by the Brumadinho dam disaster in Brazil in January. Investment manager MAN Group was 3.8% higher, as Credit Suisse initiated it with an Outperform rating. Elsewhere, waste-to-energy firm Renewi slumped 15% as it warned earnings before interest and tax at its ATM hazardous waste treatment plant will fall by around EUR25 million for its year ending March 2020, as it is assuming no shipments will be made.Overall, trading in its year ending Sunday has been in line, with the Dutch Commercial Division doing well in particular. Integration activity is on track to deliver savings of EUR30 million for the year.Renewi has extended its bank covenants to June 2020, one year on from before, and will be paying a 0.5p final dividend, giving a total of 1.45p, lower from 2.1p year-on-year.Life insurer Chesnara was down 1.1%, as it upped its annual dividend despite a big profit fall, paying a final dividend of 13.46 pence. This takes its 2018 total to 20.67p, 3% higher year-on-year.Pretax profit dropped to GBP27.0 million from GBP89.6 million, after a one-off gains the year prior, while comprehensive income has declined to GBP23.7 million from GBP86.9 million, again due to one-off gains the prior year as well as swing to a foreign exchange loss.Cash generation was strong, Chesnara said, at GBP47.8 million, up from GBP28.6 million.Its solvency ratio was 158%, from 146% year-on-year, showing the firm is "well capitalised".Chesnara's outlook is positive, it said, with the UK business in particular doing well.Veterinary group CVS reported 24% growth in revenue to GBP195.1 million for the six months to December, but pretax profit slumped 74% to GBP1.6 million. Like-for-like revenue rose 4.0%.The stock was 14% higher in early trade.On an adjusted basis, pretax profit fell to GBP17.4 million from GBP18.3 million. Profit has been hurt by a steep rise in administrative expenses.CVS said the result was "disappointing", and the effort going forward will be to ensure organic revenue growth, improve the gross margin, and review costs.US and Chinese trade teams on Friday resumed negotiations in Beijing to end months-long trade frictions.Chinese Vice Premier Liu He welcomed US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at a government guesthouse in Beijing for the second and last day of talks.Liu is scheduled to travel to Washington next week, as the top officials continue negotiations over issues such as intellectual property protection, the amount of imports, forced technology transfers and government subsidies.The two teams will "spare no effort" in carrying negotiations meant to end a months-long trade war, Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng said Thursday.Market sentiment has also been boosted by a report by Reuters saying the two countries have made "unprecedented" progress on the thorny issue of technology transfer.In the US on Thursday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing up 0.4%, the S&P 500 also up 0.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite ending up 0.3%.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended up 3.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.UK Prime Minister Theresa May is battling to get her Brexit Withdrawal Agreement backed by the Commons on the day that was scheduled to see Britain quit the EU.The prime minister split the legally binding treaty segment of her Brexit deal from the declaration on future relations with the EU in order to ensure MPs could vote on it on Friday.But May faced an uphill struggle as key government allies the DUP joined Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in saying they would vote against the move.The PM's decision to present just the Withdrawal Agreement to the Commons means it is not a third attempt to pass a "meaningful vote" on the government's Brexit deal and complies with rules laid down by Commons Speaker John Bercow.UK consumer confidence remained negative in March, a monthly survey showed on Friday, though fears over the general economy persist.The GfK UK Consumer Confidence Index reading for March was minus 13, the same as February's score. A year ago, however, the reading had been minus 7."Against a backdrop of stable inflation and a robust labour market, where wages continue to grow more quickly than prices, confidence has remained negative but fairly stable since the referendum," said Joe Staton, client strategy director at GfK, a market research company."However, while UK consumers report a small increase in optimism for their personal financial situation for the coming year, the index is being dragged down by our nagging fears for the general economy," he noted."Things might change when people feel the current crisis has passed but what sort of resolution can consumers reasonably contemplate just now? Or are consumers rightly sensing a bumpier economic climate for post-Brexit Britain?"The economic events calendar on Friday has German unemployment at 0855 GMT and UK fourth-quarter GDP data at 0930 GMT.In the afternoon there is US personal spending data at 1230 GMT, including the core personal consumption expenditure index reading - the Fed's preferred inflation measure.