LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Admiral Profit Up; Balfour Boosts Dividend

(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are seen extending the previous session's gains on Wednesday amid signs of easing tensions between the US and China.In early company news, Admiral reported a rise in interim profit, while Standard Life Aberdeen sold shares in its Indian insurance joint venture, Balfour Beatty bumped up its dividend by nearly a third, and Sports Direct International said auditor Grant Thornton has decided to not to seek re-election at the company's annual general meeting.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 20.00 points higher at 7,270.90 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 24.18 points, or 0.3%, at 7,250.90 on Tuesday."Stock markets in Europe and the US rallied yesterday on the news the Trump administration would hold-off on introducing new tariffs on some goods until December. The announcement was the one bit of good macro news in the past few days, and it sparked a spate of buying," said David Madden at CMC Markets.The US Trade Representative said in a statement on Tuesday it was going ahead with the latest tranche of tariffs on China next month, but would delay the start for cell phones, laptops, computer monitors, video game consoles and some toys, footwear and clothing.CMC's Madden added: "Trade talks between the US and China will take place in September, and traders are a little more optimistic about the situation now."In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended sharply higher on the news, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 1.5%, the S&P 500 up 1.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite up 2.0%.This positive sentiment flowed through to Asia on Wednesday, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closing up 1.0%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.5%.Released overnight, Chinese industrial production grew 4.8% in July on an annual basis, slowing from the 6.3% rise reported for June and growing at the weakest rate since 2002.Retail sales in China grew 7.6%, again slower than the 9.8% recorded for June.To come in the economic calendar, UK consumer price inflation is at 0930 BST while eurozone GDP is at 1000 BST.Ahead of the eurozone GDP release, official figures showed Germany's economy contracted in the second quarter of the year. Quarter-on-quarter, gross domestic product slipped 0.1%, figures from Destatis showed. This was in line with consensus, as cited by FXStreet, for a 0.1% decline and reverses the 0.4% growth posted for the first three months of the year.On an annual basis, GDP was flat in the three months to June, beating expectations for a 0.3% decline. In the first quarter, the economy had grown 0.8%.With this latest data, Germany is now "teetering on the edge of recession", said Capital Economics."Early signs for Q3 look ominous. Manufacturing business surveys for July were all gloomy, as was the ZEW survey for August, published yesterday. And while the services sector should continue to hold up better, there are some signs that the slump is spreading to the labour market," Capital Economics said.In UK company news, insurer Admiral said interim profit rose despite a headwind from the Ogden rate, which helps determine the size of personal injury damage awards.Net revenue rose to GBP647.1 million from GBP598.1 million, while pretax profit increased 4% to GBP218.2 million from GBP210.7 million. The insurer declared an interim dividend of 63.0p per share, up 5% year-on-year, comprising a normal dividend of 41.8p and a special dividend of 21.2p."If it's a can't-put-down, read-in-one-go page-turner that you're after, then I'm afraid our half-year results don't fit the bill. Frankly, they are a bit dull. Turnover up mid-single digits, profit up low-single digits. Hardly 'hold the front page'," said Chief Executive David Stevens.He continued: "However, for dedicated aficionados who look behind the headlines, there's some reward for reading on. Profit growth, even if modest, is more exciting considering the GBP33 million Ogden headwind."Standard Life Aberdeen said it has sold a 3.3% stake in HDFC Life Insurance Co, Standard Life's Indian insurance joint venture. The shares were sold through a wholly-owned subsidiary of Standard Life at an average price of INR480.70, which will result in Standard Life receiving INR32.0 billion - or around GBP374 million - from the sale. Standard Life still holds a 19.7% stake in HDFC, worth around GBP2.3 billion.Sports Direct International said that Grant Thornton has decided not to seek reappointment as the retailer's auditor. Grant Thornton will cease to be Sports Direct's auditor from September 11, the date of the company's annual general meeting. Sports Direct said Grant Thornton made the decision "following a review of its client portfolio".Construction firm Balfour Beatty backed its annual guidance as it reported a rise in interim profit and boosted its dividend by almost a third. Revenue for the first half rose to GBP3.40 billion from GBP3.22 billion, leading pretax profit to increase to GBP63 million from GBP50 million. The company's order book increased 5% to GBP13.2 billion, with Balfour Beatty saying its focus on "disciplined bidding" building a "higher quality" order book."This is another strong set of results - increasing profits backed by a strong cash performance, plus carefully managed growth in our order book," said Chief Executive Leo Quinn. He continued: "Combined with the strength of our balance sheet and cash flows, this positions Balfour Beatty to create and return future value to shareholders." The FTSE 250 constituent boosted its interim dividend by 31% to 2.1p.FirstGroup said its joint venture with Trenitalia has been awarded the new West Coast Partnership by the UK Department for Transport. The partnership will commence from December 2019, and will see the joint venture operate existing InterCity West Coast services while providing a services as a shadow operator to the High Speed 2 programme to March 2026. First TrenitaliaWest Coast Rail then will operate HS2 and the reshaped InterCity West Coast rail services together as an integrated operation in the second phase, from March 2026 until March 2031, under a management contract.