(Alliance News) - Stocks in London are set to start down a hole on Thursday, following a sharp decline in New York and mostly negative trade in Asia overnight, as worries over the health of the global economy grow.In early UK company news, GVC Holdings lifted its annual outlook despite swinging to an interim loss while FirstGroup hired activist investor Coast Capital's former board nominee as its new chair.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 27.88 points lower at 7,120.00 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 103.02 points, or 1.4%, at 7,147.88 on Wednesday.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street suffered a sharp sell-off, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down more 800 points, or 3.1%, the S&P 500 down 2.9% and the Nasdaq Composite down 3.0%."A dark finish to a rough day for US stocks with all 3 US benchmarks tumbling 3% each in what can best be described as a 'Washout Wednesday'," said Stephen Innes at Valour Markets."US bond markets are flashing recessionary red as the inversion of the 2/10 yield curve, a quirk that has preceded every recession in modern history, triggered a massive exodus from the equity markets into US bonds, which are being viewed as one of the few safe harbours in the trade friction churned 'stormy sea'."Bond markets have been flagging this move for some time, but the shift was crystallised by yesterday's run of doom and gloom," Innes added, citing downbeat German and Chinese economic data.On Wednesday, official data showed Germany's economy shrank 0.1% in the second quarter of 2019, while Chinese industrial output fell to its lowest level in 17 years.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended down 1.2%. In China, however, the Shanghai Composite was down just 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%.South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday offered an olive branch to Japan to end a tense trade dispute, saying Seoul will "gladly join hands" if Tokyo accepts calls to resolve the situation through dialogue.Moon in a nationally televised speech also downplayed the threat posed by North Korea's recent short-range ballistic launches and expressed hope that Washington and Pyongyang would soon resume nuclear negotiations.Meanwhile, Chinese President Xi Jinping can choose to solve the crisis in Hong Kong "humanely", US President Donald Trump said."I know President Xi of China very well. He is a great leader who very much has the respect of his people. He is also a good man in a 'tough business.' I have ZERO doubt that if President Xi wants to quickly and humanely solve the Hong Kong problem, he can do it. Personal meeting?" Trump posted on Twitter.While the president and his cabinet have avoided taking a clear stand on China, members of Trump's own Republican Party have backed the protesters in Hong Kong.The economic events calendar on Thursday has UK retail sales numbers at 0930 BST and US retail sales at 1330 BST.Capital Economics said it expects a "decent" rise in UK retail sales in July of around 0.5% month-on-month, which would mark a slowing from 1.0% in June.Elsewhere in the UK, Jeremy Corbyn has challenged opposition parties and Tory rebels to install him as caretaker prime minister until a general election in order to prevent a no-deal Brexit under Boris Johnson.The Labour leader said the administration would be "strictly time-limited" and that he would seek an extension to the Article 50 process to delay the UK leaving the EU past the October 31 deadline.But the Liberal Democrats dismissed the Labour leader as being the right person to lead a temporary government, while Downing Street criticised him for planning to "overrule the referendum".In early UK company news, betting firm GVC raised its annual outlook despite swinging to an interim loss.Net gaming revenue was up to GBP1.81 billion in the first six months of 2019 from GBP1.13 billion a year ago, though the company swung to a loss of GBP12.3 million from a GBP113.6 million profit a year ago.GVC said it booked GBP224.4 million in pretax costs related to the non-cash amortisation of acquired intangibles. On an underlying basis, pretax profit was up 31% to GBP212.1 million from GBP162.1 million.UK Retail like-for-like net gaming revenue was down 10% in the half, an outcome the group described as "ahead of expectations".With an outperformance in UK Retail, and with Online and European Retail trading in-line with expectations, GVC now expects to deliver full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation within a range of GBP650 million to GBP670 million.In May, the company said it expected annual Ebitda of around GBP646 million."The group's performance in the first half was extremely pleasing with group proforma [net gaming revenue] 5% ahead. Online momentum remains very strong with proforma NGR 17% ahead, delivering continued market share gains across all major territories," said Chief Executive Kenneth Alexander.Paving stones maker Marshalls reported an interim profit rise on the back of solid revenue growth. Revenue was up 15% in the first half of 2019 to GBP280.1 million, leading to a 14% rise in pretax profit to GBP37.1 million. The company bumped up its dividend by 18%, to 4.70p.Marshalls said it is "increasingly confident" of "at least" achieving its expectations for 2019."The group continues to outperform the Construction Products Association's growth figures, despite ongoing political and Brexit uncertainty...Post period-end trading has remained strong," said Chief Executive Martyn Coffey.Transport operator FirstGroup has hired former Arriva chief executive David Martin as its new chair, effective immediately.Arriva provides bus, coach and rail operations across 14 countries, and was bought by Deutsche Bahn in 2010. Martin is currently a non-executive director at waste management firm Biffa and served as interim chair for six months, and was previously a non-executive at Ladbrokes. Martin had been a pick for the FirstGroup board by activist investor Coast Capital a few months ago. Hermes-Golden, managed by Coast Capital, in mid-May called a general meeting to remove nearly half the FirstGroup board. However, Martin missed the deadline to confirm his plans to stand for election.Of Coast Capital's six nominees, Steven Norris, Bob Stefanowski and Uwe Doerken received only 36% votes in favour of their addition to FirstGroup's board. The appointment of Jim Compton was only supported by 21% of shareholders, Patricia Barron 16% and Elizabeth Filkin 15%.At the meeting, FirstGroup noted at the time that, on average, the company's shareholders voted 4-to-1 against Coast Capital's resolutions. 71% of shareholders voted against the removal of Non-Executive Chair Wolfhart Hauser, but he stood down from the role nonetheless.
Marshalls (MSLH)
Firstgroup (FGP)