LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Higher Call; Sirius Real Estate Lifts Dividend

(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening higher on Monday after China made a peace offering to the US over the key issue of intellectual property.

China said over the weekend it would hike penalties on violations of intellectual property rights while also looking at reducing the thresholds for criminal punishments of those who steal IP.

The US wants China to commit to cracking down on IP theft and stop forcing US companies to hand over their commercial secrets as a condition of doing business there.

In early company news, Germany-focused business parks operator Sirius Real Estate raised its interim dividend after encouraging earnings. Business publishing and events firm Euromoney Institutional Investor and leisure property investor NewRiver REIT made acquisitions.

IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 25.89 points higher at 7,352.70. The blue chip index closed up 88.26 points, or 1.2% at 7,326.81 Friday.

CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson said: "In an apparent olive branch, China has said it will lower the thresholds for criminal punishment when it comes to the theft of IP, as well as increasing the penalties on companies who steal IP. While this is unlikely to make it into any phase one deal, this does appear to hold open the prospect of further progress if and after a phase one deal is eventually agreed."

Sirius Real Estate said it saw an encouraging six month period, which "underlined its position as a leading operator of branded business parks in Germany".

For the six months ended September 30, pretax profit rose 2% to EUR79.7 million from EUR78.2 million last year. Net asset value per share increased by 7.3% to 76.18 euro cents on September 30 from 71.01 cents on March 31.

Sirius Real Estate raised its interim dividend per share by 8.6% to 1.77 cents from 1.63 cents last year.

The company said during the period it sold 65% of five assets to AXA Investment Managers, generating around EUR70.0 million of funds to re-invest.

"With significant vacancy in our value-add portfolio and a defensive portfolio gross yield of 7.4%, there remains considerable potential to increase rent roll and capital values. Following the completion of the acquisitions that were notarised in the period, the company has in the region of EUR80.0 million of funding available for future acquisitions on its own balance sheet or within the Titanium Venture. As such, the company is well positioned for a busy and progressive second half of the financial year and is trading in line with the board's expectations," said Chief Executive Officer Andrew Coombs.

NewRiver REIT said it bought Sprucefield Retail Park in Lisburn, Northern Ireland from shopping centre operator Intu Properties for GBP40.0 million. The real estate investment trust said once completed, the acquisition will generate an additional GBP3.7 million of annualised net property income.

Euromoney Institutional Investor said it bought data intelligence provider Wealth-X for USD20.4 million in cash. Euromoney said the acquisition is expected to enhance revenue growth and be earnings accretive for the company in its current financial year.

"The acquisition of Wealth-X is a great addition to Euromoney's portfolio and supports our strategy to evolve towards a 3.0 information services business. Wealth-X is a leading brand, providing workflow solutions and must-have information to the fast-growing Wealth Management market, as well as luxury and non-profit sectors," said Jeff Davis, CEO of Euromoney's Financial & Professional Services division.

FTSE 250-listed pub operator Marston's said it completed the disposal of 137 non core pubs for GBP44.9 million to Admiral Taverns.

The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.8%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.6%.

Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam vowed Monday to "listen humbly" to voters after the pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections that revealed broad public support for a protest movement that has sparked months of violence.

In a rout that stunned the semi-autonomous territory, candidates seeking to loosen control by China seized an overwhelming majority of the 452 seats in the city's 18 district councils, bodies that have historically been firmly in the grip of a Beijing-aligned establishment.

The pound was quoted at USD1.2852 early Monday, firm against USD1.2831 at the London equities close late Friday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to face questions this week over the veracity of his election promises after his manifesto was called into question by Labour and fact-checkers.

The prime minister's pledge of boosting the NHS with another 50,000 nurses secured headlines following the Conservative Party manifesto's unveiling in Telford in the West Midlands on Sunday.

But Labour said the figure was disingenuous when it included 19,000 nurses who the Tories wanted to re-train, and another 12,000 from overseas. It means only 19,000 posts would be filled by new nurse trainees enjoying the return of maintenance grants - bursaries scrapped by former Tory chancellor George Osborne.

The economic events calendar on Monday has Germany IFO business climate readings at 0900 GMT.

By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com

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