LONDON MARKET PRE-OPEN: Lower Call; Restaurant Group CEO To Depart

LONDON (Alliance News) - London share prices are set to pull back slightly on Thursday following three consecutive sessions of gains which had been driven by hopes of a trade detente between the US and China.In early company news, AstraZeneca reported an annual product sales rise following a "very strong" fourth quarter, easyJet confirmed it is exploring its options in respect of struggling Italian flag carrier Alitalia, and Restaurant Group's chief executive is to step down for personal reasons, just months after the company closed its GBP357 million acquisition of noodle chain Wagamama. IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 7.74 points lower at 7,183.10 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 57.70 points, or 0.8%, at 7,190.84 on Wednesday, and is currently 1.7% higher for the week."Slow but seemingly steady progress is being made on trade issues and that has been enough to stabilise investor sentiment. Data out of China was also helping the mood," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.Chinese Vice Premier Liu He met with top US officials in Beijing on Thursday for negotiations to avert a worsening of the countries' trade war, ahead of a US deadline for raising tariffs on Beijing's goods further.Liu met with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin following talks between lower-level US and Chinese officials earlier in the week.Both sides hope to resolve their dispute over two days of talks ahead of March 1, a deadline earlier set by US President Donald Trump to extend tariffs on Chinese goods.Since July, the US has imposed tariffs of 25% on USD50 billion worth of Chinese goods and 10% on another USD200 billion worth, with China retaliating in a similar manner. The US now stands to raise the 10% tariff to 25%.Meanwhile, data showed Chinese exports grew 9.1% in January from a year earlier, surprising economists who had expected exports to shrink for the second month in a row. Imports declined 1.5%.In other data overnight, Japan's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.4% in the October-to-December period, marking the first growth in two quarters, the government said Thursday.The preliminary reading was slightly better than the 1.2% growth forecast by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei business daily.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed flat. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is 0.3% lower.In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended higher, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.5%, the S&P 500 up 0.3% and Nasdaq Composite edging up 0.1%.To come in the economic events calendar on Thursday has a GDP reading from the eurozone at 1000 GMT. There are also US producer prices and retail sales figures at 1330 GMT.In company news, AstraZeneca reported growth in product sales as its annual performance was boosted by a "very strong" final quarter. Product sales in 2018 rose 4% at both actual and constant exchange rates year-on-year to USD21.04 billion, up 5% in the fourth quarter alone. Total revenue, however, fell 2% to USD22.09 billion, and operating profit was down 8% to USD3.39 billion. "Closing the year with another strong quarter, our performance confirmed that AstraZeneca has returned to growth. Our new medicines performed particularly well across the therapy areas and the Emerging Markets business went from strength to strength. 2019 will be a year of focus on continued pipeline delivery and flawless commercial execution," said Chief Executive Pascal Soriot.For 2019, the company expects a high single-digit percentage increase at constant currencies in product sales, while core earnings per share is expected in a range of USD3.50 to USD3.70. Core EPS in 2018 fell 19% year-on-year at constant exchange rates to USD3.46.Core operating profit is anticipated to increase, ahead of product sales, by a mid-teens percentage. For 2018, core operating profit fell 17% at constant exchange rates to USD5.67 billion.Astra will pay a USD2.80 dividend for the year, unchanged from 2017.Micro Focus International posted a fall in annual revenue as it believed the most "disruptive" issues related to its HPE Software integration have now passed.Pro-forma revenue for the twelve months to October 31 fell 5.3% year-on-year to USD4.06 billion, favourable compared to guidance of between a 6% to 9% fall. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation rose 9.2% to USD1.53 billion.On a statutory basis, revenue for the 18 months to the end of October - Micro Focus changed its year-end date following the acquisition of the HPE Software business - was USD4.75 billion, and the company posted a pretax profit of USD34.1 million.For the twelve months to the end of October, the company posted a loss of USD78.5 million. For the financial year ended April 30, 2017, Micro Focus generated a profit of USD131.5 million."The path to our current position has been a complex and difficult one over the last year as we worked to integrate the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Software business," commented Chief Executive Stephen Murdoch."Integrations of this scale are always challenging and significant programmes of work are still in progress but we believe the most disruptive issues experienced since completion are now behind us," he added. Looking ahead, the company expects revenue for the recently-commenced financial year to fall between 4% to 6% on last year, with the first quarter performance in line with this guidance. Coca-Cola HBC said it achieved its second year of forex-neutral revenue growth above its target range as it made good progress towards its 2020 margin targets. Volumes for 2018 grew 4.2% to 2.19 billion cases, with net sales revenue up 2.1% to EUR6.66 billion with currency-neutral net sales revenue up 6.0%.The soft drinks bottler generated a pretax profit of EUR610.9 million for the year, compared to EUR564.9 million last year. The company proposed a dividend of EUR0.57, up 5.6% on the year before. "Economic growth in 2019 is forecast to slow down in a number of our markets, which is likely to negatively impact consumer spending in the Established and Developing segments," Coca-Cola HBC said.The company added: "We believe that we are well-placed to withstand these more challenging conditions given our strong marketing programmes, ongoing initiatives in revenue growth management and route to market, together with the new product launches in 2018 which we expect to gain momentum with increased distribution and repeat sales."easyJet confirmed it is in discussions with Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and Delta Air Lines concerning the formation of a consortium to explore options for the future operations of struggling Italian airline Alitalia. "There is no certainty at this stage that any transaction will proceed and easyJet will provide a further update in due course, if and when appropriate," easyJet said. Rolls-Royce said it has secured an order for Trent 700 engines to power 40 Airbus A330 neo aircraft from Emirates. The FTSE 100-listed engine maker said it will also provide Trent 900 engines for a further 14 Airbus A380s, taking the total Emirates A380 fleet powered by Trent 900 engines to 33 aircraft.Rolls-Royce also noted news that Airbus will end A380 deliveries in 2021."We will provide engines for the 17 remaining Trent 900-powered Airbus A380s to be delivered to customers including Emirates and we will support the whole Trent 900 fleet in service throughout its lifetime," Rolls-Royce said. This comes after Airbus announced it will end production of its flagship A380 superjumbo passenger aircraft, potentially putting UK jobs at risk.The firm said it had made the "painful" decision after struggling to sell the world's largest passenger jet and after Emirates chose to slash its A380 orderbook by around a quarter.Restaurant Group said Chief Executive Andy McCue has decided to leave the company due to "extenuating personal circumstances".McCue is expected to remain in his role while a successor is found, the company said. McCue noted the decision is "untimely" as the board thanked him for "leading [Restaurant Group's] transition into higher growth areas".His departure comes only months after the casual dining group closed its controversial acquisition of pan-Asian restaurant chain Wagamama, with the deal gaining approval from a less than overwhelming 60% of voting shareholders at a general meeting. In the UK, Theresa May is facing the prospect of a fresh Brexit rebellion from hardline Tory MPs in a key Commons vote on the prime minister's EU withdrawal stance.As MPs again vote on Brexit options on Thursday, Eurosceptic Conservatives are threatening to oppose the government's motion.The motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.But members of the backbench European Research Group say that it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs the same day, which rules out no-deal but is not binding on the government.Labour has tabled an amendment to the government motion requiring May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow parliament to take control of the process.The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.The pound was quoted at USD1.2870 early Thursday, unchanged from late Wednesday.