21st Apr 2016 07:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - Firm commodity prices made miners the best performers in a flat early market Thursday. Glencore, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto topped FTSE 100 gainers, with oil companies BP and Shell also rising.
Outside commodities, breaking into the top gainers was Ashtead Group, up 1.1% after the equipment rental company said its full-year results will be at the top end of market expectations.
Still ahead is the European Central Bank's interest rate decision, monetary policy statement and press conference just after midday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: flat at 6,410.79
FTSE 250: up 0.1% at 17,033.85
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 734.54
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Hang Seng: up 1.4% at 21,536.70
Nikkei 225: closed up 2.7% at 17,363.62
DJIA: closed up 0.2% at 18,096.27
S&P 500: closed up 0.1% at 2,102.40
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GBP: down at USD1.4346 (USD1.4381)
EUR: down at USD1.1296 (USD1.1327)
GOLD: up at USD1,258.39 per ounce (USD1,252.92)
OIL (Brent): up at USD45.92 a barrel (USD44.39)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Thursday's Key Economic Events still to come
(all times in BST)
08:45 France business climate
09:30 UK retail sales
09:30 UK public sector net borrowing
12:45 EU ECB interest rate decision
13:30 US initial and continuing jobless claims
13:30 US Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
13:30 EU ECB monetary policy statement and press conference
14:00 US housing price index
15:00 UK BOE Governor Carney speech
15:00 US Conference Board leading indicator
15:00 EU consumer confidence preliminary
15:30 US EIA natural gas storage
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US President Barack Obama will arrive in the UK for a visit which will see him drawn into the bitter row over the UK's membership of the European Union. The White House has indicated that Obama will set out his support for the UK staying in the EU, in a major boost to UK Prime Minister David Cameron and the Remain camp. Obama and the Prime Minister will hold a joint press conference on Friday where he is expected to give his opinion on the June 23 referendum despite calls from Leave campaigners for him to stay out of the debate.
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For the first time in nearly a decade, the US Senate voted Wednesday to approve major legislation to update the nation's energy policies. The Senate voted 85 to 12 in favor of the Energy Policy Modernization Act, the first major energy bill to come to the floor since the Bush administration. The twelve votes against the bill all came from Republicans. The bill includes a number of modest policy changes, including measures to modernize the power grid and increase US exports of liquefied natural gas. The legislation largely avoided more controversial proposals, allowing the bill to pass with strong bipartisan support.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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BERENBERG CUTS VICTREX TO 'HOLD' ('BUY') - TARGET 1620 (1800) PENCE
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TRADERS: JEFFERIES CUTS PETROFAC TO 'HOLD' ('BUY')
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BARCLAYS CUTS ZOOPLA TO 'EQUAL WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT') - TARGET 295 (270) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Anglo American said production was in line with its expectations in the first quarter of 2016 as the multi-commodity miner reiterated its production guidance for the full year. The miner, which is in the process of narrowing its focus to diamonds, platinum and copper, said the first-quarter production results reflect the major restructuring programme under way and the company's ongoing efficiency and cost-reduction strategy.
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Sky said operating profit rose 12% in the first nine months of its financial year, as revenue growth was driven by strong customer additions during the third quarter. The pay-television provider said operating profit rose to GBP1.14 billion in the nine months to end-March, compared to GBP1.02 billion a year before, as revenue rose to GBP8.72 billion from GBP8.32 billion. This included a strong performance in the UK and Ireland and in Germany and Austria, which helped offset a small decline in Italy.
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Centrica said it has agreed to acquire Neas Energy for around GBP170.0 million in a deal that will further the UK energy company's strategy to expand its services in Europe. Neas Energy is a provider of of energy management and revenue optimisation services and is also an asset management and energy trading company that is headquartered in Aalborg in Denmark, with other offices in Dusseldorf, London, Hamburg and Stockholm.
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SABMiller said it suffered a drop in group net production revenue in its recently-ended financial year but achieved growth in beverage volume, as it was once again hit by unfavourable foreign exchange rates. The beer and soft drinks giant said total NPR fell by 8% in the year ended March 31, while beverage volume grew by 2%. On an organic constant currency basis, total NPR would have risen by 5%. SABMiller said lager volume grew by 1%, as soft drinks volume increased by 6%, but NPR was once again hit by the depreciation of its key operating currencies against the dollar. SABMiller is in the process of being taken over by Anheuser-Busch InBev in a GBP71.00 billion deal.
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Equipment rental company Ashtead Group said it anticipates its full-year results will be at the top end of market expectations. The company said it has continued to trade well in the fourth quarter to the end of April and now expects its final results to be at the upper end of analyst consensus.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Diversified engineer Smiths Group said it has struck a USD710.0 million deal to acquire the US's Morpho Detection from French engineering group Safran. Morpho is a California-based detection and security technology company, Smiths said, and will be merged into the UK-listed company's existing Smiths Detection business.
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John Wood Group said it has secured a new five-year contract worth around USD150.0 million from Nexen, a subsidiary of Chinese-giant CNOOC. The new contract is an extension to an existing contract that was signed with Nexen back in April 2010, and will be handled by subsidiary Wood Group PSN. Wood Group PSN will continue to deliver operations, maintenance and technical support across Nexen's North Sea offshore assets, specifically the Buzzard, Scott and Golden Eagle platforms.
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Transport operator Go-Ahead Group said its full-year expectations remain unchanged for both its bus and rail operations, following strong nine-month results. The company said revenue for its regional bus operation from June 28, 2015 to March 26 grew 2.5%, while revenue in its London bus operations increased 4.0%. Rail revenue increased across Go-Ahead's franchises in the first nine months, with Southeastern revenue up 5.5%, London Midland revenue up 9.5% and GTR franchise revenue growing 3.0%. Go-Ahead said current trading is "satisfactory" and it anticipates meeting full-year expectations for both its bus and rail operations. Its financial year ends in June.
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Ladbrokes reported growth in group net revenue in the first quarter of 2016, despite the period including the "worst" Cheltenham horse racing festival "in living memory", and said its merger with Gala Coral Group is on track. The bookmaker said group net revenue in the three months ended March 31 grew by 11% year-on-year. UK retail net revenue rose by 4.1% driven by good football staking growth. Ladbrokes added it continues to work with the UK Competition & Markets Authority and "remains confident" on the case for its merger with Gala Coral.
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Computacenter said it continues to expect 2016 to be a "year of progress", although it continues to expect a more challenging year in the UK, particularly in its first half, as it reported a 2% rise in revenue for the first quarter. Computacenter said revenue rose to GBP730.2 million in the first quarter of 2016, up from GBP715.8 million the previous year. At constant currency, revenue was flat.
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COMPANIES - LONDON MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Daily Mail & General Trust, which owns the Daily Mail and several other publications, said Wednesday that it has not submitted a bid to purchase Yahoo! but remains in discussions with parties who may potentially be interested it. Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the parent company of the Daily Mail was in talks with several private-equity firms about a possible bid for Yahoo. While as many as 40 firms have expressed some interest in Yahoo's businesses, the pool of serious bidders is expected to narrow considerably.
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Steinhoff International Holdings late Wednesday said it has raised its offer for European electrical retail group Darty, after Steinhoff's subsidiary acquired 19.5% of Darty's issued share capital on Tuesday. Steinhoff said it is now making an offer of 138.0 pence per Darty share, valuing the company at GBP742.0 million. Steinhoff previously had offered 125.0 pence per Darty share, valuing the company at GBP673.0 million. The increased offer is an 31% premium to the previously recommended implied offer price of 105.4 pence per Darty share from Groupe Fnac, Steinhoff added.
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COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL
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German car maker Volkswagen has reached a settlement in negotiations to compensate US owners of diesel cars equipped with software designed to cheat emissions testing, German newspaper Welt reported late Wednesday. A VW spokesman refused to comment. The reported agreement with US authorities comes ahead of a Thursday deadline for VW to offer a plan to modify about 580,000 vehicles sold in the US, set by a federal court in San Francisco that is hearing hundreds of lawsuits against the carmaker from across the country. Under the reported agreement, VW would pay every owner of an affected car USD5,000. The company also would bear the cost of repairs to bring the cars into compliance with US air pollution standards.
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Swiss drugmaker Novartis reported its net income from continuing operations for the first-quarter 2016 dropped 13% USD2.01 billion from the prior year's USD2.31 billion, with earnings per share declining to USD0.85 from USD0.96 last year. Net income for the first-quarter fell to USD2.0 billion from USD13.0 billion in the prior year period. Net sales from continuing operations dropped 3% to USD11.60 billion from USD11.94 billion in the prior year, while they were up 1% at constant currencies. The company confirmed its outlook as presented at the beginning of 2016.
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Telecommunications equipment provider Ericsson reported its first-quarter net income to stockholders of the parent company increased to SEK1.97 billion from SEK1.32 billion last year. Sales as reported decreased by 2% year-over-year to SEK52.21 billion.
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French energy management firm Schneider Electric reported first-quarter group revenue declined 3.7% from last year to EUR5.77 billion. Organically, revenues edged up 0.1%.
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Restaurant operator Yum! Brands reported an increase in profit for the first quarter that also topped Wall Street estimates. However, revenues fell short of expectations. Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum! Brands reported first-quarter profit of USD391 million or USD0.93 per share, up from USD362 million or USD0.81 per share last year. Yum Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, said revenue remained flat at USD2.62 billion.
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American Express reported earnings for first quarter that were down from last year. The company said its profit fell to USD1.43 billion, or USD1.45 per share. This was down from USD1.53 billion, or USD1.48 per share, in last year's first quarter. American Express said revenue for the quarter rose 1.8% to USD8.09 billion. This was up from USD7.95 billion last year.
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Qualcomm reported a profit for second quarter that retreated from last year. The company said its earnings fell to USD1.55 billion, or USD1.04 per share. This was lower than USD2.34 billion, or USD1.40 per share, in last year's second quarter. The company said revenue for the quarter fell 19.6% to USD5.54 billion. This was down from USD6.89 billion last year.
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Thursday's Scheduled AGMs/EGMs
Anglo American
Acacia Mining
Meggitt
Horizonte Minerals
Sthree
Aberdeen Smaller Companies High Income Trust
RELX
RIT Capital Partners
Fevertree Drinks
Caffyns (re sale of Land Rover dealership in Lewes)
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By Tom Waite; [email protected]; @thomaslwaite
Copyright 2016 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
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