21st Apr 2015 09:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stock indices are flat to higher mid-morning Tuesday, as earnings from Sky, ARM Holdings and Associated British Foods take centre stage with little in the way of economic data.
The FTSE 100 trades flat at 7,054.86, the FTSE 250 is up 0.3% at 17,652.77, and the AIM All-Share index is up 0.2% at 750.40.
European stocks are outperforming London, with the CAC 40 up 0.3% and the DAX 30 up 1.0%.
ARM Holdings reiterated it expects to "at least" meet current market expectations for dollar revenue in 2015, as it posted a rise in pretax profit in the first quarter of the year driven by strong growth in mobile chip demand.
The chip designer posted a pretax profit of GBP103.4 million, up from GBP78.0 million in the first quarter of 2014, as revenue grew to GBP227.5 million from GBP186.7 million.
Within this, dollar licence revenue was up 3%. It signed 30 processor licences during the first quarter, including 4 licences for processors based on its higher royalty ARMv8-A architecture.
ARM Shares hit an all-time high Tuesday morning of 1,232.00 pence, and currently trades up 5.2% at 1,208.40p, making it the best performer in the FTSE 100.
Shares in broadcaster Sky hit a 14-year high of 1,116.00p after it posted a rise in operating profit for the first nine months of its financial year, boosted by strong customer growth across its businesses and strong performances from the UK, Ireland and Germany.
The broadcaster posted an operating profit of GBP1.03 billion in the nine months to the end of March, up from GBP854 million a year before, as revenue grew to GBP8.45 billion from GBP8.05 billion.
In the UK and Ireland, revenue was up 6% to GBP5.82 billion from GBP5.49 billion, while revenue in Germany were up 9% to GBP1.04 billion from GBP951 million, offsetting a slight decline in Italy were revenue fell to GBP1.59 billion from GBP1.61 billion. Sky was expected to post revenue of GBP8.44 billion for the nine months, according to consensus expectations from six analysts provided by the company.
Sky is currently the second best performer in the FTSE 100, trading up 4.5% at 1,099.00p.
Associated British Foods, down 4.1%, is the biggest blue-chip faller. The group reported a drop in profit in the first half of its financial year as the food business, particularly AB Sugar, made lower sales due to food price deflation and the strength of sterling. AB Foods reported a 51% drop in pretax profit in the 24 weeks to February 28 to GBP213 million from GBP434 million the year before, but a revenue increase of 1% to GBP6.2 billion.
Miners which also trade down following their recent strength on the back of further stimulus from the Chinese central bank on Sunday. Rio Tinto, down 2.4%, also reported Tuesday that its global iron ore production for the first quarter grew 12% from last year, reflecting the expansion of its mining operations in the Pilbara region. However, iron-ore production declined 6% from the preceding fourth quarter.
Consumer credit company International Personal Finance is the biggest FTSE 250 gainer after it said Polish authorities have concluded an investigation into the calculation of fees for loan products, and it will not face a fine following the probe. The company trades up 5.4%.
Shoe Zone shares have crashed 29%, making them the worst performer in the AIM All-Share index. The discount footwear retailer issued a profit warning, saying the warm weather conditions during the autumn/winter trading period have slowed its first half revenue. Shoe Zone said that while overall footwear sales volumes improved in the first half of its financial year to April 4, the average price of products sold was lower owing to a different product mix, giving the example of lower-priced ladies ankle boots being favoured over more expensive long leg boots.
German ZEW survey results for April came in mixed, with the current situation reading of 70.2, significantly beating expectations of 56.0, and March's 55.1. However, the economic sentiment survey, which measures the views of analysts for the expected economic development in Germany in six months, fell to 53.3 in April from 54.8 in March. The number was expected to rise to 55.5.
"The current weakness of the world economy is dampening export prospects and reducing the scope for further improvements of the economic situation in Germany," says ZEW President Clemens Fuest.
Still ahead in the economic calendar is US Redbook index at 1355 BST.
US futures indicate a higher open, with the DJIA, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 all pointed up 0.5%.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]; @NeilThakrar1
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Related Shares:
SkyRio TintoShoe ZoneInter. Pers.AB FoodsARM.L