11th May 2016 07:32
LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London were mostly lower soon after the open Wednesday, with FTSE 100-listed TUI Group leading decliners in the blue-chip index after reporting a loss in the first half of its financial year.
The FTSE 100 was down 0.2%, or 13.45 points, at 6,143.20. The FTSE 250 index was down 0.1% at 16,708.61, but the AIM All-Share was up 0.2% at 725.40.
TUI, down 1.3%, reported a wider loss in the first half of its financial year but said trading so far in the summer season is in line with expectations. The travel company said its group loss in the six months ended March 31 widened to EUR394.9 million from EUR218.7 million, as revenue grew slightly to EUR6.79 billion from EUR6.61 billion.
TUI said results were hit by negative movements in foreign exchange rates. The group said summer 2016 trading remains in line with expectations with source market booked revenue up 2%, a strong performance by Western Mediterranean and long-haul hotels, and continued growth in cruises.
Meanwhile, Compass Group was up 1.1% after the catering and support services business reported growth in profit in the first half of its financial year and said it has positive expectations for the full year. Compass said pretax profit in the six months ended March 31 grew to GBP666 million from GBP621 million in the same period the year before, as revenue rose to GBP9.54 billion from GBP8.94 billion.
Compass Group said it achieved growth in each of the regions it operates in, comprising North America, Europe and rest of world. The company will pay an interim dividend of 10.6 pence, which is up 8.2% year-on-year.
Shares in Experian were up 0.7%. The FTSE 100 data and analytics company known for providing credit scores to would-be borrowers, increased its annual dividend, reported higher pretax profit at actual exchange rates, and said it expects to make share repurchases amounting to USD400 million in its new financial year.
Pretax profit rose to USD1.03 billion in the financial year ended March 31, from USD1.01 billion a year earlier, on revenue from continuing activities of USD4.47 billion, with both total and organic revenue at constant exchange rates up 5%. At actual exchange rates, total revenue from continuing activities fell by 4% due to foreign exchange headwinds during the period.
In the FTSE 250, OneSavings Bank was up 1.6% after it said it is confident in the outlook for 2016, as the specialist lender reported that net loans and advances grew by GBP460 million during the first quarter. The increase in loans and advances was driven by originating loans and accelerating acquisitions of first and second charge residential mortgage portfolios totalling GBP131 million.
Despite the introduction of the UK government's bank tax surcharge, return on equity was "strong" in the first quarter, putting OneSavings on track to deliver a return "comfortably ahead" of its financial target.
Dairy Crest was up 1.4% after Investec upgraded the dairy producer to Buy from Hold.
Shares in William Hill were down 1.7%. The bookie said net revenue was down in the 17 weeks to April 26 year-on-year, but said trading remains in line with its previous full-year operating profit guidance.
William Hill said group net revenue was down by 3% in the 17-week period, as gross win margins benefited from English Premier League football results but were harmed by unfavourable European football results and a "disappointing" Cheltenham festival.
In the economic calendar, the main focus Wednesday morning will be in UK industrial and manufacturing data, due at 0930 BST.
Analysts at Societe Generale believe the March industrial production numbers for the UK are set to show a "reasonable bounce". The data for March, the French bank said, have already been previewed in the Office for National Statistics release last month of the preliminary estimate of the first-quarter GDP.
"This estimate is based on reasonably firm data on all areas of industrial production so it makes sense to use the ONS estimate as our forecast. These data point to an increase of 0.5% month-on-month in manufacturing but an outsize [month-on-month] gain of 1.9% in industrial production," said SocGen.
On a yearly basis, consensus expects UK industrial production to fall by 0.4%, while manufacturing is set to fall by 1.9%. In February, industrial production fell 0.3% month-on-month, while it dropped 0.5% year-on-year. Meanwhile, manufacturing production declined 1.1% on a monthly basis in February, and fell 1.8% year-on-year.
In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.1%. In China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.5%.
Japan's leading index decreased by less than expected in March to the lowest level in forty months, preliminary data from the Cabinet Office showed. The leading index that reflects the future economic activity, fell to 98.4 in March from 98.9 in February. Economists had expected the index to drop to 96.4.
Also in the economic calendar Wednesday, the NIESR UK GDP estimate is due at 1500 BST, while US Energy Information Administration crude oil stocks are at 1530 BST.
By Daniel Ruiz; [email protected]
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WMH.LDairy CrestExperianOneSavings BankCompass GroupTUI.L