3rd Oct 2018 07:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are seen opening marginally higher on Wednesday as Tesco reported strong half year results and James Bond carmaker Aston Martin priced its initial public offering. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open up 7.65 points at 7,482.20. The blue chip index closed down 0.3%, or 21.12 points, at 7,474.55 on Tuesday.In early UK corporate news, supermarket chain Tesco said it made a good start to the year buoyed by the acquisition of wholesale Booker Group, with the UK & ROI a key driver, as it delivered its eleventh consecutive quarter of growth.For the 26 weeks ended August 25, revenue rose 12% to GBP31.73 billion from GBP28.33 billion last year. Pretax profit increased 2.0% to GBP564 million From GBP553 million the year before. In the core UK & ROI division like-for-like sales increased 3.8% from 2.3% last year. Tesco proposed an interim dividend of 1.67p per share, up 67% from last year.The grocer also expects to generate GBP60 million in synergies from Booker Group deal in the financial year. "We remain firmly on track to deliver the medium-term ambitions set out in October 2016: to reduce our costs by GBP1.50 billion, to generate GBP9 billion of retail cash from operations and to improve group operating margins to between 3.5% and 4.0% by 2019/20. In addition, we will continue to strengthen the balance sheet and place increasing focus on growth in earnings and free cash flow generation," the company said. Telecommunications firm Vodafone Group said its Italian arm acquired spectrum to deploy 5G technology for EUR2.40 billion. The company said the acquisition will help deliver substantial network operating cost efficiencies to meet the expected future growth in data traffic.Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings is targeting a GBP4.33 billion market capitalisation as it priced its initial public offering at GBP19.00 per share.The GBP4.33 billion market cap would give the carmaker a shot at inclusion in the FTSE 100 index.The offer is made up of 57.0 million shares sold by some existing shareholders, worth GBP1.08 billion and made up of 25% of its existing share capital.Aston Martin had in mid-September given a GBP17.50 to GBP22.50 price range for its IPO, meaning its decided price is in the middle-to-lower part of the range. The Financial Times reported on Monday the firm had cut the range to GBP18.50 to GBP20.Further, Aston Martin is offering an over-allotment of 5.7 million shares which would increase the offer size to GBP1.19 billion.Conditional dealings in Aston Martin shares will start on Wednesday, before unconditional dealings on Monday next week. "We are delighted by the positive response we have received from investors across the world and are very pleased to welcome our new shareholders to the register. We are excited about the momentum across the company and are fully focused on continuing to deliver our exciting growth strategy through the Second Century Plan," said Chief Executive Andy Palmer. The economic events calendar on Wednesday has services PMI readings from Italy at 0845 BST, France at 0850 BST, and the eurozone at 0900 BST.Stock markets in Germany are closed for the Day of German Unity while markets in China remain closed for a week-long holiday.The pound was quoted at USD1.3004 early Wednesday compared to USD1.2979 at the London equities close Tuesday ahead of UK services PMI data at 0930 BST.The services sector is the single largest contributor to UK economic growth as it covers areas such as retail sales, tourism and banking. The PMI reading is expected to decelerate to 54.0 in September.Prime Minister May takes to the stage at the Conservative conference in Birmingham on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after 1,500 delegates gave a thunderous standing ovation to Boris Johnson as he branded her Brexit plans a "constitutional outrage" that would humiliate the UK.In one of the most important speeches of her political career, May will seek to rally her fractious party behind her by declaring that Britain's post-Brexit future is "full of promise".May said she was "cross" with her former foreign secretary, accusing him of being ready to "tear up" her guarantee to the people of Northern Ireland that there would be no customs border down the Irish Sea.But in her keynote speech, May will focus on her hopes for a brighter future after Brexit."I passionately believe that our best days lie ahead of us and that our future is full of promise," she will say.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.5%, S&P 500 flat and Nasdaq Composite down 0.5%.In US economic news later Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will speak at the Atlantic Festival in Partnership with the Aspen Institute at 2100 BST.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index is down 0.7%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is down 0.2%.The services sector in Japan continued to expand in September, but at a sharply slower pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed with a two-year low services PMI score of 50.2.That's down from 51.5 in August, although it remains barely above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also said that the composite index fell to 50.7 in September, down from 52.0 in August.Related Shares:
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