21st Feb 2019 07:38
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are set to open broadly flat on Thursday following strong gains in the previous session, amid a busy day for UK company updates.Reporting on Thursday, Barclays pledged to focus on shareholder returns as it posted a dip in annual profit on litigation charges, Anglo American's 2018 figures topped consensus, and BAE Systems lifted its annual dividend.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 1.12 points lower at 7,227.50 on Thursday. The FTSE 100 index closed up 49.45 points, or 0.7%, at 7,228.62 on Wednesday.The Federal Open Market Committee minutes released on Wednesday provided further insight into US central bank's decision to change its forward guidance language and indicate a patient approach to raising interest rates.Meeting participants pointed to a variety of considerations that supported a patient approach to monetary policy as an appropriate step in managing various risks and uncertainties in the outlook."A patient approach would have the added benefit of giving policymakers an opportunity to judge the response of economic activity and inflation to the recent steps taken to normalize the stance of monetary policy," the minutes said.The Fed said additional data would help policymakers gauge the trajectory of business and consumer sentiment, whether the recent softness in core and total inflation and inflation compensation would persist, and the effect of the tightening of financial conditions on aggregate demand.Jasper Lawler at London Capital Group commented: "There was something for everyone in the January Fed minutes. The Fed saw no problems arising by keeping rates on hold in the face of headwinds such as trade tensions and slowing global growth. This is unlike previous meetings where they have considered it potentially dangerous to sit on their hands. These comments were supportive to equities with the Dow booking a third consecutive positive session."In the US on Wednesday, Wall Street ended in the green, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.2% and Nasdaq Composite closing marginally higher.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed down 0.3%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.2%.Japan's manufacturing sector slipped into contraction in February, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Thursday with a 32-month low manufacturing PMI score of 48.5. That's down from 50.3 in January, and it sinks beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. Future output expectations turned negative for the first time since November 2012.To come in the economic events calendar on Thursday are services PMI readings from France, Germany and the eurozone at 0815 GMT, 0830 GMT and 0900 GMT, respectively. In early UK company news, lender Barclays raised its dividend and pledged a greater focus on returns to shareholders, as annual profit slipped on litigation and conduct charges.Pretax profit for 2018 came in at GBP3.49 billion, slightly lower than the GBP3.54 billion achieved last year. This included litigation and conduct charges of GBP2.2 billion, which the bank said was principally related to a GBP1.4 billion settlement with the US Department of Justice.Excluding these charges, pretax profit for the year was up 20% on 2017 to GBP5.7 billion.Analysts had seen pretax profit at GBP5.83 billion.The lender declared a full-year dividend of 4.0 pence, bringing its total dividend to 6.5p. This is more than double the 3p paid out in respect of 2017."In 2018, based on our strong capital generation, Barclays restored the dividend to 6.5p and redeemed expensive preference shares dating from the financial crisis. This is excellent progress, but not sufficient," said Chief Executive James Staley."Going forward the principal calls on future earnings should now be returns to shareholders and investing to grow the business. We will use the strong capital generation of the bank to return a greater proportion of those earnings to shareholders by way of dividends and to supplement those dividends with additional returns, including share buybacks. I am optimistic for our prospects to do more in 2019 and beyond."Stronger commodity prices and solid operational performance helped drive Anglo American's earnings growth, the company said, as its figures beat consensus.Underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation came in at USD9.16 billion for 2018, 4% higher than in 2017. Consensus had seen the figure at USD9.05 billion.Underlying earnings of USD3.24 billion were down 1% on the year before but beat consensus of USD3.11 billion.Anglo American's revenue for 2018 was USD27.61 billion, 5% higher than a year before but below consensus of USD29.26 billion.The company is paying a final dividend of 51 US cents, in line with its dividend policy of 40% of underlying earnings. This takes the year's total to 100 cents, down slightly from 102 cents in 2017. British Gas parent Centrica said its financial performance was "mixed" in 2018 against a "challenging external backdrop".Adjusted operating profit was up 12% to GBP1.39 billion, slightly below consensus of GBP1.41 billion but up from the GBP1.25 billion achieved in 2017.The energy supplier maintained its full-year dividend at 12.0p.In addition, the FTSE 100 constituent said it will sell its North American Franchisee Home Services Business, Clockwork, for GBP230 million. Centrica will sell the unit to Authority Brands, a home services franchise platform."The disposal of the Clockwork portfolio is aligned with our intention to drive channel and brand simplification across the Group focusing on our owned channels and is the first part of our GBP500 million divestment programme of non-core assets we announced today," said Chief Executive Iain Conn.Defence firm BAE Systems raised its annual dividend after its order book reached record highs and profit rose on lower costs, despite revenue dipping. In 2018, pretax profit widened 14% to GBP1.22 billion from GBP1.07 billion the year prior. This was despite reported revenue falling 2.3% to GBP16.82 billion from GBP17.22 billion the year before, on a constant currency basis falling by 1%.BAE proposed a 13.2 pence per share final dividend, up 1.5% from 13.0p the year prior. For the full year, the dividend rose 1.8% to 22.2p from 21.8p in 2017. Standard Chartered late Wednesday said its 2018 fourth-quarter results will include a total of USD900 million set aside to cover potential penalties related to investigations by both UK ans US authorities for financial crime and forex trading issues.The bank said it continues discussions with the US authorities relating to its historical violations of US sanction laws, just after the UK Financial Conduct Authority fined it GBP102.2 million.The USD900 million provision, "reflects management's current view of the appropriate level of provision", Standard Chartered said.
Related Shares:
Centrica