20th Jun 2018 07:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Share prices in London on Wednesday are seen rebounding from recent lows caused by the trade battle between the US and China.In early UK company news on Wednesday, housebuilder Berkeley Group Holdings reported an annual rise in profit despite a fall in revenue, upping its guidance as a result, while Sports Direct International said it no longer has any holding in US sports retailer Finish Line.IG says futures indicate the FTSE 100 index of large-caps to open 53.35 points higher at 7,657.20 on Wednesday. The FTSE 100 index closed down 0.4%, or 27.48 points, at 7,603.85 on Tuesday.FTSE 100-listed Berkeley said revenue for the year to April 30 declined to GBP2.70 billion from GBP2.72 billion last year, though pretax profit climbed 15% to GBP934.9 million from GBP812.4 million.Residential revenue in the period totalled GBP2.57 billion, down from GBP2.67 billion last year, though the group's operating margin improved to 28.8% from 27.8%.These results, the company said, together with its "robust" forward sales of GBP2.2 billion, mean it is able to raise its pretax profit guidance for the two years ending April 2019 by GBP75 million to "at least" GBP1.575 billion, and guidance for the five years ending April 2021 by a similar amount to at least GBP3.375 billion. "Berkeley, with its unrivalled financial strength, land position and expertise, is able to look past this prevailing uncertainty with measured confidence but, like all responsible businesses, is cautious in its investment in this environment and this will determine the speed with which it delivers the value from its assets in the medium term," said Chief Executive Rob Perrins.Sports Direct said it now holds a 8.6% stake in US brand management company Iconix Brand Group, or 5.7 million shares, having previously held a 8.9% stake.The sportswear retailer also said it has fully disposed of its interest in Finish Line, having held a 19% stake in the US footwear retailer. London-listed peer JD Sports agreed to buy Finish Line in March for USD558 million.Sirius Minerals said it has signed an agreement to supply POLY4 fertilizer to Intercontinental Trade DMCC Dubai.The deal is a seven-year agreement from first production, for volumes of POLY4 increasing to 350,000 tonnes per annum in year four and provides for exclusive marketing rights into Nigeria."Africa is a huge potential market for POLY4 and we are very pleased to establish our initial footprint in Nigeria, which is the largest market in West Africa. Nigeria is positioned as the key market for fertilizer growth in the region and we believe ITL Trading will be a fantastic long-term partner for the Company," said Chief Executive Chris Fraser.F&C Global Smaller Companies said its diluted net asset value total return of 9.3% over its financial year beat its benchmark's return of 7.9%.The company's benchmark is a mix of the returns from two indices, the MSCI All Country World ex UK Small Cap Index and the Numis UK Smaller Companies Index, in a 70%/30% proportion.F&C Global Smaller Cos recommended a final dividend of 10.00p per share, up 21% on last year, and taking its total payout for the year to 14.40p, up 18%.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average ending down 1.2%, the S&P 500 down 0.4% and Nasdaq Composite losing 0.3%.China has much more to lose in the current trade dispute than the US, one of President Donald Trump's top economic advisers said Tuesday."What the president did yesterday in announcing an additional USD200 billion, it's clear that China does have much more to lose," said Peter Navarro, director of the White House Trade and Industrial Policy Council, speaking to reporters on a conference call.Navarro made the comments one day after Trump said he would impose a 10% tariff on an additional USD200 billion worth of Chinese goods "if China refuses to change its practices"."Markets have been trading on the same piece of general trade war news for a while, as a result selling exhaustion has started to set in. Asian markets are seen moving higher overnight and European bourses are also expected to push northwards on the open, although the gains are making up fraction of what the losses totalled over the previous few sessions," said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.3% - clawing back some of the previous day's 3.8% fall - while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 1.0%.In economic news, members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said that moderate expansion is expected to continue for the country's economy, minutes from the bank's April 26-27 meeting showed on Wednesday."Uncertainties surrounding US economic policies had not been dispelled, and thus it was necessary to continue to pay close attention to the impact of these uncertainties on global capital flows and Japan's economic activity and prices," the minutes said.Regarding inflation, consumer prices are slowly moving higher - and the policy makers said stimulus will continue until inflation hits 2% and remains there.Meanwhile, sterling was quoted at USD1.3171 early Wednesday, soft compared to USD1.3179 at the London equities close on Tuesday.Theresa May is facing a fresh Brexit showdown as MPs vote on Parliament's role in Britain's exit from the European Union. Flagship legislation returns to the Commons after the Lords again backed giving MPs a "meaningful" say on the final deal.The UK prime minister staved off a Tory rebellion on the move last week but faces a bruising battle in the latest round of voting. Dominic Grieve, one of the leading figures in the stand-off, said he expected negotiations to "go right to the wire".Peers backed an amendment to the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, tabled by Viscount Hailsham, on Monday that would require the government to allow MPs to vote on how it would proceed in the absence of a Brexit deal by January 21 next year.LCG's Lawler commented: "Whilst the vote will attract significant attention we don't see an embarrassing loss as motive to push the pound sub USD1.30 - that could come from an excessively dovish BoE on Thursday."In the economic events calendar on Wednesday are South Africa inflation readings at 0900 BST and the UK CBI industrial trends survey at 1100 BST. In addition, the European Central Bank forum in Sintra, Portugal on central banking concludes on Wednesday, with US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and ECB President Mario Draghi speaking at 1430 BST. In the UK corporate calendar on Wednesday there are full year results from blue chip housebuilder Berkeley Group, F&C Global Smaller Cos and structural steel company Severfield.Related Shares:
Sirius MineralsFCS.LSports Direct