10th Oct 2018 07:43
LONDON (Alliance News) - Stocks in London are seen opening marginally lower on Wednesday, amid rising concerns about global financial stability.
In early company news, UK pub chain Marston's said trading over the past year was buoyed by warm weather and the football World Cup but figures from head hunting firm PageGroup showed the UK as its weakest market. IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 6.79 points lower at 7,230.80. The blue chip index closed up 0.6%, or 4.26 points, at 7,237.59 on Tuesday."European bourses are pointing to a lacklustre start. Uncertainty is prevailing in the financial markets, we are seeing more investors opting to wait and see how risks surrounding rising US treasury yields, global growth and China play out. Near term risks to global financial stability have increased rapidly over the past few months. The markets have been relatively complacent, but we are starting to see an acknowledgement of these risks which is keeping traders on the side-lines," said London Capital Group's Jasper Lawler.In early UK corporate news, job recruiter PageGroup said it delivered its highest quarterly growth rate since the third quarter of 2011, with 22 countries growing over 20% and all four of its regions performing strongly. For the third quarter to September-end, gross profit increased 20% at constant currency to GBP207.7 million from GBP177.2 million last year. Its Asia Pacific region performed the best with gross profit up 28% to GBP46 million from GBP73 million the year before. In the UK, gross profit rose 0.8% to GBP35.2 million from GBP34.9 million prior, despite continued "Brexit related uncertainty"."We will continue to focus on driving profitable growth as we progress towards our Vision of 10,000 headcount, GBP1 billion of gross profit and GBP200 million - GBP250 million of operating profit. We are pleased with the group's continued strong performance and now expect 2018 operating profit to be marginally ahead of the consensus of current market forecasts," Page Group said. Brewer and pub operator Marston's said it saw strong trading as the football World Cup tournament and warm summer weather contributed to it achieving record revenue and underlying pretax profit for the financial year.Marston's said annual underlying pretax profit was up 3.9% to GBP104 million from GBP100.1 million the year before, with higher operating profit offset by higher interest charges.Marston's annual total pub sales were up 3.2%, with like-for-like sales up 0.6%. Marston's like-for-like pub sales in the most recent 10 weeks were up 1.6%.The company also reached agreement to acquire 15 former Mitchell's & Butlers pubs from Aprirose, a property investment company. Marston's said these sites are "well located, community pubs have good potential and are highly complementary to our business model"."Although trading in Destination food-led pubs was weaker, this predominantly reflects issues beyond our control relating to unseasonal weather extremes and the World Cup. However we are encouraged that our dining pubs are now seeing improving momentum and we expect to make further progress in 2019. We are meeting the demands of our customers and continue to manage the inflationary cost environment well, which gives us confidence for the future," said Chief Executive Ralph Findlay.HSBC Holdings has entered into a USD765 million settlement in the US over its sale of mortgage-based securities during the run-up to the financial crisis.The deal resolves claims by the US that HSBC misled buyers about the quality of the securities, which were backed by pools of home loans. The issues, which occurred between 2005 and 2007, led to major losses by investors, prosecutors said."We are pleased to put this investigation related to activity that occurred more than a decade ago behind us," said Patrick Burke, president & chief executive officer of HSBC US. British American Tobacco said that Chief Marketing Officer Andrew Gray will stand down from the board at the end of 2018 before leaving the tobacco giant at the end of March 2019.Gray will be replaced by a fellow BAT veteran, Americas & Sub Saharan Africa Regional Director Kingsley Wheaton. A replacement for Wheaton's role will be announced in "due course", the company said.The economic events calendar on Wednesday has Italy industrial output figures at 0900 BST and US producer prices at 1330 BST. In addition, Andy Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, will speak at the Advisory, Conciliation & Arbitration Service Future of Work conference in London at 1000 BST.The pound was firm quoted at USD1.3170 , firm compared to USD1.3141 at the London equities close Tuesday.The Office for National Statistics will release UK monthly GDP estimate for August. GDP is forecast to climb 0.2% on month, following a 0.3% rise in July.In the meantime, UK industrial and construction output are due. Economists forecast industrial production to grow 0.1% month-on-month in August, the same pace of growth as seen in July.Elsewhere, the International Monetary Fund has included Brexit among key risks to the stability of the global economy in a new report.The organisation has called for financial institutions to "step up their preparations for a post-Brexit landscape" and include measures for a no-deal Brexit "in as much detail as possible".In its two-yearly health assessment of the global financial system, the IMF said that "growing anxiety" about a breakdown in negotiations between Britain and the EU could lead to uncertainty in the UK and elsewhere.Should such pressures hit one of the world's largest economies it could trigger a "sharp tightening of global financial conditions", the report says.The IMF's assessment comes after the Bank of England warned that an estimated GBP41 trillion of derivatives face legal uncertainty after Brexit on March 29, unless the EU takes action to ensure continuity of existing rules.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended broadly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.2%, S&P 500 down 0.1% Nasdaq Composite flat.The Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.2%. In China, the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong is up 0.7%.Related Shares:
MarstonsPageGroup