The FTSE 100 is called to open higher this morning following the performances on Wall Street and in Asia despite the confirmation that Greece had defaulted on its repayment due to the IMF and Chinese data out overnight showing that the official manufacturing PMI came in at 50.2 and the HSBC final manufacturing PMI at 49.4, both slightly below forecasts with the non-manufacturing PMI reading at 53.8. The economic diary today also sees another round of Eurogroup meetings in light of the Greek situation, the release of domestic manufacturing PMI data, a speech from the Governor of the Bank of England to accompany the Financial Stability Report, ADP jobs figures in the US and ISM manufacturing PMI numbers. Commodity prices are mixed and on the foreign exchanges, the dollar is slightly higher against the pound, euro and yen but all are within narrow trading ranges ahead of these data releases and Mark Carney's speech.
Company Announcements
Greene King
Preliminary Results show total revenue up 3% on a 52 week basis to £1.31bn with PBT down 0.8% at £168.5m. It noted retail lfl sales of +0.4%; pub partners lfl net income of +3.5% and brewing & brands own brewed volume (OBV) of +4.2% The dividend is raised 4.8% to 29.75p and post the year-end completed the acquisition of the Spirit Pub Company to create the UK's leading managed pub company with the integration process now underway. It added that current trading has been steady in the first 8 weeks with retail lfl sales +0.6%, pub partners lfl net income +1.2% and brewing & brands OBV -3.7%.
Tullow Oil
Trading Statement and Operational Update notes good progress has been made across the business in H1 2015. Its major oil producing assets in West Africa have performed strongly and it has upgraded its 2015 full year production forecast accordingly. It notes that the TEN Project remains within budget and on track for first oil in mid-2016. In East Africa it is making steady progress towards project sanction with good appraisal and test results from its wells in Northern Kenya and strong support from the Governments of Kenya and Uganda. It added that it is continuing to build its inventory of exploration prospects to provide options when market conditions improve.
Contributed by SVS Securities
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