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UK stock market morning note (September 11, 2012)

The FTSE 100 is called to open lower this morning ahead of another quiet day of economic releases. Asian shares were weaker overnight despite the view that the US may implement QE3 on the back of weaker than expected jobless figures announced last week. A decision will be made as to whether the US economy needs further support when the FOMC meet on Thursday. This may result in the market being heavily influenced on market expectations and speculation ahead of this announcement. In additon, the EU will be focused on the rulings of the German constitutional court, due Wednesday, which is set to rule on the legitimacy of the European Stability Mechanism which may impact heavily on the future of the euro.

Today's Company announcements

Ashmore Final Results saw assets under management fall 3% coming in at USD63.7bn (FY 2011: USD65.8bn). The company said that despite this fall it was focusing on revenue and costs in order to maintain a higher margin. Total net revenue came in at GBP333.3m (FY 2011: GBP333.8m) whilst PBT was slightly lower at GBP243.2m (FY 2011: GBP245.9m). Diluted EPS was 25.80p (FY 2011: 26.63p) and the company announced a final dividend of 10.75p bringing the full year dividend to 15p. The company said in the release that "Emerging Markets equities looks to be ripe for a good year given relatively low valuations, and specialist areas in small cap and frontier markets are bound to attract attention as investors lose their solely large cap bias in the search for high long term returns and outperformance".

Burberry Q2 Retail Sales saw growth at constant exchange rates of 6% in the 10 weeks ended 8 September, of which new space contributed entirely to this growth. Comparable store sales were unchanged year-on-year, with the company adding that sales in this area had decelerated in recent weeks. Following this Burberry expects adjusted PBT for FY 2013 to be at the lower end of market expectations.

Hammerson announced the acquisition of The Victoria Quarter in Leeds for GBP136m from Kennedy Wilson on behalf of the Bank of Ireland Private Banking. The company said in the announcement that the acquisition complements its proposals for the first phase of Eastgate Quarters enabling a coordinated approach to its tenant strategy and marketing in Leeds.

Serco announced the signing of a new contract with the New Zealand Department of Corrections to provide and operate a new prison at Wiri, South Auckland. The contract is for 25 years from its expected opening mid-2015. The company anticipates revenues of GBP15m per year from the date of opening, and revenues of GBP2m in the pre-operational phase.