(Alliance News) - Stock prices in London are seen opening higher on Monday following positive economic growth figures from Japan, as investors look ahead to another busy week of UK corporate earnings, headlined by miners and banks.
In early company news, jet engine maker Rolls-Royce Holdings confirmed a Sky News report naming its new chief financial officer. Pub and restaurant operator Mitchells & Butlers provided details of its equity raise. NextEnergy Renewables set out the price of its upcoming initial public offering, set to raise at least GBP300 million.
IG futures indicate the FTSE 100 index is to open 48.01 points higher at 6,637.80. The blue-chip index closed up 61.07 points or 0.9%, at 6,589.79 Friday.
Rolls-Royce confirmed Panos Kakoullis has been appointed as its new chief financial officer, succeeding Stephen Daintith, who is leaving Rolls-Royce to join online grocer Ocado Group.
Kakoullis was a partner at 'Big Four' accountancy firm Deloitte. He will take up his new role on May 3 with Daintith to depart on March 19 after the jet engine maker posts its annual results. Rolls-Royce said Deputy CFO Ben Fidler has been named interim CFO for the transition period.
Separately, Ocado confirmed that Daintith will start as CFO on March 22.
Mitchells & Butlers said it intends to raise GBP350 million by means of an fully underwritten, pre-emptive open offer. The FTSE 250 company had said back at the start of January that it was exploring an equity raise, as none of its pubs have been open since the start of the third national lockdown in England on December 30.
The open offer is supported by the company's major shareholders - Piedmont, Elpida Group and Smoothfield Holding - which collectively hold around 55% of the issued share capital.
Mitchells & Butlers will issue approximately 167 million new ordinary shares at a subscription price of 210 pence per share. The price represents a 36% discount to the closing share price on Friday. It is anticipated that the open offer will be fully underwritten at launch, it said.
In addition, Piedmont, Elpida and Smoothfield have informed Mitchells & Butlers that they have come together and consolidated their holdings under a newly incorporated holding company, Odyzean Group. The move is designed to help address the significant capital needs of Mitchells & Butlers and "provide a clear and consistent framework for their future relationship with the company", it said.
The pub company said looking forward, Odyzean has indicated that it intends to review the composition of the board of directors, which may result in a "reduced level of independent non-executive representation in the future".
"We are pleased to have received the support of our major shareholders and key creditors. Mitchells & Butlers was a high performing business going into the pandemic and this capital raising and refinancing will provide the business with the certainty of funding that it needs in order to emerge in a stronger position to take advantage of its strong property portfolio, well known brands and operational expertise in order to win market share and continue its long-term strategy of deleveraging and driving value creation for shareholders," said Chair Bob Ivell.
The London IPO market remains active, as NextEnergy Renewables set out details for its London Main Market listing. It said it is seeking to raise at least GBP300 million via an initial placing, offer for subscription and intermediaries offer, with flexibility to raise up to GBP500 million.
The renewable energy investment company will issue 300 million shares at 100 pence each and expects to start trading on March 10.
The Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 1.9%, closing above the 30,000-point mark for the first time since 1990. Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
The Japanese economy booked double-digit growth in the last quarter of 2020 for the second quarter in a row, continuing to recover strongly following a historic recession.
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 13% in the October-to-December period, beating the median forecast of 9.4% growth by analysts surveyed by the Nikkei Business Daily, which comes after an annualized 23% expansion in the third quarter.
Further, Japan's coronavirus vaccine rollout is scheduled to start as early as Wednesday for healthcare professionals.
In the US on Friday, Wall Street ended higher, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both ended 0.5% higher.
Financial markets in the US are closed on Monday for the President's Day holiday.
"With US markets closed today, and the Nikkei225 setting a new milestone over 30k, European markets look set for a similarly positive start to the week," said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
The pound was quoted at USD1.3888 Monday morning, up sharply from USD1.3847 at the London equities close Friday.
UK lawmakers are to begin reviewing coronavirus lockdown restrictions in England after more than 15 million received their first dose of a vaccine.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed the achievement - just over two months after the vaccination programme delivered its first jab - as a "significant milestone" in the fight against the disease.
Ministers have said they are "on track" to meet the target of getting an offer of a first dose to everyone the UK in the top four priority groups - including all over 70s - by Monday's deadline.
The euro was priced at USD1.2140, higher from USD1.2120. Against the yen, the dollar was trading at JPY105.10, up from JPY104.95.
Brent oil was quoted at USD63.37 a barrel Monday morning, sharply higher from USD61.53 late Friday. Gold was trading at USD1,818.60 an ounce, down from USD1,828.25.
The economic events calendar on Monday has eurozone industrial production figures at 1000 GMT.
Earnings season in London continues apace this week as a slew of blue-chip names report annual results. Miners Glencore and Rio Tinto report on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Lenders Barclays and NatWest report on Thursday and Friday respectively.
By Arvind Bhunjun; arvindbhunjun@alliancenews.com
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