Provident Financial Profit Almost Halves

LONDON (Alliance News) - Sub-prime lender Provident Financial reported early Tuesday that its pretax profit for the first half of 2017 fell 46% to GBP90.0 million from GBP165.4 million the prior year.

Provident said the profit drop was due to disruption from restructuring in its home credit business, but it said its Vanquis Bank, Moneybarn and Satsuma operations continued to see strong growth.

The firm maintained its interim dividend per share at 43.2 pence.

After a slew of early company reports in London, attention is expected to turn to central banks. The Bank of Japan release meeting minutes overnight, and the US Federal Reserve begins its two-day policy meeting Tuesday.

Here is what you need to know at the London market open:

MARKETS

• FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 7,402.68

• Hang Seng: down 0.1% at 26,823.24

• Nikkei 225: closed down 0.1% at 19,955.20

• DJIA: closed down 0.3% at 21,513.17

• S&P 500: closed down 0.1% at 2,469.91

• GBP: flat at USD1.3035 (USD1.3029)

• EUR: firm at USD1.1664 (USD1.1645)

• GOLD: flat at USD1,257.37 per ounce (USD1,256.36)

• OIL (Brent): flat at USD48.79 a barrel (USD48.58)

(changes since previous London equities close)

ECONOMICS AND GENERAL

Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come (all times in BST):

• 0900 Germany IFO

• 0900 Italy industrial orders and sales

• 1100 UK CBI industrial trends survey

• 1355 US Redbook index

• 1400 US S&P/Case-Shiller home price indices

• 1400 US housing price index

• 1500 US Richmond Fed manufacturing index

• 1800 UK MPC member Haldane speech

• 2130 US API weekly crude oil stocks

Brexit "is not, was not and will not be about Britain turning away from the world," British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in New Zealand. "On the contrary, it is about us wanting to keep great relations with all our European friends and partners and do a great free trade deal with them," Johnson said at a press conference in Wellington during his first visit to New Zealand. Johnson, who is visiting the south-west Pacific nation for three days, met with Prime Minister Bill English and Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee and discussed topics including North Korea and the "nuclear adventurism of that regime" as well as the battle against terrorism.

US President Donald Trump called on Republicans in the US Senate to vote on Tuesday to move forward with a bill to repeal his predecessor Barack Obama's signature health-care legislation. "The question for every senator, Democrat and Republican, is whether they will side with Obamacare's architects that have been so destructive to our country or with its forgotten victims," Trump said at the White House. The upper chamber of Congress was expected to hold a vote as soon as Tuesday on whether to begin debating a health-care bill after previous efforts to do so had fallen short. Last week, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell had conceded that there was not enough support among his 52 Republicans to push a measure through the 100-seat upper chamber to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Senator John McCain has announced he will return to work at the US Senate on Tuesday, less than a week after being diagnosed with brain cancer. "Look forward to returning to Senate tomorrow to continue work on health care reform, defense bill & #RussiaSanctions," McCain tweeted Monday night. A brain cancer diagnosis for McCain was announced last week, as the 80-year-old senator recovered from surgery to remove a blood clot from above his left eye.

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner defended his contacts with Russian officials during and after the presidential campaign as "proper". "All of my actions were proper and occurred in the normal course of events in a very unique campaign," Kushner told reporters at the White House after testifying to senators about his conduct as part of a broader investigation into Russian interference in last year's US presidential election. Kushner stressed that he had not colluded with Russian officials, had "no improper contacts" during the campaign and did not rely on Russian money in his business dealings.

The Greek government has started an auction of five-year government bonds as a test run for a hoped-for return to capital markets, the country's Finance Ministry said. It is the first time since the new Greek government was formed at the beginning of 2015 that such a measure has been undertaken. It will take the form of a so-called "rollover", whereby old bonds from 2014 are replaced. The auction is being overseen by a consortium of leading international bankers, and its results could be available as soon as Tuesday.

German import prices increased at the slowest pace in seven months in June, data from Destatis showed. Import prices increased 2.5% year-on-year in June, slower than the 4.1% rise in May. This was the weakest increase since November, when prices gained 0.3%. Economists had expected prices to rise 2.9%. Month-on-month, import prices decreased 1.1% in June versus the expected drop of 0.7%.

Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine have agreed on a number of "immediate measures" in the Ukraine conflict, the German government said in Berlin, after a telephone conversation between leaders of the four nations. The so-called Normandy format group called on breaches of the ceasefire to stop immediately. Separating Ukrainian troops and Russian-aligned rebels in eastern Ukraine and the withdrawal of heavy weapons are also to take priority, according to the joint statement. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron urged the parties to resume prisoner swaps by the end of the year on the basis of the principle "all for all".

Members of the Bank of Japan's Monetary Policy Board said the country's economic recovery continues to show progress, and figures to continue to do so, minutes from the bank's June 15-16 meeting revealed. "Domestic demand is likely to follow an uptrend, with a virtuous cycle from income to spending being maintained in both the corporate and household sectors," the minutes said. "Most members shared the view that the year-on-year rate of change in the CPI was likely to turn slightly positive and thereafter would continue on an uptrend and increase toward 2%, mainly on the back of an improvement in the output gap and a rise in medium- to long-term inflation expectations," the minutes said.

BROKER RATING CHANGES

• HSBC RAISES RYANAIR TO 'BUY' (HOLD) - PRICE TARGET 19.50 (17.00) EUR

• MERRILL LYNCH RESUMES INTERCONTINENTAL HOTELS WITH 'BUY' - TARGET 4800 PENCE

• SOCGEN RAISES SEGRO TO 'BUY' ('HOLD') - TARGET 560 (391.98) PENCE

• PEEL HUNT INITIATES ESSENTRA WITH 'ADD' - TARGET 585 PENCE

• SOCGEN RAISES INTU PROPERTIES TO 'HOLD' ('SELL') - TARGET 280 (270) PENCE

• SOCGEN CUTS DERWENT LONDON TO 'SELL' ('HOLD') - TARGET 2250 (2820) PENCE

COMPANIES - FTSE 100

Exhibitions, events and publishing firm Informa reported a 29% rise in interim 2017 profit to GBP182.2 million from GBP141.6 million in 2016. Revenue grew 41% on a reported basis, to GBP915.4 million from GBP647.7 million, up 3.7% on an underlying basis. "Our increased balance and breadth, improving operational fitness and the benefits of consistent product investment give us confidence that we will meet our financial and operational targets for 2017, including further growth in revenue, earnings, cashflow and dividends," said Stephen Carter, chief executive of Informa.

Speciality chemical firm Croda International reported pretax profit of GBP168.0 million for the first half of 2017, up 16% from GBP145.1 million in 2016. Revenue also rose 16% to GBP707.3 million from GBP608.7 million, up 3.8% in constant currencies. Croda affirmed its full-year outlook and raised its interim dividend by 6.9% to 35.0p per share.

The UK Serious Fraud Office said Monday it is investigating suspected corruption in relation to the conduct of business in the Republic of Guinea by Rio Tinto, its employees, and others associated with it. Rio Tinto said in November it had notified authorities in the UK, US and Australia about its concerns over a USD10.5 million payment the company made to a consultant with close ties to Guinean President Alpha Conde while trying to maintain mining rights there in 2011. Rio Tinto said it will fully cooperate with the SFO and any other relevant authorities, as it has done since it self-reported in November 2016.

COMPANIES - INTERNATIONAL

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, late Monday said its profit for the second quarter dropped from a year ago hurt largely by a large fine imposed by European regulators. Alphabet's second-quarter profit declined to USD3.52 billion or USD5.01 per share from USD4.88 billion or USD7.00 per share last year. During the second quarter, the company recorded a huge fine of USD2.7 billion from European Commission. Excluding one-time items, earnings for the quarter were USD6.26 billion or USD8.90 per share. Revenue for the quarter grew 21% to USD26.01 billion from USD21.50 billion last year.

Dutch paints and chemicals maker AkzoNobel reported its net income attributable to shareholders for the second-quarter declined about 4% to EUR301 million from last year's EUR312 million. EBIT for the quarter decreased 6% to EUR461 million from the prior year's EUR491 million, impacted by continued weak demand in Marine and Protective Coatings, higher raw material costs and planned maintenance turnarounds in Industrial Chemicals, AkzoNobel said. Revenue grew 2% to EUR3.785 billion from the previous year driven by Performance Coatings and Specialty Chemicals.

Wells Fargo & Co accidentally released confidential information on tens of thousands of the bank's wealth-advisory clients, according to reports. The disclosure came to light after Aaron Zeisler, an attorney at Zeisler in New York representing Gary Sinderbrand, a former employee of Wells Fargo Advisors, informed a Wells Fargo lawyer. Shea Leordeanu, a spokeswoman for Wells Fargo, reportedly said: "Wells Fargo is currently taking swift legal action to ensure client data, which was inadvertently released to a lawyer as the result of a subpoena, is returned immediately. Our systems are secure."

Grab said that Didi Chuxing and SoftBank Group will invest up to USD2.0 billion to lead the Singapore-base ride-hailing company's new financing round. Grab, considered to be Uber's biggest rival in Southeast Asia, also expects to raise additional USD500 million from existing and new investors. Grab claims this investment to be the largest single financing in the history of Southeast Asia.

Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler is investing in a Chinese self-driving startup, the Wall Street Journal reported. The newspaper said the Stuttgart, Germany-based automotive giant made its first ever investment in a Chinese startup this week, taking part in a USD46 million funding round for Momenta, a Beijing-based firm providing road sensors and high definition mapping software.

Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings

• Mediclinic International

• Volex

• Mytrah Energy

• Fuller, Smith & Turner

• Intermediate Capital Group

• Acal

• Green Dragon Gas

• Greka Drilling

• Redcentric

• TR Property Investment Trust

• GB Group

• DS Smith (re acquisition of Indevco Management Resources)

• Safestore Holdings (directors renumeration policy)