The Morning Call - Compass CEO Richard Cousins killed in plane crash

Highlights of the Day

Asian Markets

Asian stock markets were mostly higher as 2018 trading began and investors looked ahead to whether the record-setting U.S. equity run will last.

U.S. Markets

Wall Street capped 2017 with a loss, weighed down by a broad slide in light trading ahead of the New Year’s holiday.

Today's News

China’s manufacturing activity expanded at the fastest pace in four months in December, survey data from IHS Markit showed. The Caixin Purchasing Managers’ Index for the factory sector rose to 51.5 in December from 50.8 in November. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector. Among components, output, new orders and export sales all grew at stronger rates in December.

Compass Group Chief Executive Officer Richard Cousins and five others, including his family members, were killed in Australia on New Year’s Eve when their sightseeing seaplane crashed into Sydney river. Bloomberg reported, citing an emailed statement, that Dominic Blakemore, formerly the company’s chief operating officer for Europe, will succeed Cousins, aged 58, effective Monday.

Balfour Beatty has sold an additional 7.5% stake in Connect Plus, the company which operates the M25 orbital motorway following the sale of a 12.5% stake on 21 Dec. The group has an unconditional right to sell the stake to funds managed by Dalmore Capital Limited (Dalmore). Funds managed by Equitix Investment Management Limited (Equitix) have the right to acquire this stake in priority to Dalmore for an identical price during the period to 13 Mar.

Wizz Air has signed an agreement to buy 146 Airbus A320neo Family aircraft. They will be used to replace existing fleet and also to facilitate expansion plans and deliver growth over the next decade. The current list price for the 146 aircraft is in excess of $17.2bn. Wizz Air said it had been granted ‘significant discounts’ by Airbus. Given the size of the deal, shareholders will be called to vote on the investment at a general meeting to be held in due course.

BP expects a positive impact on future US after-tax earnings from the recently-enacted changes to US corporate taxes, largely due to the reduction of the US federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21%. BP said the ultimate impact of the change in the US corporate income tax rate was subject to a number of complex provisions in the legislation which the company was reviewing. It said the lowering of the US corporate income tax rate to 21% required revaluation of BP’s US deferred tax assets and liabilities.

St. James’s Place confirmed that Andrew Croft has commenced as chief executive of the company, replacing David Bellamy. Craig Gentle has replaced Croft as chief financial officer. The changes were first flagged by the wealth manager last February.

International Airlines Group is to buy assets of the Austrian airline NIKI, which was formerly part of the Air Berlin group, for €20m and provide liquidity to NIKI of up to €16.5m. IAG said the transaction was being made by a newly-formed subsidiary of Vueling which would be incorporated as an Austrian company and run initially as a separate operation.

Gold began 2018 on a firm note after prices hit their highest in more than three months, supported by technical factors after breaking above $1,300 an ounce last week.

Oil Prices posted their strongest opening to a year since 2014, with crude rising to mid-2015 highs amid large anti-government rallies in Iran and ongoing supply cuts led by OPEC and Russia.

Companies Reporting this week

Day	Companies
Tomorrow:	Next
Friday:	Sports Direct

Early Market Movements

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,681.4	-6.4	-0.1%
UK 250	20,708.3	-17.9	-0.1%
GER 30	12,897.48	-20.16	-0.2%
FRA 40	5,315.6	+3.0	+0.1%
U.S. 30	24,719.22	-118.29	-0.5%
U.S. 500	2,673.6	-13.9	-0.5%
OIL (BRENT)	67.20	+0.33	+0.5%
GOLD	1,309.41	+6.61	+0.5%

UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Centrica	139.65	+2.35	+1.7%
St. James’s Place	1242	+16	+1.3%
Stagecoach	168.85	+4.15	+2.5%
Rio Tinto	3870	-72	-1.8%
BHP Billiton	1497.8	-24.7	-1.6%
Synthomer	475.6	-15.8	-3.2%

Latest Broker Views

Company	Broker	Recommendation	Price	Target
RBS	Bernstein	Market Perform	278.4	450
Mondi	JPMorgan	Overweight	1935	2200
GVC Holdings	Barclays	Overweight	935.5	1066
Kingfisher	Davy	Conviction Call List 2018	339.9	–