The Morning Call - JD Wetherspoon reports positive results

Highlights of the Day

Asian Markets

Most indices in Asia were moderately lower on Friday after North Korea launched a missile in the direction of the east.

U.S. Markets

Wall Street markets closed mostly lower on Thursday, with investors growing concerned at the possibility of tighter monetary policy from the Federal Reserve after the release of strong inflation data.

Today's News

The United Nations Security Council has planned an emergency meeting in the wake of North Korea’s firing of a second missile over Japan. The closed-door meeting at 3 pm New York time was called at the request of the US and Japan, said the Ethiopian UN mission, which holds the council presidency this month. The agenda cites “Non-proliferation/DPRK” as the main item to be discussed. DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea, the nation’s official title. The meeting will be held after North Korea launched from Pyongyang on Friday a missile that flew over northern Japan before plunging into the Pacific, officials in Tokyo and Seoul said, in a move that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned as “outrageous.”

Coca-Cola HBC AG announced its Chief Executive Officer Dimitris Lois will take a temporary leave of absence to undergo treatment for a medical condition. Lois is expected to be on leave for around four months. During his leave, Coca-Cola HBC said he will stay involved in the business and remain a member of the board of directors. Michalis Imellos, Coca-Cola HBC’s chief financial officer, will service as interim CEO whilst Lois is undergoing treatment. Imellos joined the soft drinks bottler in 2008 a region finance director and was appointed CFO in 2012.

Aviva said it has completed the sale of its 50% of its shareholding in its Spanish businesses for EUR475.0 million. The insurer had said in May it agreed to sell its interests in life insurance and pension joint ventures Unicorp Vida and Caja Espana Vida, as well as retail life insurance business Aviva Vida y Pensiones, to Santa Lucia SA. In May, Aviva said the price for the businesses is approximately 1.5 times its share of their 2016 net asset value and 12 times its share of their post-tax 2016 earnings. The sale will result in a gain of approximately £120.0m in Aviva’s IFRS net asset value and an increase of around £130.0m in its Solvency II capital surplus.

JD Sports Fashion has entered into a joint venture agreement with South Korean footwear retailer, Shoemarker Inc (SMK), in relation to its J&S Partners unit, which currently trades as Hot-T. The company has bought an initial 15% of Hot-T for a cash consideration of around £5.5m. As part of the JV, it has a call option to buy a further 35% share following the finalisation of Hot-T’s accounts for its financial year ending 31 December 2017.

JD Wetherspoon reported growth in profit in its recently ended financial year, as both margin and revenue rose, boosted by higher like-for-like sales, but the pub chain said the positive results it has also seen since the year-end are “very unlikely” to continue throughout the new financial year. Wetherspoon said its pretax profit in the year ended July 30 increased to £76.4m from £66.0m the year before, as revenue rose to £1.66bn from £1.60bn. Revenue was boosted by a 4% rise in like-for-like sales, with 3.1% growth in bar sales and 5.7% growth in food sales.

Indivior said it has filed patent lawsuits against several pharmaceutical companies for infringement of US patent 9,687,454 relating to Indivior’s SUBOXONE sublingual film product. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Actavis Generics, Par, Alvogen, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Mylan NV have all received lawsuits for the infringing of the patent of the product, which is an oral film containing buprenorphine and naloxone. The patent was first issued on June 27, and Indivior has been involved in other infringement litigation involving earlier issued patents covering SUBOXONE with the same companies.

Oil prices were lower, but largely held gains that had prices flirting with multi-month highs.

Gold prices inched up as North Korea’s latest missile launch over Japan triggered safe-haven buying.

Companies Reporting this week

Day	Companies
Today:	J.D. Wetherspoon

Early Market Movements

Market	Index	Change	% Change
UK 100	7,273.4	-22.0	-0.3%
UK 250	19,462.8	-61.1	-0.3%
GER 30	12,531.5	-8.9	-0.1%
FRA 40	5,219.0	-6.2	-0.1%
U.S. 30	22,203.48	+45.30	+0.2%
U.S. 500	2,495.6	-2.8	-0.1%
OIL (BRENT)	55.23	-0.24	-0.4%
GOLD	1,328.67	-1.07	-0.1%

UK Risers & Fallers (8:15am)

Company	Price	Change	% Change
Wetherspoon (JD)	1116.5	+72.5	+6.9%
Next	5110	+116	+2.3%
Morrison (WM)	234.9	+2.5	+1.1%
McCarthy	145	-5.9	-3.9%
Provident Financial	799	-30.5	-3.7%
Carnival	4972	-128	-2.5%

Latest Broker Views

Company	Broker	Recommendation	Price	Target
Morrison	Barclays	Underweight	234.9	215
Next	Deutsche Bank	Hold	5110	4400
Babcock	Goldman Sachs	Conviction Buy	798	1330
Experian	Goldman Sachs	Buy	1454	1950

Forthcoming Economic Data

Time/Date	Previous	Forecast	Outcome
1:30pm: U.S.Core Retail Sales m/m	0.5%	0.5%	–
1:30pm: U.S. Retail Sales m/m	0.6%	0.1%	–
1:30pm: Empire State Manufacturing Index	25.2	18.2	–