LONDON (Alliance News) - London stock prices got off to a slightly lower start Wednesday, but Barclays was the best performer in the FTSE 100 after a resilient first-quarter performance in the bank's core business.
Barclays said its first-quarter results showed a core business in rude health even as the bank saw a 25% drop in pretax profit.
Pretax profit fell to GBP793 million in the three months ended March 31, Barclays said in a statement, down from GBP1.06 billion the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
It was the first set of results since Chief Executive Jes Staley outlined in March a vision of Barclays as a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank anchored in London and New York.
"It is the first set of results as a transatlantic consumer, corporate and investment bank operating under our new configuration of Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate & International, and they show a core business performing well in a challenging environment," Staley said.
Its corporate and investment bank was "relatively resilient" in what Staley called a "tough" quarter, with "more we must do" to improve returns. The stock was the best performer in the FTSE 100, up 3.8%.
The FTSE 100 index traded down 0.2%, or 14.19 points, to 6,270.33. The FTSE 250 was down 0.1% at 16,937.58 and the AIM All-Share was flat at 729.17.
European stocks were outperforming London, with the French CAC 40 and German DAX 30 indices both up 0.4%.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index and the Shanghai Composite both fell 0.3% and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong is down 0.2%.
After the New York closing bell on Tuesday, technology giant Apple reported a drop in second-quarter profit, hurt largely by a double-digit revenue decline that reflected weak iPhone sales. Poor results and a weak outlook sent the company's shares plunging more than 7% in after-hours trading in New York, erasing about USD40 billion in market cap.
Apple reported its first year-over-year decline in iPhone sales since the product's launch in 2007, reflecting a saturated smartphone market. Sluggish economic growth in China - Apple's second-biggest market after the US - less frequent upgrades of iPhones by customers, and mediocre reception of the new iPhone SE also contributed to the sales decline.
On Wednesday in London, ARM Holding, which designs semiconductors that are used in Apple's iPhones, was up 0.5% after starting down 1.3%. Imagination Technologies, known for its PowerVR line graphics processing units, which Apple has used in the past, traded down 4.9%.
Irish building materials company CRH was up 0.5% after it said a robust trading environment in its key markets drove revenue higher in the first quarter.
The FTSE 100-listed group said sales grew 9.0% year-on-year in the first quarter, with sales in the Americas rising 22%, Asia sales up 12% and Europe sales flat.
CRH said it benefited from good weather conditions in the first months of 2016, which particularly helped sales in its Americas business. Market conditions in Europe continued to stabilise in the quarter, CRH said, albeit with variations in different regions, while Asian sales were helped by good cement demand in the Philippines.
Amec Foster Wheeler was up 3.2%, the best performer in the FTSE 250. The company said it has appointed Jonathan Lewis, who has held several senior roles at US giant Halliburton, as its new chief executive as the company reported a drop in revenue in the first quarter of 2016.
The FTSE 250-listed oilfield services company said Lewis will takeover as chief executive from the start of June. Current interim Chief Executive Ian McHoul will step down from his role but remain as Amec Foster Wheeler's chief financial officer.
Lewis is leaving his current role as senior vice president of Halliburton to take over at the helm of Amec Foster Wheeler, which said it will pay Lewis a salary of GBP775,000 per year, plus a potential bonus.
Home Retail Group said it swung to a loss in its recently-ended financial as the company prepares for its takeover by J Sainsbury and after offloading its Homebase business.
The struggling retailer said it made a pretax loss of GBP840.3 million in the year ended February 27, having made a pretax profit of GBP87.8 million the year before. This was primarily due to it booking an GBP852 million goodwill impairment charge relating to its takeover.
Revenue remained flat at GBP4.23 billion, with flat sales at Argos and a 3% decline at Homebase.
Home Retail sold Homebase to Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd in February for GBP340 million, with the rest of the business, comprising Argos, in the process of being bought by big four supermarket chain Sainsbury's for GBP1.2 billion.
Early Wednesday, the stock was down 0.3%, while Sainsbury's traded down 0.9%.
The main event in the economic calendar for Wednesday comes after the London market close, with the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision at 1900 BST. Economists overwhelmingly expect the US central bank to leave its Federal Funds rate target unchanged, but a calmer global macroeconomic backdrop could mean the Fed hints at a rate rise at its next meeting in June.
Before the Fed, the highlight in the economic calendar is the first reading of first quarter UK GDP at 0930 BST. Economists expect the UK economy to post a 0.4% quarter-on-quarter rise, following a 0.6% rise in the fourth quarter of 2015.
Elsewhere, US mortgage applications are at 1200 BST, goods trade balance at 1330 BST, pending home sales at 1500 BST, and the Energy Information Administration's crude oil stocks change at 1430 BST.
By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1
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