LONDON MARKET OPEN: FTSE Slides As Centrica Drops 8% On Mixed Update

LONDON (Alliance News) - London stocks struggled early Thursday, with investors giving British Gas parent Centrica the cold shoulder as it warned on a hit to profit from Ofgem's energy cap. The FTSE 100 was down 0.5%, or 37.35 points, at 7,012.88 in early trade. The FTSE 250 was down 0.4%, or 81.61 points, at 18,503.33 and the AIM All-Share was down 0.1% at 929.38.The Cboe UK 100 was down 0.6% at 11,901.66, the Cboe UK 250 down 0.3% at 16,628.10 with the Cboe UK Small Companies flat at 11,355.61.The subdued open comes after "broadly sideways trading on Wall St", said Michael van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, and a "sluggish start" in Asia. "PM May and EU chief Juncker reported making 'good progress' on Brexit negotiations, but the final sealed deal remains ever elusive, with several EU member states eager to stick a spanner in the works ahead of the Sunday's planned EU Summit," he added.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris and the DAX 30 in Frankfurt were down 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively.In Asia on Thursday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.7%. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.2%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong ended 0.2% higher.UK Prime Minister Theresa May has vowed to return to Brussels at the weekend after her meeting late Wednesday with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker concluded without a breakthrough on Britain's future relations with the EU."We have had a very good meeting this evening," May said after talks with Juncker in Brussels. "We have made further progress and as a result, we have given sufficient direction to our negotiators."May told parliament before leaving London that a withdrawal agreement with the EU "has been agreed in principle," and that negotiations were continuing on an outline statement of the future relationship after Brexit.Britain's plan for exiting the bloc is uncertain due to an impasse in parliament over what do with the Irish border, amid concerns that border infrastructure could reignite violence in the former conflict zone.The economic events calendar on Thursday has the European Central Bank's monetary policy meeting accounts at 1230 GMT and eurozone consumer confidence data at 1500 GMT.Centrica was down 8.3%, the worst performer in the FTSE 100, as it said it remains on track to achieve its 2018 targets despite unexpected outages and operational issues in Exploration & Production and extended inspections and outages in its Nuclear unit.The gas and electricity supplier said it expects to achieve annual adjusted operating cash flow in a range of GBP2.1 to GBP2.3 billion, and maintain a full-year dividend of 12.0p."Our financial performance has remained resilient despite weaker than planned volumes from our E&P and Nuclear activities and cash generation remains strong. Maintaining a focus on performance delivery and financial discipline and demonstrating resilient cash flows remain our objectives for 2019 and beyond, as we deal with the impact of the UK energy supply default tariff cap," said Chief Executive Iain Conn.Centrica said that trading conditions for its commodity-exposed, customer-facing businesses continue to be highly competitive in the UK, Ireland and North America. Market volatility and weather extremes also have been challenging, the company said, but added that it managed this "effectively" with "strong energy risk management and optimisation capabilities".Turning of UK regulator Ofgem's energy price cap, Centrica said it expects a GBP70 million hit to adjusted operating profit in the first quarter of 2019 due to a revision to the methodology for calculating supplier wholesale and hedging costs during the transitional period.Severn Trent was down 2.0% after it said said revenue and profit edged higher for in its recently ended half-year, lifting its interim payout.Revenue for the half to September 30 grew 3.6% to GBP881.5 million from GBP851.0 million, with pretax profit up 1.4% to GBP299.1 million from GBP295.0 million. The water utility lifted its interim dividend by 7.9% to 37.35p.The firm said it delivered a "good" results, with its Regulated Water and Waste Water business growing profit despite an additional GBP10 million of operating costs over the hot dry summer.Standard Chartered, meanwhile, was the best blue-chip performer as it rose 1.5%. Late Wednesday, the emerging-markets focused bank said the New York branch of its Standard Chartered Bank unit will no longer be monitored by an independent monitor appointed in agreement with the New York's Department of Financial Services.The monitoring will end on December 31, the firm said. Standard Chartered has been under independent monitorship since 2012, after it agreed to settle US charges over dealings with Iranian entities and deficiencies in its anti-money laundering controls.At the bottom of the FTSE 250 was Rotork, down 6.3% as it posted a fall in order intake in the third quarter.Order intake fell 4.0% in the quarter, though revenue was up 8.4%. Fluid Systems led the fall in orders, down 20%. Despite the fall in order intake, Rotork said it continues to expect a "robust" performance for 2018.Euromoney Institutional Investor shares gained 2.3% after the FTSE 250 constituent recorded a jump in annual profit, boosted by disposal gains, though anticipated a moderation in events revenue for the year ahead.Revenue for the year to September 30 grew 1% to GBP390.3 million, though pretax profit jumped to GBP161.2 million from just GBP40.7 million a year ago due to one-off disposal gains. On an adjusted basis, pretax profit rose 3% to GBP109.2 million from GBP106.5 million.The business information company proposed a final dividend of 22.3p, up 2% on the 21.8p paid out last year, taking its total dividend for the year to 32.5p, up 6% year-on-year.Looking ahead, the company said: "The outlook for our Pricing, Data & Market Intelligence segment is broadly consistent with 2018, however, continuing the strong growth we had in events revenues through into 2019 will be a challenge."Elsewhere on the LSE, Majestic Wine slumped 12% after it posted a rise in half-year revenue but swung to a loss.Revenue for the half to October 1 was up 5.4% at GBP229.1 million, as the wine seller swung to a pretax loss of GBP200,000 from a GBP3.1 million profit a year ago. On an adjusted basis, pretax profit plunged 63% to GBP2.5 million from GBP6.8 million.The firm said it is "doing well" amid a tough market, though now expects annual earnings before interest and tax to be, "at best", flat on last year. The company had previously expected earnings growth. Following the update, broker Peel Hunt cut its rating on the stock to Hold from Buy. "The core retail business looks very fragile currently, with industry conditions extremely tough and no room for any price increases to be passed on to customers," Peel Hunt commented.