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(AWP Alliance News) - US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held a 'good' meeting on Thursday in which they agreed that the Strait of Hormuz 'must remain open', the White House said. Iran has largely blocked shipping through the vital waterway, through which a fifth of the world's oil and natural gas normally passes, since the outbreak of war with the US and Israel on February 28.  'The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy,' the White House said. China is directly affected by the lack of petroleum crossing the Strait of Hormuz. More than half of the crude imported by sea to China comes from the Middle East and mainly transits through the strait, according to maritime analytics firm Kpler. According to the White House, Xi expressed an interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China's dependence on the strait in the future. Beijing's own readout of the meeting did not mention any such interest. For its part, the White House statement did not mention any discussions between the two leaders on Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing and a sensitive subject in US-China diplomacy. Xi earlier warned that 'conflict' between China and the US could break out, should the issue be mishandled, Chinese state media had reported. source: AFP Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

(AWP Alliance News) - Costain Group PLC on Thursday said it was trading as expected so far in 2026, with full-year earnings weighted to the second half. The Maidenhead, England-based construction and engineering company is eyeing growth in revenue and adjusted operating profit in 2026, alongside an adjusted operating profit margin of 4.0%. In 2025, revenue was GBP1.05 billion and adjusted operating profit GBP47.1 million, for a margin of 4.3%. 'The group is making good progress towards the expected step change in financial performance in FY27 and beyond. Contract mobilisations and increased activity levels, reflecting an acceleration in customers' investment spending plans, are expected to build during the second half of FY26. As a result, and as previously indicated, FY 26 revenue and adjusted operating profit is expected to be second half weighted,' Costain explained on Thursday. It is targeting a net cash position of GBP175 million at the end of 2026, 'after the partial unwind of historic working capital benefits', as well as a GBP20 million buyback scheme and plans to double cash dividends. As of Wednesday, Costain had repurchased shares worth GBP4.0 million under the buyback scheme. It has extended an undrawn GBP100 million revolving credit facility and GBP295 million bonding facilities by a year to September 2030. Costain estimated that its forward work position is broadly consistent with the GBP7 billion figure reported at the end of 2025, and noted that 'the pipeline of bidding opportunities remains strong across all sectors'. Approximately 51% of the GBP7 billion in forward work is with private and regulated customers, versus 30% two years ago. The allocation to central government customers has reduced to 31% from 64%, while the proportion of devolved government customers has risen to 17% from 6% two years prior. Costain has secured work with fellow London listings National Grid PLC and Severn Trent PLC's water division, alongside other private and public UK customers. The company is due to publish half-year results on August 13. Its shares rose 2.2% to 201.00 pence on Thursday morning in London. UBS Group AG cut its stake in Costain on Tuesday to none reported from 5.10% previously. Panmure Liberum, Cavendish Research and Peel Hunt have maintained 'buy' ratings for Costain. Cavendish Research sees Costain's current share price 'as undervaluing the quality and visibility of the secured order book and a balance sheet that supports both attractive shareholder returns and continued investment flexibility.' Peel Hunt backed its forecasts for Costain's 2026 revenue and pretax profit, which the broker expects to reach GBP1.2 billion and GBP55 million respectively. This compares to revenue of GBP1.05 billion and pretax profit of GBP48.2 million in 2025. By Holly Munks, Alliance News reporter Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

(AWP Alliance News) - UK gross domestic product registered surprising first quarter growth, but analysts are sceptical that this will continue as geopolitical worries intensify. The UK economy grew strongly in the first quarter of 2026, driven by the services sector, according to data from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday. UK gross domestic product rose 0.6% in the three months to March, accelerating from revised growth of 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and in line with the FXStreet-cited consensus. Lloyds Banking analysts commented: 'That represents a clear step-up from the subdued performance at the end of last year. However, the timing of the data is important. Much of the strength predates the escalation in the Iran conflict, meaning the latest figures likely overstate the current pace of activity just as the outlook has become more uncertain. As with previous quarters, the profile within the period matters. Growth strengthened into February and March following a flat start to the year in January.' Lloyds also noted a 'clear pattern' of strong starts to the year subsiding. In each of 2025 and 2024, the best quarterly growth came in the first three months of the year. 'Some caution is warranted in extrapolating the latest momentum,' Lloyds added. ING also said this is a 'now-familiar pattern'. 'Since 2022, UK growth figures have come in much stronger in the first three months of the year than the rest. Growth has averaged 0.6% in Q1 over that period, a sharp contrast to Q3 where the economy has typically flatlined,' ING analysts commented. 'Why? It's hard to say exactly what's happening. But it seems that something's not quite right with the way the data is being seasonally-adjusted, a legacy we suspect of higher inflation and the timing of annual price hikes. To its credit, the Office for National Statistics has confirmed today it has made some changes to previous years and is keeping its methods under review.' ING continued: 'That's not to say the UK economy didn't grow at all in Q1. Surveys point to an underlying trend closer to 0.2-0.3%, which certainly isn't terrible. Not withstanding those seasonal issues, retail spending looks solid. The purchasing mangers indices had a decent start to the quarter, too. We're keeping a keen eye on IT, which contributed 0.3pp of the 1.2% year-on-year growth we saw in March, despite only having a 6% weight in GDP. That has been consistently the case and might point to some tailwinds from AI.' The ONS said all three main sectors contributed to quarterly growth in the first quarter, with services output rising 0.8%, production output increasing 0.2% and construction output climbing 0.4%. Monthly GDP rose 0.3% in March, slowing from growth of 0.4% in February but beating the FXStreet-consensus of a 0.3% drop. Services output increased 0.3% month-on-month in March and was up 0.8% on a three-month-on-three-month basis. Industrial production fell 0.2% in March from February and was flat on-year. Barclays noted there was 'strength in private consumption'. Private consumption expanded 0.6% on-quarter in the first three months of the year, beating the investment bank's 0.4% forecast. 'However, we do not think this is representative of the underlying strength of the economy and expect a sharp deceleration in Q2,' Barclays said. 'Overall, we think this will not represent material news to the Bank of England, especially given its view in the April monetary policy report that today's figures would not be representative of underlying growth, which the BoE pinned at 0.2% q/q growth. Looking ahead, we expect both the impact of the evolving terms of trade and domestic political uncertainty shocks and data seasonality issues to generate a sharp slowing in Q2.' Barclays sees gross domestic product edging up just 0.1% on-quarter in the three months to June. ING also believes the data will do little to turn heads at a BoE, 'which is singularly focused on the impending inflation spike and the risk of it spilling into wage growth'. 'We expect a one-and-done rate hike in June,' ING added. Pantheon Macroeconomics expects a monthly fall in gross domestic product by June. However, it has lifted its second-quarter forecast to 0.1% growth. Analyst Rob Wood commented: 'The risks to our call lie to the upside.' Sterling traded at USD1.3519 on Thursday morning UK time, flat from USD1.3520 at the London equities close on Wednesday and off an intraday high of USD1.3532 it spiked to shortly after the data. Pepperstone analyst Michael Brown does not expect the data to be the key driver for sterling and other domestic assets. 'UK assets, however, are much more likely to take their lead from developments in Westminster, at least in the short-term, as PM [Keir] Starmer's future remains in doubt. In turn, risks to both gilts and the GBP tilt to the downside for the time being, as participants discount not only elevated political uncertainty, but also the potential for a significantly looser fiscal stance moving forwards,' the analyst said. Starmer faces another day of questions over his future as Wes Streeting mulls whether to mount a challenge for the UK premiership. The health secretary is believed to have told allies he is preparing to resign on Thursday and announce a bid for the top job after Labour descended into open division at the start of the week. If he mounts a challenge, Streeting will need the support of 81 Labour MPs to begin a formal contest. Other figures regarded as potential challengers include former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who is a former party leader, and armed forces minister Al Carns. By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor Comments and questions to newsroom@alliancenews.com Copyright 2026 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.