(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors)MOST FOLLOWED Alton Towers owner Merlin Entertainments (LON:MERL) has issued a profit warning directly related to last month's tragic accident at the theme park. The company which is scheduled to announce interim results on Thursday said today that while half-year results will be in line with expectations June's accident which resulted in four people being seriously injured and the temporary closure of Alton Towers had hit trading at the start of the critical summer season. Merlin which owns several theme parks said Alton Towers had been most affected by the adverse publicity surrounding the crash on a thrill ride but other units in its UK Resorts Theme Parks estate had also seen a drop-off in visitors. The company's UK theme park made underlying profits (EBITDA) of £87mln last year but in the current financial year it reckons this will be down to somewhere between £40mln and £50mln – a bigger downgrade than some in the market had been expecting. In other leisure sector news China has lifted a ban on games consoles that was imposed in the year 2000. Perhaps the government has realised that the computer gaming scene has moved on to hand-held communication devices. According to reports the ban was introduced because the authorities were worried that Chinese children would fritter away their time learning how to be jet pilots assassins business tycoons architects engineers or … er … criminal overlords. Chinese kids no longer need to find other things on which to waste their time because the government has not only lifted the ban but has put its weight behind promoting China's entertainment and technology sector. On the other hand the content of games will be subject to government censorship. It's time to call Whitehall 1212 and ask for Inspector Corner of the Yard! Great Scotland Yard for scores of years the iconic headquarters of the Metropolitan Police has been sold to an Indian billionaire Yusuff Ali who intends to turn it into a luxury hotel. Dial R for Room Service but best not dial M for anything ... In the small caps world Range Resources (LON:RRL) has been making a bit of a splash after it confirmed its backer Beijing Sibo Investment Management has received all necessary government and regulatory approvals to complete its proposed investment in the company. Range shares rose to 0.637p from 0.625p overnight as Sibo confirmed it intends to subscribe for US$22.1mln worth of shares at 8p a pop. Range's directors and management are pitching in to buy 300000 bucks worth of shares at the same price. Finally AFC Energy (LON:AFC) is making the long-awaited step towards seriously commercialising its impressive fuel cell technology having signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Stadtwerke Stade. Terms have been agreed that will see the two companies collaborate as part of the AFC fuel cell facility in Stade until 31 July 2017 with an option to extend the term of the PPA for a further 12 months. The commercial terms of the PPA will broadly reflect the sale of electricity at spot market prices meaning AFC will potentially benefit from the sale of power at peak power pricing the company said. LONDON OPEN European markets began on the back foot on Monday after Chinese stocks put in their worst showing in about three weeks. The FTSE 100 Index shed 18 points to 6561 while Germany's DAX dropped 143 points and the CAC-40 in Paris slipped 81 points. The Shanghai Composite dipped 8% after a 13-month low manufacturing PMI figure last week. Analysts said the downturn would inevitably affect oil and natural resources stocks. Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell said: "Of course this Chinese choppiness brings with it more headaches for the already dizzy commodities sector; Brent Crude is remaining firm near its 3-month lows whilst copper suffered its latest undignified decline." BP (LON:BP.) fell 1.35p to 393.35p but Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSB) added 11p to 1781p after Brazilian regulators approved its purchase of BG Group (LON:BG.) whose shares inflated 4.5p to 1040p. Chilean copper miner Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) lost its shine by 11p to 578p but other miners were making gains. Glencore (LON:GLEN) rose 1.15p to 211.3p Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) climbed 11.5p to 2412p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) advanced 20.5p to 1144p. Friday saw the major US benchmarks on the skids as investors mulled underwhelming results from some heavy hitters such as Apple Caterpillar and IBM. Back in London a busy week is in prospect with the oil majors and the banks set to report along with a host of FTSE 100 companies. Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.) kicked off the flurry of updates with news of a 5% rise in first half net revenue helped by demand for influenza treatments. Shares were up 103p at 6011p. Ryanair (LON:RYA) flew €0.09 lower to €12.18 as the Irish budget airline posted higher first quarter profits but said it had little idea about where prices were going in the second half of the year. Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) dropped 0.06p to 0.95p as the Anglo-Turkish gold explorer and developer raised £1mln in a placing to fund development of its Red Rabbit project in Turkey. MARKET PREVIEW The FTSE 100 shed 195 points last week and is set to start the week heading further south. Spread betting quotes suggest the top-share index will open around 20 points down from Friday's close of 6580 after US markets took a bath on Friday and Asian markets retreated briskly this morning. Friday saw the major US benchmarks on the skids with the big three each losing around a percentage point. The Dow Jones fell 163 points to 17569; the S&P 500 gave up 22 points at 2080 and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled 57 points to 5089 as investors mulled underwhelming results from some heavy hitters such as Apple Caterpillar and IBM. Commodities remain under pressure as concerns grow about the pace of growth in the global economy. In Asia with half an hour or so of trading left in Tokyo the Nikkei 225 was off 241 points at 20304. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng was heading for an even bigger loss down 656 points at 24.473 while in Shanghai the Composite index was down 94 points at 3977 as investors wait on Chinese data on the profitability of industrial companies. Back home a busy week is in prospect with the oil majors and the banks set to report along with a host of FTSE 100 companies. Today will see mining firms Acacia and Petra Diamonds report while Anglo-Dutch consumer goods Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.) is probably the company most likely to be dominating the City pages with its interims.
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