15th Sep 2014 10:06
LONDON (Alliance News) - UK stocks are trading lower Monday morning, with the Scottish independence vote looming ahead and weak Chinese economic data reported over the weekend, but individual stock news is taking centre stage in the absence of fresh market-moving economic or political events.
At mid-morning, the FTSE 100 reading down 0.3% at 6,786.56, the FTSE 250 is 0.6% lower at 15,618.26, and the AIM All-Share index is down 0.4% at 774.05.
In Europe, the French CAC 40 is down 0.4% and the German DAX is 0.1% lower.
SABMiller is the stand-out gainer in London's blue-chip index with its shares gaining 4.6%. Bloomberg reported that the company had a bid for Heineken rejected by the family that controls the Dutch brewer. Analysts believe that the rejection could give an opportunity for Belgian-based beer group Anheuser-Busch InBev to make good on recent speculation of a takeover bid for SABMiller.
Meanwhile, TUI Travel is another notable gainer in the FTSE 100 after it revealed details of its proposed merger with with German parent company TUI AG. In a joint statement, the companies said that taking into consideration TUI AG's existing stake in TUI Travel, the merger is expected to result in existing TUI Travel shareholders owning 46% of the combined group and existing TUI AG shareholders owning 54%, on a fully-diluted basis. TUI AG currently owns 51% of TUI Travel. TUI Travel shares are up 1.8%.
In the FTSE 250, Micro Focus International's shares have gained 12% after the enterprise software developer confirmed it has agreed a reverse takeover of US-based The Attachmate Group.
Additionally, Micro Focus announced plans to return GBP83.9 million to shareholders at a rate of 60 pence per share, and simultaneously undertake a proportionate share consolidation. The share consolidation will give shareholders 0.9285 new shares for each existing share held.
Under the agreement Micro Focus plans to acquire the entire issued share capital of Attachmate by issuing 86.60 million shares to Attachmate's parent company Wizard Parent LLC, equivalent to 40% of the new company's enlarged share capital.
The only economic data of note on Monday came from the eurozone. Trade surplus in the region fell unexpectedly to a seasonally adjusted EUR12.2 billion from EUR13.8 billion in July. The surplus was forecast to rise to EUR15.5 billion. Exports fell 0.2% in July from June after declining 0.3% in June from May, while growth in imports accelerated to 0.9% from 0.6%.
Still ahead is US capacity utilization and industrial production, both to be released at 1415 BST.
Futures indicate that Wall Street will make a softer open to trade, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite both expected to open lower as well.
By Neil Thakrar; [email protected]
Copyright 2014 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
MCRO.LTUI.LSAB.L