31st Mar 2014 10:29
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Babcock International Group PLC said its Cavendish Fluor Partnership has been selected as the preferred bidder in the competition for a GBP7 billion contract to take ownership of Magnox Ltd and Research Sites Restoration Ltd, the site licence companies for 12 UK nuclear sites. The joint venture was named the lead bidder by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. In a statement, Babcock Chief Executive Peter Rogers said the joint venture between its subsidiary Cavendish Nuclear and Irving, Texas-based Fluor Corp, had shown its ability to deliver nationally important projects.
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Carillion PLC said it has been selected as preferred bidder on a GBP200 million support services contract by the Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Under the deal, Carillion would provide facilities management and estate transformational services for the trust, which includes Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital. "The contract is expected to be worth approximately GBP200 million to Carillion over the initial five-year contract period and there is an option to extend the contract period by a further three years, subject to satisfactory performance," the company said. Carillion expects to sign the deal in April and start delivering the service in June.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC said it has won a deal worth more than USD50 million to support the US Marines Corps' fleet of KC-130J air-to-air refuelling tankers. In a statement, the aircraft engine maker said the one-year contract covers sustainment services for more than 200 Rolls-Royce AE 2100 engines as well as propellers and other propulsion system repairs for the KC-130J fleet.
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Polymetal International PLC said it swung to a net loss in 2013 as gold prices, impairments and cash costs hit the company. The gold, silver and copper-mining exploration and production company, with operations in Russia and Kazakhstan, posted a net loss of USD198 million in 2013, versus a net profit of USD428 million in 2012, as revenues fell 8% to USD1.71 billion from USD1.85 billion. Polymetal slashed its final dividend USD0.08 per share from USD0.31 per share the previous year, bringing its total dividend for the year to USD0.09 per share.
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GlaxoSmithKline PLC said its Phase III STABILITY study for darapladib in the treatment of patients with chronic coronary heart disease failed to meet its primary endpoint, although it said that the effects of the drug on the reduction of coronary events was of potential interest.
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Separately, Glaxo announced a series of new investments in sub-Saharan Africa of up to GBP130 million over the next five years to increase access to medicines, build its capacity and contribute to its long-term business growth. Glaxo said it plans to build on its existing business base in the region, creating at least 500 jobs.
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Lonmin PLC said former Anglo American PLC executive Brian Beamish will become the interim chairman of its board from May 1, after Roger Phillimore stands down the previous day. The miner had already said Phillimore intended to retire, but Monday said he will step down on April 30. Beamish is an engineer, and spent 36 years with Anglo American, most recently as director of mining and technology. He was also the chief of Anglo's global base metals business.
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The Financial Conduct Authority set out plans for a 3.3% increase in its annual funding requirement for 2014-15, driven by increased headcount and improvements to the regulator's information systems and technology platform. Chief Executive Martin Wheatley said the increase will be borne by larger and more complex groups, which pose more risk and are costliest to regulate. The FCA said it will recover those costs from consumer credit firms over a number of years once the new regime is fully operational in 2016-17. Its business plan confirmed that the regulator will assess whether firms are operating historic products in a fair way and whether they have adopted strategies that exploit existing customers.
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The Basel Committee unveiled the finalised new approach for measuring counterparty credit-risk exposures, with the standardised approach replacing both the Current Exposure Method and the Standardised Method in the Basel capital framework. The new standard concerns how derivatives-related transactions in the capital adequacy framework are treated.
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MARKETS
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The UK's main stock indices are higher, despite some disappointing UK mortgage approvals and lending data.
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FTSE 100: up 0.3% at 6633.1
FTSE 250: up 0.4% at 16243.02
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 852.20
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The euro is up against the dollar despite data showed the annual rate of eurozone inflation fell to the lowest level since November 2009 fuelling expectations for further easing measures by the European Central Bank.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6631
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3785
GOLD: flat at USD1294.90 per ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD107.94 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK FEB MORTGAGE APPROVALS 70.3K, CONSENSUS 75K: BOE; NET CONSUMER CREDIT UP GBP 0.6 BLN, CONSENSUS GBP 0.7 BLN
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The average asking price for a house in the UK was up 0.6% on month in March, property tracking website Hometrack said. That's slowing from the 0.7% growth in February - although it marks the 14th straight month that prices have increased, marking the longest streak in seven years. On a yearly basis, house prices jumped 5.7% - accelerating from 5.4% in the previous month.
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Annual eurozone inflation fell to a more-than four-year low in March increasing the pressure on the European Central Bank to act to head off fears of deflation. The region's cost of living slumped to 0.5% in March compared with 0.7% in February, the European Statistics Office Eurostat said. This took consumer prices deeper into what ECB chief Mario Draghi has called the "danger zone" of an inflation rate below 1%. Inflation is now at its lowest level since November 2009.
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Germany's retail sales grew unexpectedly in February from the prior month, official data showed. Retail sales advanced by real 1.3% from January, Destatis said. This was the second consecutive rise in retail turnover. Sales were forecast to fall 0.5% in February after rising 1.7% in January. Year-on-year, retail sales grew 2%, much faster than the 0.9% rise posted in January. The rate also exceeded the 0.8% increase forecast by economists.
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The French economy recovered as initially estimated during the final quarter of 2013, data from the statistical office Insee showed. Gross domestic product expanded 0.3% sequentially in the fourth quarter, following a 0.1% fall in the third quarter. The fourth quarter rate matched preliminary estimate. Over the whole year of 2013, GDP rose 0.3% after a stagnation in 2012.
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The Swiss Competition Commission said it started a formal investigation on Monday against eight banks for possible manipulation of major currency rates. The suspects include Swiss banks UBS and Credit Suisse as well as major foreign lenders. "There is evidence that anti-competitive agreements were made between these banks to manipulate exchange rates in the currency market," the commission said.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry made clear Sunday that a solution to the crisis in Ukraine will be acceptable only in close consultation with the new Ukrainian government. Speaking to reporters in Paris after five hours of talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kerry said he told Lavrov that Washington still considers Russia's actions in Crimea illegal. He also reiterated Washington's unease over an estimated 40,000 Russian troops gathered on Ukraine's eastern border, saying any real progress in Ukraine must include a pull back of those forces.
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The French government was in full soul-searching mode Sunday after the conservative opposition trounced the governing Socialist Party in a municipal election run-off that also yielded gains for the far-right National Front. Voters across the country used the election for town councils and mayors to vent their frustration with President Francois Hollande's failure to turn around the battered French economy.
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Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared his Justice and Development Party the winner in Sunday's local election, seen as a referendum on his government. Preliminary results showed the conservative AKP had garnered 45.1% of the overall vote, with more than 90% of ballots counted, while the main rival Republican People's Party (CHP) received 28.7%, according to CNN Turk television. In a speech to thousands of cheering supporters standing in the cold in Ankara, Erdogan lashed out at the opposition, labeling some as "traitors."
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Greece on Sunday secured the next tranche of rescue bailout loans by passing key market and structural reforms demanded by international lenders. The bill, which paves the way for the liberalization of the labour market and structural reforms, received 152 votes in favour and 135 against in the 300-seat parliament.
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Japan's housing starts growth slowed more than expected in February, data showed Monday. Construction orders also grew at a slower pace after accelerating in January. Housing starts rose 1% in February from last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism reported. Economists were expecting 6.1% expansion after rising 12.3% in January.
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Industrial production in Japan contracted a seasonally adjusted 2.3% on month in February, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said - falling for the first time in four months. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for an increase of 0.3% following the 3.8% increase in January. On a yearly basis, industrial production added 6.9% - also missing expectations for 9.9% following the 10.3% jump in the previous month.
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North Korea Monday held military exercises near the maritime border with the South, drawing response fire from Southern troops, a news report said. Around 100 artillery shells from the North landed on the other side of the Northern Limit Line, a disputed maritime border off the west of the peninsula, the South's joint chiefs of staff (JCS) were quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency in Seoul.South Korean fired 300 self-propelled howitzer shells in response, aimed at open water on the North's side, and dispatched F-15 fighter jets to the area, the report said.
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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia owes it to the families of the 239 passengers and crew of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight to keep up the search. "I'm certainly not putting a time limit on it," Abbott said in Perth after breakfasting with air crews involved in the search 1,850 kilometres west of the city. "We owe it to the families, we owe it to everyone who travels by air, we owe it to the governments of the countries who had citizens on that aircraft," Abbott told reporters.
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A UN-backed panel said climate change impacts are already taking place on all continents and across the oceans. However, the world is unprepared for risks from a changing climate. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finalized a report on the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems, and possible methods of adaptation during the five-day conference last week in the Japanese city of Yokohama. "Impacts from recent climate-related extremes, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cyclones and wildfires reveal significant vulnerability and exposure of some ecosystems and many human systems to current climate variability," the report said.
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