12th Feb 2014 11:20
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Tullow Oil PLC said its pretax profit fell significantly in its recent full year, due to lower disposal gains and higher exploration write-off charges. The major oil and gas company said pretax profit fell 72%, to USD313 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013 from USD1.12 billion the previous year. The company said its figures were impacted by both a USD670 million decrease in profit on disposals, following major disposal gains the previous year, and a USD200 million increase in exploration write-offs to USD871 million after spending USD1.1 billion on exploration and appraisal activities during the period.
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The founding family of grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC has contacted private-equity funds such as CVC Capital Partners Ltd and Carlyle Group LP to weigh their interest in taking the retailer private, Bloomberg Businessweek reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter said. The family, which hold about 9% to 10% of the business, has so far been unable to find a buyout partner due to concerns about Morrison’s slow sales growth and the size of the deal, the magazine said on its website, quoting two of the people.
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Petrofac Ltd said it has received an award notification for Kuwait National Petroleum Co's Clean Fuels Project at the Mina Abdulla refinery in Kuwait. The major oil and gas services company said the award was given to its joint venture with Samsung Engineering Co Ltd and CB&I Nederland BV, and is worth USD3.7 billion, with Petrofac's share being USD1.7 billion.
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Ireland's Smurfit Kappa Group PLC, one of the world's largest producers of cardboard boxes, reported a jump in fourth quarter profits and revenues, driven by a strong performance in the Americas and a slow recovery in Europe. The company saw its shares rise sharply as it increased its final dividend by 50% to 30.75 euro cents, from 20.50 cents, and predicted further earnings growth for 2014. It reported a pretax profit of EUR62 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, up from EUR33 million a year earlier, as revenues rose to EUR2.03 billion, from EUR1.82 billion.
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ITV PLC said said it will be targeting a younger female audience with a new free-to-air channel called ITVBe that it hopes to launch towards the end of 2014. The new channel will be the exclusive home of ITV's popular series "The Only Way is Essex" and will also feature lifestyle and reality programming from the UK and US, the broadcaster said in a statement.
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TeleCity Group PLC dropped to the bottom of the FTSE 250 index despite hiking its total dividend on rising pretax profit in the year ended December 31, 2013, as its 2013 results and its guidance for 2014 came in below market forecasts. TeleCity proposed a final dividend of 7.0 pence per share, up from 5.0 pence in the previous year, bringing its total dividend to 10.5 pence, up from 7.5 pence. The carrier-neutral data-centre provider posted a pretax profit of GBP88.4 million, up from GBP76.1 million in the previous year.
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African Barrick Gold PLC said it swung to a pretax loss in its full year as gold prices and impairment charges hit company finances. It slashed its dividend in response. The FTSE 250-listed East Africa-focused gold production company posted a pretax loss of USD928.7 million for the twelve months ended December 31, 2013, versus a pretax profit of USD179.2 million the previous year. The company proposed a final dividend of USD2.0 cents per share, bringing its 2013 total to USD3.0 cents per share. For 2012, ABG paid a USD12.3-cent final dividend and USD16.3 cents for the full year.
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Household goods producer Reckitt Benckiser reported lower 2013 profits as it booked higher charges for legal provisions and restructuring and acquisition costs, but revenues and adjusted operating profits increased, driven by growth for its health and hygiene products. The maker of products including Cillit Bank cleaning fluids, Dettol disinfectants, Durex condoms and Nurofen and Strepsils cold and flu remedies echoed rivals in warning that market conditions at the start of 2014 are tougher than they were a year ago, particularly in emerging markets, but said it is confident it can still grow.
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The US Food and Drug Administration has requested clinical trial data from AstraZeneca PLC, the manufacturer of saxagliptin, to investigate a possible association between use of the type 2 diabetes drug and heart failure. The request follows a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which reported an increased rate of hospitalization for heart failure, when the heart does not pump blood well enough, with use of saxagliptin compared to an inactive treatment. The study did not find increased rates of death or other major cardiovascular risks.
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WS Atkins PLC said its outlook for the current financial year remains unchanged as it has continued to trade in line with expectations. In a statement, the engineering consultancy said its UK business is continuing to trade well, driven by government infrastructure investment that's helping its rail and highway consultancy units. Revenues in its European business continue to be in line with expectations, while market conditions in the US are stable and it continues to expect a stable margin performance through the second half of the year.
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Punch Taverns PLC said it has withdrawn resolutions that were supposed to be put to a meeting of its noteholders on Friday so that it can continue talks about its debt restructuring with stakeholders. The talks have been dragging on, with classes of Punch creditors disagreeing on various proposals to restructure the debt because any proposal will bring disadvantages to one class or another. However, the company and the creditors need a deal as Punch risks breaching covenants on the debt and defaulting.
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MARKETS
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UK shares remain mixed following the Bank of England's Quarterly Inflation Report and as Governor Mark Carney's press conference continues.
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FTSE 100: up 13.03 at 6,685.69
FTSE 250: down 10.58 at 16,067.70
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.36 at 869.59
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The pound has jumped to a two-week high against the dollar following the BOE report.
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GBP-USD: up at USD1.6540
EUR-USD: flat at USD1.3637
GOLD: up at USD1,286.88 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD108.88 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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BOE INFLATION REPORT: KEEPS 7% THRESHOLD; CLARIFIES GUIDANCE; MPC: SCOPE TO ABSORB SPARE CAPACITY BEFORE RATE HIKE; Carney Says Unemployment Likely To Hit 7% Threshold In January; Carney Says Inflation Environment More Benign Than Anticipated; Says Recovery Not Yet Balanced Or Sustainable; Carney: Bank Will Not Take Risks With Economic Recovery; Carney: Asset Purchase Programme To Be Maintained Until First Rate Rise; Carney: Rates May Need To Stay Low For Some Time To Come; Carney: MPC To Only Raise Rates Gradually When Appropriate Time Comes
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A leading indicator of the British economy decreased for the first time in six months in December, signaling a moderate pace of economic recovery over the next few months, survey data released by the Conference Board revealed. The leading economic index declined 0.1% month-on-month to 108.2 in December, after rising 0.5% in November and 0.4% in October.
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Chinese export and import growth accelerated unexpectedly at the start of the year, defying expectations that the economy is set for a slowdown in early 2014. Shipments surged 10.6% in January from last year, data from the General Administration of Customs showed. Exports were expected to have risen by a mere 0.1% after expanding by 4.3% in December. Imports advanced 10% versus December's 8.3% growth and the 4% growth forecast by economists. As a result,the trade surplus increased to USD31.9 billion in January from USD25.6 billion a month ago.
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GERMANY ECONOMY MINISTRY SEES +1.8% GDP 2014; +2.0% 2015
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The House of Representatives agreed Tuesday in a lopsided bipartisan vote to suspend the government's borrowing limit with no strings attached. The debt limit bill was approved 221-201, with only 28 Republicans voting in the majority. Minority Democrats carried most of the vote. The tea party faction of the Republican Party tried once again to demand concessions from the Democratic-controlled White House in exchange for agreeing to pay the government's bills. But the White House refused to be held "ransom," as spokesman Jay Carney has said, and Republicans were already smarting from the blame they carried for the expensive government shutdown in October.
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A severe winter storm packing ice and snow was moving across the south-eastern US late Tuesday, prompting warnings across the region. Nine states from Louisiana to Virginia were under a winter storm warning, the National Weather Service said. Portions of Georgia and South Carolina were under an ice storm warning.
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The Bank of Japan has no need to ease monetary policy further as inflation is rising toward the 2% target, Jerry Schiff, a senior International Monetary Fund official said. But it should take necessary action if the progress in inflation stalls, Schiff told reporters in Tokyo. In an interview with the Nikkei, BoJ policymaker Takahide Kiuchi said negative effects from any additional easing would outweigh its positive effects. He said it is difficult to predict how additional easing would push up consumer prices.
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Core machine orders in Japan plummeted a seasonally adjusted 15.7% on month in December, the Cabinet Office said - worth 744.1 billion yen. The headline figure was well shy of forecasts for a decline of 4.0% following the 9.3% jump in November. On a yearly basis, core machine orders added 6.7% - also missing expectations for a jump of 17.4% following the 16.6% gain in the previous month.
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Thailand's Constitutional Court rejected a petition to void the February 2 general election, citing a lack of evidence for the case. The petition to void the election was submitted by ex-Democrat member of parliament Wirat Kanlayasiri, who argued that the polls had violated the constitution by not being held on the same day. Voting at the February polls was blocked by anti-government protesters who prevented the delivery of ballot papers to many polling stations and physically stopped voters from voting.
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Gunmen stormed an independent Libyan television channel in the capital Tripoli overnight, Dubai-based broadcaster Al-Arabiya reported. Armed men entered the offices of the Al-Aseema satellite channel and ordered staff out, the station's head of news Fathi bin Issa told Al-Arabiya.
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