18th Jun 2014 10:23
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Royal Dutch Shell PLC and state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation said they'd signed a new strategic alliance agreement, which largely reaffirms a previous alliance deal the companies had but also commits them to exploring cooperation opportunities in areas from oil exploration to refining. In a joint statement, the companies said they'd committed to exploring potential cooperation opportunities in so-called upstream, midstream and downstream operations. "Shell and CNOOC have enjoyed an excellent partnership in and outside China in both upstream and downstream projects including offshore Yinggehai off Hainan Island and a successful petrochemicals joint venture in Huizhou, Guangdong province. The parties are also working together in liquefied natural gas projects and upstream deepwater projects including in Gabon and Brazil among others," the statement said.
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A BP PLC contract worth GBP12 billion to supply China with liquefied natural gas was among a raft of deals signed Tuesday during a visit to London by Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang. The deal will see the British energy giant supply the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp for the next 20 years. Altogether, contracts worth GBP14 billion were signed between British and Chinese companies, Prime Minister David Cameron said at a joint press conference with Li.
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Serco Group PLC's new chief executive, Rupert Soames, made his first move to stamp his strategy on the struggling company by taking closer control of the company's operations in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, and saying it won't be bidding for a UK rail franchise with its current partner on that franchise. In a statement, Serco said it would be restructuring its Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australasia operations as the current chief executive of the division, David Campbell, retires. Campbell had already extended his service beyond his planned retirement date, but will now retire at the end of 2014 after more than 20 years at Serco.
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Housebuilding company Berkeley Group Holdings PLC reported a 40% increase in profit for its recent full year, boosted by its residential business which completed 30% more homes than at the peak of the market in 2007. The FTSE 250 company - which is made up of four autonomous companies: St George, St James, Berkeley and St Edward - posted pretax profit of GBP380.0 million for the year ended April 30, up from GBP270.7 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 18% to GBP1.62 billion from GBP1.37 billion. On the back of its performance Berkeley said it will pay a further interim dividend of 90 pence per share compared with an interim dividend of 59 pence per share a year earlier. At the half year to October 31, 2013 the firm paid an interim dividend of 90 pence, up from 15 pence in the previous year.
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Premier Foods PLC warned that sales of its so-called power brands are expected to have fallen in the second quarter of the year, and will no longer meet the growth expectations set for the full year, but the company said it is retaining its overall profit expectations for 2014 because it will offset the shortfall with cost control. In a statement, the owner of brands including Ambrosia custard, Bisto gravy granules, Sharwood's sauces and Mr Kipling cakes said it no longer expects sales of its power brands to grow 2% to 3% in 2014 due to "subdued" grocery markets. It didn't give a new forecast. It also said it will create a joint venture called Knighton Foods with Specialty Powders Holdings Ltd, to manufacture powdered beverages and desserts.
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MARKETS
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In equities, oil and gas companies are given a boost due to the conflict in Iraq with BG Group among the biggest gainers.
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FTSE 100: up 0.4% at 6794.4
FTSE 250: up 0.2% at 15620.14
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 786.24
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The pound is down against the dollar after earlier jumping to an almost five-year high, as Bank of England minutes noted surprise amongst the MPC members at market expectations of a late timing for the first UK interest rate rise but also said there remains more slack in the economy to be absorbed before an increase in the Bank Rate would be warranted.
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GBP-USD: down at USD1.6941
EUR-USD: up at USD1.3560
GOLD: down at USD1269.89 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD113.50 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Bank of England policymakers unanimously decided to leave the key interest rates and asset purchase programme unchanged at the monetary policy meeting held on June 4 and 5, the minutes showed. All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to retain the record low 0.50% interest rate and quantitative easing at GBP 375 billion. The case for raising Bank Rate gradually and cautiously was reinforced by uncertainty over its likely impact on the economy, the minutes said. All members agreed that, in the absence of other inflationary pressures, it would be necessary to see more evidence of slack being absorbed before an increase in Bank Rate would be warranted.
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House prices in China rose at a slower rate in May, figures from Reuters based on a National Bureau of Statistics report showed. New house prices in the major cities of China increased 5.6% year-over-year in May compared with a 6.7% rise in April. The growth in house prices has been slow since late 2013 due to the effect of a sustained campaign to keep a check on speculative investment and easy credit, the bureau said.
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Members of the Bank of Japan's monetary policy board said that the nation's economy is likely to continue its moderate recovery, minutes from the central bank's meeting on May 20 and 21 revealed. The board also cautioned that there remained some downside risks to recovery, including developments in emerging markets and commodity-exporting countries. The monetary easing that is in place appears to be having the intended results, the board said, as inflation expectations appear to be rising.
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About 60 foreigners - including 15 Turks and citizens of Pakistan, Nepal and Turkmenistan - have been kidnapped by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in northern Iraq, Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported. The agency cited a person who escaped the hijacking. The source said that about 40 people managed to evade capture.
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Fierce clashes were reported at Iraq's largest oil refinery, with jihadist fighters shelling parts of the facility. Shells fired by the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) hit a storage tank in the facility. Smoke could be seen from 50 kilometres away, local sources and witnesses said. The Iraqi air force hit positions held by the Sunni militants in response, the All Iraq News agency said. Baiji has been the scene of intermittent fighting since ISIL launched its blitz against Iraqi government forces last week, seizing the northern city of Mosul and a string of towns stretching south towards Baghdad.
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A unilateral ceasefire by the Ukrainian government in its conflict with pro-Russian separatists in the country's east will be very short and designed to allow insurgents to lay down their arms, President Petro Poroshenko said. Poroshenko told journalists in Kiev that the insurgents would have to disarm and that order had to be reinstated in the regions "in a very short time," according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency. "Immediately afterwards, we must receive support for the peace plan from all sides," he said.
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The arrest of a key suspect in the deadly 2012 attack on a US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, shows US resolve to "do whatever it takes to see that justice is done when people harm Americans," President Barack Obama said Tuesday. Ahmed Abu Khatallah, believed to be one of the key ringleaders of the attack in which four Americans including the US ambassador were killed, was captured Sunday near Benghazi by US special forces and agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, US authorities announced. "He is in US custody in a secure location outside of Libya," said Rear Admiral John Kirby, Pentagon spokesman. "There were no civilian casualties related to this operation, and all US personnel involved in the operation have safely departed Libya."
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US drones killed six militants in Pakistan's tribal region where the country's army was engaged in a ground offensive against groups linked with al-Qaeda, officials said. Unmanned aircraft fired missiles targeting two militant hideouts in the Darga Mandi area of the North Waziristan tribal district near the Afghan border, security officials said. "At least six militants were killed in both attacks," the official said, requesting anonymity. "Their identities are not known yet."
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Scores of Nigerian football fans were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a World Cup viewing centre in northern Yobe State, witnesses said. The explosion, which left many others injured, occurred Tuesday evening in the town of Damaturu, during the Brazil-Mexico match, resident Alhaji Ishiaku Yakub told dpa. "A loud explosion was heard immediately after the night prayer. It happened at Jamilu Cross viewing centre," said Yakub.
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