26th Oct 2015 11:12
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Aberdeen Asset Management denied a weekend newspaper report that it has been sounding out possible buyers for the business, as its shares sat atop the FTSE 100 throughout the morning, boosted by the takeover speculation. People familiar with the process said Martin Gilbert, the chief executive of the company, had made informal approaches to a number of rivals in recent months, the Financial Times said. Gilbert, who also founded the business, declined to comment to the FT. On Monday, a spokesman for Aberdeen denied the report, saying that Gilbert "has never approached anyone, formally or informally, about buying the business."
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WPP reported a rise in revenue for the third quarter of 2015, and said that whilst it is still in the process of reviewing its forecasts, early indications are that its revenue and net sales in the fourth quarter will be ahead of the first nine months. The media-buying giant said in the quarter to end-September that its total revenue rose 5.9% to GBP2.93 billion from GBP2.76 billion a year before, and was up 7.9% at constant exchange rates. WPP said that in constant currency it saw revenue growth in all regions and business sectors.
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Prominent City fund manager Neil Woodford is pushing for a break-up of pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline, Sky News reported. Sky, citing insiders, said Woodford has held private talks with Philip Hampton, Glaxo's chairman, as part of a push for the drugs group to formally explore separating its ViiV Healthcare HIV business, its consumer healthcare arm and its dermatology division, Stiefel, from its core medicines and vaccines unit.
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AstraZeneca said an advisory committee of the US Food and Drug Administration voted by a majority in favour of its lesinurad drug, in combination with a xanthine oxidase inhibitor, to be approved for the treatment of hyperuricemia associated with gout. The US FDA's Arthritis Advisory Committee voted in favour by a count of 10 to 4. The FDA is not bound by this vote, but will take it into consideration whilst reviewing the application for the drug.
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Testing, inspection and certification services company Intertek Group said it has struck a deal to acquire New York-based MT Group and Materials Testing Lab for an undisclosed amount. The company said MT provides materials testing and inspection services to building companies in the New York metro area and will provide it with more presence in the North American construction market.
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Randgold Resources said it has repaid USD448.0 million in loans owed to its shareholders, moving the company into a "dividend-paying position". Chief Executive Mark Bristow called the repayment a "significant achievement, particularly in the context of a global gold-mining industry currently characterised by capital write-downs and impairments." The shareholder loans funded the majority of Randgold's USD580.0 million capital investment in its Tongon project in the Ivory Coast.
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Anglo American is understood to have commenced the process of trying to find buyers for its GBP1 billion Brazil-based niobium and phosphates business, The Sunday Times reported. Mark Cutifani, Anglo's chief executive, is thought to have started sounding out advisers about selling the business, though any sale is not expected to kick off for a couple of months, the paper said. It would follow a string of sales by Cutifani has he attempts to cut Anglo's debt pile.
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British lender Standard Chartered plans to exit its equity derivatives and convertible bonds businesses, according to media reports on Sunday. The impact of the move will likely be felt in Hong Kong, as the business has mainly been run from there. The move is part of the Asia-focused lender's efforts to cut costs and use capital more efficiently, under its new chief executive Bill Winters. In January, the bank said it will close its international cash equities, equity research and equity capital markets.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has become the first bank in the world to adopt Facebook for Work, the corporate version of the social networking service, the Financial Times reported. The state-controlled lender is to deploy an in-house business version of Facebook for all of its 100,000 employees, allowing the workers to communicate with each other and swap information. RBS is also understood to be considering options for offering banking services through the social network.
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Investment vehicle Caledonia Investments said it has struck a deal to acquire the Gala Coral Bingo chain for GBP241.0 million. The bingo halls business at Gala Coral was the only unit not part of the agreed merger between Gala Coral Group and bookmaker Ladbrokes PLC in July. The merger between the pair will include the Coral Retail, Eurobet Retail and Coral online business, but the bingo arm was not part of the deal.
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Bank of Georgia Holdings's healthcare subsidiary Georgia Healthcare Group announced the expected price range of its upcoming initial public offering, giving it an expected market capitalisation of between USD397 million and USD535 million. Georgia Healthcare gave a price range of between 215 pence and 315 pence for its initial public offering. The final pricing will be announced on or around November 6, and it expects to be admitted to trading on or around November 11.
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Private equity investor Electra Private Equity said its net asset value per share produced a 25% total return for its investors in the year to the end of September, as its battle with activist investor Edward Bramson ramped up ahead of the meeting scheduled for next week. Electra is currently involved in a battle with Bramson, the head of Sherborne Investors, who is calling for changes at the company which he claims will improve returns for shareholders. Electra on Monday reiterated its opposition to the Sherborne propositions, which will be the subject of a general meeting of the company on November 5.
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Alent said the "slightly slower than anticipated" trading in the electronic and automotive industries experienced in the first half of 2015 has continued into the third quarter. The global supplier of speciality chemicals and engineered materials also said Platform Speciality, which made a takeover bid for the company back in July, has indicated it plans to make the payment for the deal in early December.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading lower with media-buying group WPP leading the decliners even though it reported a rise in revenue in the third quarter and indicated a strong end to the year.
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FTSE 100: down 0.2% at 6,429.19
FTSE 250: down 0.3% at 17,187.29
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.2% at 748.83
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GBP: flat at USD1.5331 (USD1.5334)
EUR: flat at USD1.1037 (USD1.1023)
GOLD: up at USD1,167.20 per ounce (USD1,161.40)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD47.97 a barrel (USD47.67)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK mortgage approvals for house purchases eased to their lowest level in four months during September, data from the British Bankers' Association showed. The number of loans approved for house purchase dropped to 44,489 in September from 46,567 in August. It was the lowest level since the 43,153 approvals in May. House loan approvals rose 14% from a year ago. "Borrowing figures in the mortgage market remain strong as customers take advantage of record low interest rates," Richard Woolhouse, chief economist at the BBA, said. "In particular, remortgaging remains high as savvy customers secure attractive deals ahead of a possible rate rise."
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Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in an interview with the Mail on Sunday that a rise in UK interest rates is likely but not certain. Carney told the newspaper that the Monetary Policy Committee expects to raise interest rates, but said it is not certain they will. "If we think there is a prospect, a possibility – that's a possibility not a certainty – of rate rises, then it is far, far better to let the British people know so they can prepare," he told the newspaper.
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Germany's business confidence weakened less-than-expected in October, as expectations unexpectedly improved, reports said, citing results of a survey by the Ifo Institute. The business climate index fell to 108.2, yet the score was above the 107.8 economists had forecast. In September, the reading was 108.5.
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Hurricane Patricia left little damage in Mexico and authorities praised early warning systems for keeping residents safe as the storm that had been the strongest ever recorded in the Americas weakened Saturday to a tropical depression. No deaths or injuries had been reported, authorities said. Heavy rain was expected to continue over central and north-eastern Mexico and into the US state of Texas with winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour, the US National Hurricane Centre said. Flooding and landslides were possible. A day earlier over the Pacific Ocean as a powerful category 5 storm, Patricia had produced winds of up to 400 kilometres per hour, but the storm weakened considerably after reaching Mexico's mountains.
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Questions lingered about key aspects of a draft agreement on the world's climate, as the final scheduled round of negotiations ended Friday before a the crucial summit, which opens next month in Paris. Countries are trying to find common ground to hammer out a global agreement that would limit world temperature increases caused by greenhouse gas emissions to 2 degrees Celsius for the foreseeable future. A 20-page draft agreement drawn up this month was the basis for the talks, which began Monday in Bonn, Germany. But some of the articles in the draft became sticking points, giving an indication of what could become major issues during the summit, which starts on November 30.
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Russia has called for elections in Syria as part of a political solution to the conflict, and the top diplomats from Moscow and Washington on Saturday discussed the organization of a political process in the war-torn country. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told state television Rossiya 1 that "foreign players" can't decide anything for the Syrian people. "We have to make them choose their own process for how their country should live on ... this work should be done in preparation for elections, both parliamentary and presidential," Lavrov said in the interview broadcast a day after he met with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Vienna to discuss the Syrian conflict.
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Ukrainians across the country headed to the polls on Sunday for regional elections expected to test the pro-Western federal government's grip on power. The think tank Carnegie Europe said last week that "the elections are likely to reinforce the distance between local and regional politics, on the one hand, and national politics, on the other, making it harder for the broad ruling coalition in Kiev to govern." "Ukrainians are deeply alienated from national politics and frustrated by a lack of tangible progress on reforms," the think tank said, adding that 75% of Ukrainians said they were likely to vote.
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Eleven leaders from the EU and the Balkans promised Sunday to limit the uncontrolled tide of migrants and asylum seekers flowing through their territories, amid fears that the quickly approaching winter will start claiming casualties. Europe is contending with its largest population movement since World War II, with almost 700,000 migrants and asylum seekers arriving by sea this year - many of them from war-torn Syria.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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