19th Aug 2015 10:17
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Wednesday.
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COMPANIES
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Admiral Group beat analyst forecasts to declare an 'up' first half, as the FTSE 100 company lifted its interim dividend by more than expected after reserve releases for prior year claims in its UK car insurance business helped drive its overall profit performance. Admiral said it made a GBP181.7 million pretax profit in the six months to the end of June, slightly down on the GBP183.3 million reported in the corresponding period the prior year. Excluding minority interests, pretax profit was up 1% to GBP186.1 million. Customer numbers increased by 6% to just shy of 4.2 million. The insurer increased its interim dividend per share to 51.0 pence from 49.4p, while earnings per share increased by 4% to 54.8 pence.
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Glencore reported a substantial fall in earnings, as expected, in the first half of the year, due to weaker commodities and oil prices and following the company's mixed production results earlier this month, but maintained its interim dividend. Glencore, like its peers, is suffering from steep declines in commodity prices such as iron ore and copper, whilst also battling the decline in oil prices, compounded by a slowdown in economic growth in China, the world's largest importer of metals. The multi-commodity miner reported a pretax loss of USD527.0 million in the first half of 2015, swinging from a USD2.49 billion profit a year before, as revenue dropped to USD85.70 billion from USD114.06 billion. The stock has now fallen 47% in 2015, the year's worst performing FTSE 100 stock so far, as shares hit a record low.
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Hikma Pharmaceuticals reiterated its revenue guidance for 2015, although it reported a fall in pretax profit for its first half as revenue was hit by the strength of the dollar and a good performance in Hikma's Branded and Injectibles segments was offset by a decline in its Generics segment. Additionally, the company said Wednesday it has inked a licensing and distribution deal with UK nutraceutical and vitamin company Vitabiotics, giving it the exclusive rights to register, market, distribute and sell five of Vitabiotics' products in 15 of its Middle East and North Africa markets. It also has the rights to market, distribute and sell the full Vitabiotics product range in five of these markets.
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Imperial Tobacco Group said its net revenue was dragged lower by currency effects in the first nine months of its financial year, as a rise in volumes in its Growth brands portfolio was offset elsewhere to pull total volumes down, but Imperial said it is on track to meet its expectations for the full year. The FTSE 100-listed tobacco company, which owns Golden Virginia tobacco and Rizla cigarette papers, said tobacco net revenue in the nine months to the end of June was GBP4.44 billion, down from GBP4.63 billion a year earlier. The 4% decline on a reported basis compared to a 2% rise in constant currencies.
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International Consolidated Airlines Group said late Tuesday its offer for Aer Lingus has become unconditional after it received confirmation that Ryanair Holdings has formally accepted the offer. Ryanair's acceptance of the offer had been one condition required for the deal to go through. Ryanair owned a 29.8% stake in Aer Lingus.
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The Royal Bank of Scotland Group has struck a deal to sell its Luxembourg-based fund arm to private equity house Blackfin Capital Partners, the Financial Times reported. The sale of the fund governance business, called RBSL, for an undisclosed amount is at a significant premium to book value, the FT said, citing one source familiar with the situation. The deal is part of the ongoing restructuring plan RBS is undertaking under Chief Executive Ross McEwan as he pushes the bank to focus on its UK retail and commercial banking operations.
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MARKETS
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Shares in UK are trading lower as investor sentiment is unsettled by Chinese stock-market volatility, while German and Dutch parliamentary votes on the third Greek debt bailout get underway.
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FTSE 100: down 0.9% at 6,467.21
FTSE 250: down 0.7% at 17,496.53
AIM ALL-SHARE: down 0.3% at 749.30
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GBP: up at USD1.5672
EUR: up at USD1.1037
GOLD: up at USD1122.66 per ounce
OIL (Brent): up at USD48.76 a barrel
(changes since end of previous GMT day)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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UK interest rates will rise "pretty soon" from their record low levels and is a sign of health for the economy, Bank of England policymaker David Miles said Tuesday. In an interview with BBC Newsnight on Tuesday, Miles, who is set to retire this month, said,"I don't think it's anything to worry about, it's a sign of health." In August, the Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to maintain its bank rate at 0.50%, which was the first split vote this year. Policymakers unanimously decided to keep quantitative easing at GBP375 billion.
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Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble called on the German parliament to approve Greece's third bailout in five years while warning of its risks. "Of course, there is no guarantee that everything will work, and doubts are always permitted," Schaeuble said in a speech backing the EUR86 billion rescue plan. He called the International Monetary Fund's participation in the rescue plan "vital", adding that he has no doubts that it will join the bailout. "The decision on a further support program for Greece was not easy," Schaeuble said.
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Oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea could be hit by potential strike action planned by the British Airline Pilots Association, which represents a large number of helicopter pilots that serve the industry in the area. BALPA said last week that over a third of the helicopter pilots operating in the North Sea held a meeting in Aberdeen in Scotland to discuss issues in the North Sea for helicopter operators, which are considering redundancies due to the knock-on effect of lower oil prices.
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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is due to visit Brussels before the end of the month, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said, as a recent surge in violence casts renewed doubts on a ceasefire for the conflict-ridden country. Skirmishes between government forces and pro-Russian separatist rebels in recent days around the eastern port city of Mariupol have led to several deaths, including at least two civilians, local media reported.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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Related Shares:
AdmiralRYA.LInternational AirlinesHikma PharmaceuticalsRBS.LGlencoreIMT.L