22nd Jan 2016 11:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Hammerson said it has agreed to acquire the new Grand Central shopping centre in Birmingham for GBP335.0 million, increasing its presence in the Midlands city where it already owns the Bullring centre. Hammerson had been cited as the most likely buyer of the centre back in December, when The Sunday Times said it had beaten off competition from rivals including British Land Co and Grosvenor Group to acquire the site. The shopping centre is located atop the revamped New Street train station in Birmingham, which was redeveloped as part of the GBP750.0 million regeneration of the area and which opened in September 2015.
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WPP said it has acquired a majority stake in German digital agency Conrad Caine, via its digital agency POSSIBLE Worldwide. Conrad Caine was founded in 1998 and employs 140 people across its headquarters in Munich, Germany, and other offices in Pelotas, Brazil and Buenos Aires, Argentina. It reported revenue of EUR8.5 million in 2014 and had gross assets of EUR3.6 million at the end of 2015.
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Japan's Asahi and Thailand's Thai Beverage have been named among the bidders which have progressed to the next round of bidding for SABMiller's Grolsch and Peroni beer brands, the Financial Times reported. The pair were notified this week they had reached the second round of bidding for the two lager brands, which are being sold as part of SABMiller's takeover by Anheuser-Busch InBev in order to ease competition concerns about the mega-merger. Thai Beverage is the brewer of Chang Beer. Private equity firms Bain Capital, PAI Partners and EQT also are thought to have qualified for the next round, with the sale expected to fetch around EUR2.5 billion.
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Financial services firm Close Brothers Group said its banking arm has continued to grow but said its securities division is taking a hit from weak market activity, while its asset management arm also suffered from negative market movements. Close Brothers said its banking business continued to grow in the five months to the end of December, with its loan book growing 4.9% to GBP6.0 million. Its net interest margin is lower year-on-year, but the group's bad debt ratio has improved and the returns from its net loan loan book are still strong, it said. The Winterflood securities business has been hit by tough market conditions and this persisted in the first five months of its financial year, driven by falling equity markets and lower levels of market activity, particularly on AIM.
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IT services provider Computacenter said it expects to meet its upgraded forecasts for 2015, despite a "substantial headwind" throughout the year from the strength of sterling against the euro. Computacenter said its revenue for 2015 was flat at actual exchange rates, but increased 5% at constant currency. In the UK revenue rose 3%, with growth remaining consistent in its Services segment despite a significant reduction in one contract. In Germany revenue rose 14% at constant currency. Computacenter's French business performed ahead of its original expectations for the year as a result of a strong quarter for its supply chain business, and revenue in constant currency fell 6% for the year as a whole.
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Flexible office space provider Workspace Group said its rent roll increased in the third quarter and said its occupancy rate recovered marginally from the end of the first half, though remains down for the first nine months. Workspace said its total rent roll rose 2.3% in the quarter to the end of December to GBP80.8 million, meaning it has increased 16%, or by GBP11.4 million, in the nine months to the end of September.
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Assura said it has struck a deal to acquire Malmesbury Medical Enterprise in a deal which will be partly satisfied through the issue of shares. Assura, the UK real estate & investment trust and primary care property investor, said it has acquired Malmesbury Medical by issuing the sellers with 876,22 shares in the company. Assura said this was "as part of the consideration", but did not state any other financial details about the deal.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading higher Friday, boosted by a rebound in oil prices and dovish comments from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi on Thursday. Brent oil rose to its highest level in a week, breaking the USD30 barrier. Miner Antofagasta led they way after Citi double upgraded its recommendation on the stock to Buy. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open.
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FTSE 100: up 2.2% at 5,902.66
FTSE 250: up 1.4% at 16,058.41
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 1.0% at 684.07
GBP: up at USD1.4263 (USD1.4180)
EUR: flat at USD1.0839 (USD1.0828)
GOLD: up at USD1,09750 per ounce (USD1,094.40)
OIL (Brent): up at USD30.85 a barrel (USD28.85)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The UK budget deficit narrowed in December, the Office for National Statistics said. Public sector net borrowing excluding public sector banks decreased GBP4.3 billion to GBP7.5 billion in December. The expected level was GBP10.5 billion. This decrease in net borrowing was largely due to a decrease in both central and local government net borrowing by GBP2.8 billion and GBP1.4 billion, respectively.
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UK retail sales declined more than expected in December, figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed. Retail sales fell 1.0% in December from November, when they grew 1.3%. Economists had forecast a 0.3% drop for December. Excluding auto fuel, retail sales dropped 0.9% after rising 1.3% in prior month.
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More monetary stimulus could be in the cards for the eurozone in March said ECB chief Draghi as he insisted - four times - there are "no limits" to what the ECB will do to meet its inflation target and spur economic growth. The ECB plans "to review and possibly reconsider our monetary policy stance" at its meeting in March, when the bank is set to publish its new inflation and economic growth projections, Draghi told a press conference. He was speaking after the ECB left its benchmark refinancing rate on hold at 0.05% and the deposit rate at minus 0.3%.
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UK Prime Minister David Cameron is setting up an oil support group to help companies operating within the North Sea deal with lower oil prices, the Financial Times reported. Oil & Gas UK, the industry group, said it would welcome the initiative if it showed that senior ministers were considering ways to support operators. But it also called for changes to the licensing and taxation system surrounding the oil industry, the FT said.
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British households perceive that the value of their home increased at the start of the year, though the rate of growth eased from the prior month, a survey from Knight Frank and Markit Economics showed. The house price sentiment index fell to 58.7 in January from 59.4 in December. However, a reading above 50 indicates a rise in house prices.
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The manufacturing sector in Japan continued to expand in January, albeit at a slightly lower pace, the latest survey from Nikkei revealed on Friday with a PMI core of 54.2. That was shy of expectations for 52.8, and it was down from 52.6 in December - although the index remained well above the line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
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Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is cautioning the EU that a pledged sum of EUR3 billion may not be enough to deal with the refugee crisis, ahead of a meeting Friday with the German government. In an interview with dpa, Davutoglu also said security forces would keep up operations against the armed Kurdistan Workers' Party in south-eastern Turkey, which have already left hundreds dead, giving no sign that a peace process would be restarted. Turkey and the EU reached a deal in November aimed at stemming the flow of migrants to the bloc. More than 1 million migrants, many of them refugees, made it to Europe through irregular routes in 2015.
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Tighter US travel rules went into effect on Thursday in a bid to keep out potential terrorists, requiring some travellers who normally do not require a visa to obtain the document. The changes to the US visa waiver programme will require nationals of the 38 visa waiver countries to get a visa to travel to the US if they have been to Iran, Iraq, Sudan or Syria in the last five years or if they are dual-citizens of those countries and a visa waiver country. An estimated 20 million people, or about 40% of all overseas visitors, use the programme annually to enter the US without a visa for business or pleasure for up to 90 days.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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