29th Jan 2016 11:11
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.
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COMPANIES
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Sky said it has reappointed James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, as chairman, succeeding Nicholas Ferguson, as the television broadcaster reported 5% revenue growth for its first half and strong customer growth in its second quarter. Murdoch was previously chief executive of Sky between 2003 and 2007 and chairman between 2007 and 2012. Martin Gilbert, chief executive officer of Aberdeen Asset Management, has been appointed deputy chairman, with Andrew Sukawaty to replace Gilbert as Sky's senior independent director. For the half year to end-December, Sky posted a pretax profit of GBP414 million, down from GBP1.21 billion a year before, mostly as a result of exceptional profits from the sale of the company's stake in ITV in the year comparative period not repeating.
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British Land said it and joint venture partner Oxford Properties have secured a new tenant for the Leadenhall Building in the City of London, known as 'The Cheesegrater'. The pair have signed a lease agreement with Quadrature Capital, an investment management firm, for Level 33 at the building, which is now 94% let or under offer. Quadrature has signed a ten-year lease for the 11,000 square foot floor. British Land didn't provide financial details of the lease.
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Barclays is facing a GBP1.0 billion lawsuit from dealmaker Amanda Staveley over the emergency GBP5.8 billion funding call the bank launched in 2008, the Financial Times reported. Staveley's PCP Capital Partners has sued Barclays in London, according to a court listing seen by the FT. No details on the nature of the dispute were known, but Barclays confirmed to the newspaper it hinged on the capital call it made at the height of the financial crisis.
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Rolls-Royce Holdings Chief Executive Warren East is expected to announce a cull of senior managers on Friday, part of the ongoing restructuring of the engine maker, the Financial Times reported. East, who took over as chief executive in July last year, is set to inform staff that a "few dozen" of the 2,000 senior managers at the group will be cut, according to a source close to the situation, focused on those who report directly to him or his executive management team.
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Tullett Prebon said revenue rose 14% in the final two months of 2015 compared to the previous year, helping to take its revenue growth for the year to 13%. The interdealer broker said its revenue in 2015 was GBP796 million, up 13% from the GBP704 million it reported in 2014. Excluding PVM Oil Associated Ltd and its subsidiaries, which Tullett acquired in November 2014, revenue was down 1%. The company expects its 2015 full year underlying profit margin to be higher than it had previously indicated at around 13.5%.
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Rank Group said its pretax profit and revenue rose in the first half thanks to good growth in its Grosvenor and Mecca casino and bingo brands and said it remains on track with its digital strategy and the opening of new-format bingo halls. Rank said its pretax profit for the half to the end of December rose to GBP42.7 million from GBP36.3 million. Revenue improved to GBP374.2 million from GBP361.7 million in the half, with like-for-like revenue growing 5.0%. The group hiked its dividend payout to 1.80 pence from 1.60p.
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AG Barr said the soft drinks market in the UK has remained challenging but said it expects its results for the financial year to the end of January to be in line with its expectations. The Scottish drinks firm, maker of Irn-Bru, said its revenue for the fourth quarter to the end of January is expected to grow around 2.5% year-on-year, a slowdown on the 5.0% annual growth it reported a year earlier. AG Barr said the soft drinks market in the UK remains challenging and highly competitive, though it said its trading strategy and brand activities helped it deliver a solid performance.
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Vedanta Resources said its revenue for the third quarter dropped significantly year-on-year as the group contended with a tough commodities market. Vedanta said its group revenue for the quarter to the end of December was USD2.44 billion, down from USD3.36 billion a year earlier. The revenue declines were broadly shared out across its operations, with revenue falling across the board for its zinc, iron ore, copper and aluminium mining operations and for its oil and gas business. Production levels remained robust across the company, with record quarterly refined silver production from its Zinc India business and record metal production in its aluminium unit, but revenue was dragged lower by sinking commodities prices.
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MARKETS
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UK indices were trading higher supported by firm oil prices and a surprise cut to interest rates by the Bank of Japan. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open.
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FTSE 100: up 0.8% at 5,978.06
FTSE 250: up 0.7% at 16,314.28
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.3% at 689.96
GBP: down at USD1.4296 (USD1.4378)
EUR: flat at USD1.0916 (USD1.0951)
GOLD: down at USD1,112.69 per ounce (USD1,115.39
OIL (Brent): firm at USD34.74 a barrel (USD34.13)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Eurozone inflation accelerated for the second straight month in January, flash data from Eurostat showed. Harmonized consumer prices rose 0.4% year-on-year, faster than the 0.2% increase seen in December. This was the fourth consecutive increase in consumer prices and matched economists' expectations. Nonetheless, headline inflation has been below the European Central Bank's target of 'below, but close to 2%' since early 2013.
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House prices in England/Wales grew at the fastest pace in nearly one year in December, figures from Land Registry showed. House prices climbed 6.4% year-over-year in December, faster than the 5.4% increase in the previous month. The latest rate of inflation was the highest since January 2015, when prices had risen 6.6%.
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The Bank of Japan announced plans to introduce negative interest rate in order to achieve its 2% inflation at the earliest possible time but left its massive asset purchase program unchanged. The bank also pushed back the projected timing for reaching inflation target, citing lower crude oil prices. The policy board of the BoJ on Friday voted 5-4 to apply -0.1% interest rate on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank. The board said it will cut the rate further into negative territory, if judged as necessary. The negative rate will affect only a portion of current accounts as it adopts a "three-tier-system".
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Industrial production in Japan stumbled a seasonally adjusted 1.4% on month in December, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said - sliding for the second straight month. That missed forecasts for a fall of 0.3% following the 0.9% decline in November. On a yearly basis, industrial production slipped 1.6% - also missing expectations for a decline of 0.6% following the 1.7% gain in the previous month.
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Republican candidates, standing on a stage for once not dominated by Donald Trump, answered a range of questions in a debate more substantive than previous ones in which the bombastic New York real estate mogul stole most of the spotlight. Trump refused to take part in the debate, the seventh among a crowded field of Republican candidates. Instead he held a rally to benefit veterans at a separate venue a short distance away. Both events were in Des Moines, Iowa, the capital of the state that will hold first-in-the-country polls on Monday in the long process of electing the next US president.
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Just four members of an anti-government militia remained at the weeks-long armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in the western US state of Oregon, the FBI said, but the standoff between the occupiers and law enforcement was not over. At an evening press conference, FBI Agent Greg Bretzing told news media that reports that the "situation" at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which armed protesters have occupied for more than three weeks, had ended were "not true".
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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