25th Jul 2016 10:21
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Monday.
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COMPANIES
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Property developer Hammerson expressed confidence in its ability to navigate successfully through the challenges raised by the UK's vote to leave the European Union, striking a more encouraging tone than its blue-chip rivals on the outlook for the property sector. This came as Hammerson said pretax profit in the first half of 2016 sunk due to a much lower valuation gain, but as net rental income on a total and like-for-like basis grew. The FTSE 100 group's chief executive, David Atkins, said the company has "confidence in the resilience of our business model, which will underpin our ability to deliver robust income returns during and beyond this period of political and economic uncertainty in the UK."
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Anglo American said underlying earnings from its platinum arm in South Africa fell by more than 60% in the first half of the year. Anglo American Platinum will contribute underlying earnings, which excludes certain exceptional items, of USD68.0 million in the first six months of the year, down by more than a 61% from the USD175.0 million contributed a year earlier. Anglo American owns a majority stake in the platinum arm.
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Randgold Resources said the Tongon mine in the Ivory Coast is expected to deliver an "improved performance" in the second half of this year after the miner finished expanding and upgrading certain elements of the plant.
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Rank Group and 888 Holdings confirmed they are evaluating a possible offer for fellow gaming company William Hill. If a deal goes through, William Hill would join in on the wave of merger and acquisition activity which has swept through the UK gambling industry over the past year. Both 888 and Rank said they see "significant industrial logic" in the combination with William Hill, "through consolidation of their complementary online and land-based operations, delivery of substantial revenue and cost synergies and from the anticipated benefits of economies of scale which will accrue to all shareholders". The pair have not made a formal approach yet and said there can be no certainty any such approach will be made. William Hill confirmed that it received "a highly preliminary approach", but said the consortium did not put forward a proposal or set out a position on price, timing, terms, form of consideration, or transaction structure.
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Emerging markets fund manager Aberdeen Asset Management said it is well-positioned to deal with the effects of Brexit as it recorded a rise in assets under management in the third quarter of its financial year. Aberdeen said it anticipates further volatility in UK and European equity markets as the political talks around the UK's Brexit continue, but said broader equity markets have proved relatively resilient to the challenges. This will keep Aberdeen's focus on controlling costs and driving efficiency gains in its business, and the group said Monday it remains confident of the ability of its team to identify long-term opportunities to benefit its client base. Aberdeen said it had GBP301.4 billion in assets under management at the end of June, up from GBP292.8 billion at the end of March.
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Specialist insurer Hiscox reported a big rise in pretax profit and announced an improved interim dividend as it benefited significantly from the weakening of sterling following the Brexit vote. The FTSE 250 constituent said it made pretax profit of GBP206.0 million in the half to the end of June, substantially higher than the GBP135.1 million it made a year earlier, as it booked GBP87.3 million in foreign exchange gains, swung from a GBP15.7 million loss the year prior. Hixcox said it will pay an interim dividend of 8.5 pence per share, up from 8.0p a year earlier.
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Cranswick said it has made a positive start to the new financial year as it announced the sale of sandwich business The Sandwich Factory Holdings to Greencore. The pork and poultry supplier said revenue in the first quarter of its financial year was up 11% on the prior year, driven by strong volume growth. Underlying revenue, excluding the contribution from Crown Chicken, which Cranswick bought in April, grew by 5% year-on-year in the three months ended June 30. Cranswick said volume rose by 12% as the benefit of lower input prices continued to be passed onto its customers. Export volume to Asia increased by 60% thanks to robust demand from the region and increased output from the group's two primary processing facilities, Cranswick said.
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Irish budget airline Ryanair Holdings maintained its profit guidance for its current financial year but said Brexit has increased the downside risks it faces and will put pressure on fares until at least the end of 2017. Ryanair said it still expects profit after tax for the year to the end of March 2017 to be between EUR1.375 billion and EUR1.425 billion, up from EUR1.24 billion the year before, but it said there are "significant risks to the downside" for the remainder of the year due to Brexit. Ryanair had been a prominent campaigner for the UK to remain in the European Union.
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MARKETS
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London shares were starting a bumper week in the green, ahead of a slew of company earnings and central bank policy meetings in the US and Japan. The pound was higher against the dollar on a light day in the global events calendar. Wall Street was pointed to a higher open.
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FTSE 100: up 0.1% at 6,738.03
FTSE 250: up 0.8% at 17,120.68
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.4% at 742.82
GBP: up at USD1.3154 (USD1.3080)
EUR: flat at USD1.0986 (USD1.0973)
GOLD: down at USD1,315.10 per ounce (USD1,323.19)
OIL (Brent): flat at USD45.38 a barrel (USD45.48)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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The fallout from Brexit will not be unsurmountable, the finance ministers and central bank chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies said. "Members of the G20 are well positioned to proactively address the potential economic and financial consequences stemming from the UK referendum," which voted on June 23 to leave the EU, according to a statement issued after two days of talks in Chengdu, 1,800 kilometres south-west of Beijing.
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A controversy over bias within the party leadership favouring Hillary Clinton rocked the Democratic Party on the eve of its national convention in Philadelphia. The head of the party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, announced her resignation after the publication of emails that indicated party leaders had preferred Clinton over rival Bernie Sanders during the primaries. The emails, which were part of a hack into the Democratic National Committee last year, appeared to confirm the bias that Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, had long accused the party leadership of holding.
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Clinton introduced her running mate, Senator Tim Kaine, as a "progressive who likes to get things done". Clinton, who is expected to be named the Democratic nominee at the party's convention in Philadelphia this week, said she chose Kaine because of his life-long commitment to social justice. Kaine was elected to the US Senate in 2012 after serving as governor of Virginia. At a rally in Miami, where Kaine spoke frequently in Spanish.
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An asylum seeker from Syria killed himself and injured 12 others in a bombing outside a music festival in Bavaria, a state government official said early Monday. The 27-year-old, who arrived in Germany two years ago, was denied asylum last year but was allowed to remain in Germany due to the ongoing conflict in Syria, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said.
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Police have taken into custody a friend of the Munich shooter on suspicion of his having foreknowledge of the attacker's intentions. The 16-year-old is being held for non-notification of a criminal act, the police announced Sunday evening. The teenager contacted police after the attacker shot dead nine people and wounded others. The friend was later caught in a series of contradictions during rounds of questioning, police say.
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At least 80 people were killed in a bombing in the Afghan capital during a demonstration, the Interior Ministry said of the attack claimed by the Islamic State extremist group. An estimated 231 people were wounded after two suicide bombers targeted a peaceful demonstration in Kabul's Dehmazang Square. At least 10,000 people were taking part in the protest, according to event organizer Mohammad Arif Rahmani. Most of the protesters were Hazaras, a Shiite minority from central Afghanistan, who have long suffered discrimination, especially under Taliban rule when thousands from the tribe were killed.
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Turkey has detained over 13,000 people as part of a crackdown in response to the recent failed military coup, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, not long after the presidential guard became the latest target of the purge. Of those detained, 6,000 have been placed under arrest. Prime Minister Binali Yilidirim said the presidential guard is to be completely disbanded.
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The International Olympic Committee decided against a ban of all Russian athletes from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in connection with allegations of widespread and state-organized doping. The IOC said after an executive board teleconference it will leave the final decision on Russians to compete at the August 5-21 Games with the international sports federations. Russia's athletics team is already banned from competing in Rio over a ruling by the sport's governing body IAAF which was upheld on Thursday by CA.
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By Arvind Bhunjun; [email protected]; @ArvindBhunjun
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