17th Aug 2018 10:53
LONDON (Alliance News) - The following is a summary of top news stories Friday.----------COMPANIES----------Royal Bank Of Scotland promoted Deputy Chief Financial Officer Katie Murray to the role of interim chief financial officer with effect from October. Murray will take over the role from Ewen Stevenson who will depart from its role of chief financial officer on September 30, after joining the company in 2014, the FTSE 100-listed bank said. RBS added that the search for a successor to take over the role of finance chief permanently is underway, and the bank will make an announcement in due course. The bank said that Stevenson will maintain his role until the end of September to facilitate an orderly handover to Murray, and then, he will be placed on gardening leave - a suspension from work on full pay - until his contract with RBS ceases at the end of November.----------Interserve said it has won the right as part of a consortium to work on a GBP105 million project for Durham University, known as Mount Oswald. The project will involve the building, financing and operation of two new college facilities on a 51-year concession. The project will mark the first new Durham University college to be founded in the city since 2006, Interserve said. Interserve will design and build the facilities, which consists of 1,000 bed spaces, and a new University hub building with a 300-seat banquet hall, sports and music facilities. Work is expected to begin soon and completion is scheduled for 2020.----------House of Fraser has apologised to customers after cancelling all orders placed online. The beleaguered UK retailer said it had wiped all orders that had not already been sent to customers and would be issuing refunds. The move comes after the chain's website was taken offline amid complaints from customers about delayed deliveries since the company was bought by Sports Direct International. The issue reportedly stemmed from a dispute involving employees at a key warehouse. House of Fraser said on Thursday that it had seen "significant delays" with delivering online orders.----------Air France-KLM confirmed it has appointed Benjamin Smith, currently chief operating officer with Air Canada, as its new chief executive. The 46-year-old Canadian brings badly-needed experience in labour relations to the group, where a damaging pay dispute at Air France that led his predecessor to quit remains unresolved. Former chairman and chief executive Jean-Marc Janaillac resigned in May when staff voted down a pay offer intended to end a series of strikes. But even before Smith's appointment was announced, Air France unions who backed the strike signalled that he may not be in for an easy ride, declaring that the company should not fall into "foreign hands". The French government, the group's largest shareholder with a 14.3% stake, hailed the decision.----------MARKETS----------London shares were lower as investors took a cautious stance over the US-China talks due to take place later in August and a stabilisation of the Turkish lira. The pound was lower against the dollar due to renewed Brexit fears. Wall Street is called for a flat open.----------FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 7,548.01 FTSE 250: down 0.2% at 20,438.36AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 1,079.38 GBP: lower at USD1.2714 (USD1.2727)EUR: flat at USD1.1394 (USD1.1392)GOLD: lower at USD1,176.68 per ounce (USD1,179.35)OIL (Brent): higher at USD71.76 a barrel (USD71.07)(changes since previous London equities close)----------ECONOMICS AND GENERAL----------Turkey's finance chief has tried to reassure thousands of international investors on a conference call, in which he pledged to fix the economic troubles that have seen the country spiral into a currency crisis. The national currency recovered somewhat from record lows hit earlier this week, a day after Qatar pledged USD15 billion in investment to help Turkey's economy. Treasury & Finance Minister Berat Albayrak was quoted by private media NTV as saying the economy would emerge stronger from the turmoil. The minister ruled out any move to limit money flows -- which is a possibility that worries investors -- or any assistance from the International Monetary Fund, NTV said. The lira had nosedived in recent weeks, hitting a record low of 7.24 to the dollar this week, as investors worried about fundamental economic problems in the country and a diplomatic and trade dispute with the US.----------Eurozone inflation accelerated for a third straight month in July, as initially estimated, to its highest level since late 2012, final data from Eurostat showed. The harmonized index of consumer prices rose 2.1% year-on-year in July, after climbing 2% in June. The rate came in line with the estimate published on July 31. The latest inflation figure was the highest since December 2012. Thus, inflation has exceeded the European Central Bank's target of "below, but close to 2%" for a second month in a row. Core inflation, excluding energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, accelerated to 1.1% in July, as estimated, from 0.9% in June. On a monthly basis, the HICP slid 0.2% and core prices dropped 0.5% in July.----------The euro area current account surplus remained unchanged in June, data from the European Central Bank showed. The current account surplus totalled a seasonally adjusted EUR 24 billion in June, the same as seen in May. The surplus on trade in goods rose to EUR 23 billion from EUR 22 billion in May. At the same time, the services surplus remained unchanged at EUR 9 billion.----------A no-deal Brexit would be a "mistake we would regret for generations", Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said. Hunt also revealed that the government would consider EU proposals that demanded accepting European environmental and social legislation, in order to facilitate a free trade agreement. The comments came in an interview with ITV News after a meeting with the Dutch foreign minister as part of a three-day tour of Northern Europe. When asked whether he was presenting the government's Brexit plan as "take it or leave it", Hunt answered: "No, but it is a framework on which I believe the ultimate deal will be based and I've been to several countries and met seven foreign ministers and am meeting more in the weeks ahead and I'm getting a strong sense that not just in Holland but in many of the places I've visited that they do want to engage seriously to try and find a way through to try and get a pragmatic outcome."----------A series of UK government preparation papers for a "no deal" Brexit will cover more than 80 specific subjects ranging from blood safety to driving licenses, it has been reported. Under current plans the reports will be published in batches, starting as early as next week and running through September. A provisional list of headings for each paper has been published by BuzzFeed News. The reports are the product of a cross-Whitehall initiative ordered by the former Brexit secretary David Davis to ensure that the UK was prepared to leave the EU without a deal in the event that the Brexit negotiations broke down.----------
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